• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

WFUV: Gender Equality

T

TheBigA

WFUV PUBLIC MEDIA CALLS FOR GENDER EQUALITY ON RADIO AIRWAVES, LAUNCHES EQFM INITIATIVE

May 26, 2020?*—WFUV Public Media is doing its part to help resolve the longstanding issue of gender disparity in the music industry by rolling out the new EQFM initiative, striving toward a goal of 50 percent representation of women and gender minorities in its music programming, events and online features.

To kick off the new initiative, WFUV is excited to host an online panel discussion on June 2 at 7:00 p.m. ET on the subject of gender equality within the music and radio industries. Moderated by WNYC’s Julianne Welby, panelists include WFUV Program Director Rita Houston, CMT’s Sr. VP of Music Strategy Leslie Fram, NPR Music correspondent Ann Powers, music critic Alan Light, critically acclaimed artist Amanda Shires and Margi Cheske, President of Fantasy Records. Links and additional info to come shortly.

“WFUV has always steadfastly supported new and legacy female artists, and we’re now planting a flag and asking others to join us in ensuring diversity in programming,” says Houston. “It’s part of our DNA as open-minded music lovers. Good songs come from everywhere, across race, age and gender. Good radio should celebrate that, without bias.”
As part of the EQFM initiative—partly inspired by CMT’s recent Equal Play initiative—WFUV is launching an on-air and online series that celebrates important, influential albums by women artists, while promoting the expertise of their female DJs and staffers. WFUV will also keep an even closer eye on equality when planning FUV Live concerts and sessions, Holiday Cheer for FUV, the WFUV High Line Bash and festival coverage.

“I’m proud to see us embracing gender equality in our programming,” adds General Manager Chuck Singleton. “The station has long made a place for strong women—in the artists it supports, in its air staff, and among its leadership—and this is a natural step. Some might suggest this may not be the time for such an initiative. I think it’s exactly the right time to take this on, as we focus our vision beyond our most basic of daily challenges to a future that’s more equitable.”

Rock and alt-rock radio has been far behind the curve of equal representation since its inception. Alternative rock stations in the US play 10 male artists for every woman, and even the best of the bunch in Triple A stations runs at about 3-to-1. Just 10.4% of Grammy nominees from 2013-2019 were female and of that small percentage, just 6.6% of Album of the Year nominees were women. In a similar vein, only 8% percent of all of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees are women.

While WFUV has carried a 60/40 balance in its playlists in recent years, the station aims to do better. Times have changed and voices must be fairly represented. WFUV’s music programming will reflect gender parity in the artists and bands we play and support. We can’t change the past, but we can change the present and future sound of radio, for all generations.
 
There is so much I could say here. Let’s start at radio’s position.

For radio, we are about like the guy playing Shortstop in baseball. We can’t do much without the pitcher and the batter. Let’s term the pitcher the musician and music industry as a whole. Let’s call the batter the consumer of the music.

Radio does not control the pitch or if the batter hits the ball. Instead, like the shortstop, we react to both. I agree such an attempt has to begin somewhere, if it really needs such public attention versus internal attention.

I think there needs to be caution to not be prejudice for the sake of inclusion. I know a radio station operator that has what we would call a community access radio station. He calls it what it is, a radio station that offers an alternative to what is available elsewhere on the dial. He admits he’d never put a Christian ministry on the station because there are Christian stations. Likewise a conservative political talk show would be denied but a liberal leaning talk show welcomed because there is no other available signal reflecting liberal leanings. My point is do we show prejudice by adhering to percentages under the guise of equality?

Watching commercials from decades ago compared to now, it is a 180 degree turn. In, say, the 1960s, the male was the authority and the female was in a more submissive role. Today many commercials show the female to be the brains and the male being less intelligent, sometimes a bumbling fool for the sake of comedy.

When it comes to gender equality in music, it has to begin with the marketing end. The labels and venues for distributing music must provide the product. And that product must be of equal quality and be equally promoted. If the source is not equal, then the goal is not sustainable.

For radio, even more important is the batter eyeing the ball, they either swing and get a hit or a miss. The consumer of the music must want what the pitcher or music industry throws. And it must be a 50% mix of each sex then broken down, likely by demographic percentages by ethnic lines and lifestyle lines. This is a tougher to control aspect of the solution. What if that’s 60% female, do you repress 10%?

As for radio, if we are looking for gender equality in employment, then there needs to be a 50/50 mix with equal qualifications, again broken down by lifestyle and ethnic guidelines. If you need to hire 5 people and you only get 20% female applicants qualified equally to the 80% male applicants do you hire less qualified people for the sake of equality? My point is this isn’t an easy fix.

It would be nice to think this could happen but I see this as Mount Everest without a Sherpa guide. At best we can influence the current situation and perhaps over a generation that will evolve slowly. As one morning jock quipped, if you think we were created equal, you’ve never been in a men’s locker room.

My last point, by revising playlists to be more ethnically and lifestyle diverse as well as equal between male and female, are you not ‘shoving it down listener’s throats’ a quote I heard as a negative about ‘corporate radio’ by a person wanting to see gender equality in music on radio. The comment was that corporate radio didn’t care about this, they just play what they want ‘shoving it down listener’s throats’.

I think the goal can only be achieved by all parties involved actively participating. That include the male and female, ethnic and lifestyle groups reaching percentages equal to demographic breakdowns at a minimum all the way down to the listener choosing the same. If that happens, radio will reflect that without being forced to. Radio just does what the bulk of radio listeners like so percentages don’t matter, consensus does.
 
Keep in mind that WFUV is a non-commercial college radio station. Even then they've admittedly been unable to actually do a 50/50 balance in their playlist.
 
I thought there are multiple genders these days. How will that work with this narrow two gender initiative?
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom