As a man, nothing will help me completely understand circumstances outside my own personal experience. And, early in my career, I watched radio's "good old boy" system take advantage of women throughout the industry.
At a radio station I worked for in the early 1970s, the program director used to throw glass ashtrays at his secretary. Female employees were met with sexual offers (one woman actually called the guy's bluff, and he backed right down) and asked to show their body parts. Terms like sweetheart, babe, honey, and sugar were status quo.
I saw one of my closest friends, a woman on the sales team, reduced to tears on a regular basis when the sales manager suggested she should "make the ultimate sacrifice" to close a sale. He was dead serious. He would also smack her on the butt when she walked by his desk.
These things bothered me — not because I understood sexual harassment, which no one had heard of at the time, but because I was raised to respect women. Yet this was the norm in the radio business in the 1970s. I was so disturbed by it that the first issues of this magazine featured a column titled "Women in Radio" that addressed the challenges women faced and how to respond to them. It was perceived as a slap in the face to the good old boys club, and we faced significant resistance from men and women alike.
Later, in an attempt to promote women in the business, we created a Radio Wayne award for radio's Woman of the Year, which I rapidly dropped because I was told women didn't want to be singled out. In fact, one of the people who told me that that still doesn't allow us to use her name on our current Most Influential Women in Radio list because "you wouldn't do a list of the most influential men in radio."
Columns, awards, stories, lists designed to combat the issues women face have met with mixed reviews. What matters is that this industry continues to be dominated by men, with a set level beyond which women very rarely rise. Though things have improved, women are not paid equally to their male counterparts in exactly the same roles at some broadcast companies. Radio Ink strives to effect change in all areas of the industry, and I'm proud to say that the magazine's general manager, associate publisher, editor-in-chief, and managing editor are all women -- hired not because they're women, but as proof of our commitment to hiring the best available person for every position.
Inevitably, when we publish our annual 40 Most Powerful People in Radio list in July, we receive criticism for not including more women and minorities. My response is the same every year: We are reflecting the state of the industry as it is today.
As the cigarette ads used to say, "You've come a long way, baby." In the case of the MIW group, we've seen a spectacular effort to mentor younger women in this industry. That effort results in stronger, more prepared executives who do not have to pioneer, as many of the women on this list have done. Hopefully, these women will eventually run radio stations, radio companies, and private equity funds and banks involved in radio.
Though the process of singling women out is offensive to some, our intent is simply to show that we believe women deserve equal opportunity, and that it really should be about the best executive for any job — whether the candidate is male or female. The growth of this list reflects the progress that has been made. Yet there are mountains still to climb and inequities to be overcome.
At a radio station I worked for in the early 1970s, the program director used to throw glass ashtrays at his secretary. Female employees were met with sexual offers (one woman actually called the guy's bluff, and he backed right down) and asked to show their body parts. Terms like sweetheart, babe, honey, and sugar were status quo.
I saw one of my closest friends, a woman on the sales team, reduced to tears on a regular basis when the sales manager suggested she should "make the ultimate sacrifice" to close a sale. He was dead serious. He would also smack her on the butt when she walked by his desk.
These things bothered me — not because I understood sexual harassment, which no one had heard of at the time, but because I was raised to respect women. Yet this was the norm in the radio business in the 1970s. I was so disturbed by it that the first issues of this magazine featured a column titled "Women in Radio" that addressed the challenges women faced and how to respond to them. It was perceived as a slap in the face to the good old boys club, and we faced significant resistance from men and women alike.
Later, in an attempt to promote women in the business, we created a Radio Wayne award for radio's Woman of the Year, which I rapidly dropped because I was told women didn't want to be singled out. In fact, one of the people who told me that that still doesn't allow us to use her name on our current Most Influential Women in Radio list because "you wouldn't do a list of the most influential men in radio."
Columns, awards, stories, lists designed to combat the issues women face have met with mixed reviews. What matters is that this industry continues to be dominated by men, with a set level beyond which women very rarely rise. Though things have improved, women are not paid equally to their male counterparts in exactly the same roles at some broadcast companies. Radio Ink strives to effect change in all areas of the industry, and I'm proud to say that the magazine's general manager, associate publisher, editor-in-chief, and managing editor are all women -- hired not because they're women, but as proof of our commitment to hiring the best available person for every position.
Inevitably, when we publish our annual 40 Most Powerful People in Radio list in July, we receive criticism for not including more women and minorities. My response is the same every year: We are reflecting the state of the industry as it is today.
As the cigarette ads used to say, "You've come a long way, baby." In the case of the MIW group, we've seen a spectacular effort to mentor younger women in this industry. That effort results in stronger, more prepared executives who do not have to pioneer, as many of the women on this list have done. Hopefully, these women will eventually run radio stations, radio companies, and private equity funds and banks involved in radio.
Though the process of singling women out is offensive to some, our intent is simply to show that we believe women deserve equal opportunity, and that it really should be about the best executive for any job — whether the candidate is male or female. The growth of this list reflects the progress that has been made. Yet there are mountains still to climb and inequities to be overcome.
The fact that you still feel it's necessary to acknowledge that "singling women out is offensive to some" in the radio business is a telling affirmation of U.S. radio's continuing retrograde attitudes, even in this post-revolutionary time. The steel-tower radio business is also missing the digital revolution, an equally and self-defeating oversight. For those of us who've known, worked with, worked for the best women and the worst men in the business, thanks for your continuing courageous and intelligent publishing to a generally gutless industry, Eric.
Posted by: Dave Newton | June 14, 2010 at 11:59 PM