My Facebook went up in flames this morning over a post I wrote a couple of days ago. I stated that all too often that female broadcasters were laugh tracks to male colleagues.
Holy mackerel.
People wrote to say my comments were a slap in the face to female broadcasters in this market. I do not work in radio. I just write about it, so how could I know what is the truth?
Fair comment.
Since my post the other night on this subject, I have received several positive and supportive comments from women in the medium who feel they are marginalized. Some of these comments were sent privately. No names. But I am using the present tense. They feel marginalized.
Now.
The female broadcasters in this market are certainly not laugh tracks. None of them. They put forth their opinions with wonderful articulation, get in their own jabs, and, yes, laugh by times at the comments made by their male co-hosts. I regret my wording, although, once again, "laugh track" was a phrase supplied to me over the years by more than one female broadcaster.
Marginalization is not just a function of how these women are treated and what their on air role is and how they are respected in that role. It is a function of how they are compensated. If the male co-host (the lead if you will) makes much more than his female colleague, and she does pretty much the same work, she should make pretty much the same amount of money, keeping in mind things like years of service and experience and so on. It does make sense that a 30 year broadcast veteran should make more than a person fresh out of school, whether that veteran is male or female. And if the lead co-host also does more show prep than the second co-host, and produces the show, and makes coffee, and cleans out the fridge, then I can see how that should tip the compensation in favour of the lead co-host.
That's all I'm trying to say. It is about fairness.
Any questions?
In other news, Wayne Harrett was right, and I was right to hang on his coat tails. Lite 92.9 is now Jack FM, where they play anything at any time. I look forward to hearing Ernest Tubb tunes, maybe a little Lefty Frizzell, not to mention J.S. Bach.
Hmm? What's that?
Oh.
The stuff they are playing so far seems to be the stuff that one hears on The Wave, with a smattering of newer stuff. Just keep in mind that Katy Perry's "I Kissed A Girl" is 10 years old, so I'm hesitant to refer to it as new music. However, I promise to give the station a chance. I will check out the morning show. And Wayne and I were both right when we stated that Griff and Caroline will be the hosts of the morning show. Welcome back to the airwaves, Griff and Caroline!
I do not know whether other day parts at Jack FM will be staffed. Lite 92.9 had a morning show, and then nothing live again until Drive. John Tesh at night, providing intelligence for my life. VT'd stuff on the weekends. I have no reason to think that this staffing level will change under Jack FM.
Ratings begin on March 1st and continue for 2 months. It will be very interesting to see how things shake out. Will G&C just grab back their market share, probably from The Wave? Will The Wave continue to do well anyway? Will other stations take notice and adjust their play lists as well? Will Q104 cede the older and softer music to these other stations, and go back to saying "Blah blah blah, blah blah. Jesus Jumping Christ" again? Time will tell.
I wish all of the local radio stations the very best during this ratings periods. May you all tie for first place!
See you tomorrow. You are prolly missing Newbie, so expect a picture or two of him this weekend. No mention of radio for a while. This is a radio-free zone.
Bevboy
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