Another woman on Radio 4's Today programme? The BBC ain't joking

Earlier this week I was asked by a fellow journalist what I thought of the idea that women don’t like listening to the female voice on the radio.

Wow I thought. I can’t believe that myth is still doing the rounds. For such a stupid fairy tale was actually considered to be truth years ago. The fable that women only liked to listen to male presenters on the wireless as it was more comforting and like listening to a boyfriend, did the rounds and was accepted across the land for a long time. (Yes that was the sound of my palm hitting my face).

Well, like millions of other people across the country, I awake most mornings to Radio 4’s flagship Today programme, and must tell you that I do not find myself comforted by nor attracted to James Naughtie, John Humphrys, Evan Davis or Justin Webb (no disrespect gentlemen). I do not fantasise about Naughtie or Webb becoming my significant other as they grill a minister. On the contrary, Humphrys’s bark often puts me on edge, while I sip my morning cuppa trying to get to grips with the day’s news.

I hasten to add, nor do I find myself repelled by the sound of what was until now, the voice of the only female presenter, a certain Sarah Montague.

However, dear reader – this is all to change come autumn. The highly experienced Mishal Husain, is joining the Today ship. The short-lived former BBC Director General, George Entwistle (who actually had his career dismantled on the Today programme in THAT interview) has finally got his wish, after calling for the testosterone-fuelled show to “make sure its next presenter was a woman” last September while he was in charge.

The news couldn’t really come at a better time, after new research from radio pressure group, Sound Women, has just revealed that men still dominate the sound of the airwaves. The study, which came out a couple of days ago, reveals that women still only account for 20 per cent of solo radio broadcasters and that figure drops to 12.5 per cent during peak-time breakfast and drive-time hours.

The picture was no better when co-hosted radio shows came under the spotlight: listeners are nearly 10 times as likely to hear two or more male presenters as they are to hear two or more female presenters.

The likes of Radio 2’s Chris Evans, Radio 1’s Nick Grimshaw, and Absolute Radio’s Christian O’Connell all dominate the breakfast airwaves. And a similar male-dominated pattern is in place across the UK’s drive-time shows – but why?

I present LBC 97.3’s Sunday drive-time show and have done for the last two years. There is no clear cut answer to this complicated question. But I can hazard a few guesses based on my experience in the radio industry.

Despite Sound Women’s best efforts, the radio industry has not really moved on that much since the Sony Radio Academy Awards 2011, which was christened ‘the year of the lad’ after TalkSport won ‘station of the year’, Absolute Radio jocks Frank Skinner and Ronnie Wood bagged top gongs and 5Live’s Fighting Talk charmed the judges.

The airwaves are still dominated by men – but not necessarily by design. I think one of the biggest problems is that there is no clear route to getting a radio show. It’s not like you ever see an advert online or in the paper for a radio presenter’s job. These decisions get made in all types of ways – and usually behind closed doors in important people’s offices. But typically, it’s about force of personality, arch networking with the right people, how much experience the person has and crucially convincing a programme chief that you can control a show with authority – while entertaining an audience.

Men have traditionally been better at having these types of conversations – and often better placed down the pub casually networking. However, women are coming through – but do need to be judged in the same way as men when they back themselves. They need to be viewed as confident and capable, when they assert their ambition – rather than cocky and bossy – as women are often unfairly thought of if they put themselves forward.

I also think it’s about banter. As much as I loathe that word, a radio presenter has to be able to share their deeply personal stories, take the mickey out of their views and spar with the listeners as hard as possible on air – as well as with fellow jocks at radio industry events. And yet, men are still generally perceived to be better at doing all of this stuff than women.

Take what happened to me at the Arqivas, the commercial radio awards, last year. I took my young male producer on stage with me when I won best new presenter, by way of thanks for his work on my show. Christian O’Connell was the host and as I walked up to collect my gong, he started asking me on the mic, if I was sleeping with him. Poor Carl.

I simply retorted once the mic was in my hand, and after a rowdy O’Connell had made this joke several times over, “Will you please shut the f*** up?”. My rather fruity retort (do note I did say please) was out of character for me, especially in such a public environment. However, it not only garnered me a huge cheer, it also shut O’Connell up for long enough so that I could say a few words of thanks.

However, if a bloke had sworn back at O’Connell, would anyone have batted an eyelid? I’m not so sure. Would O’Connell have even have said such a joke to a man collecting an award? I know he wouldn’t have – as the scenario could have been repeated several times over throughout the course of the night when male presenters went up with their female producers. Not a peep.

But I’m not annoyed about what happened, I took it in my stride and I’m simply stating the facts. Plus if you can’t handle that type of ribbing, you really can’t be a radio presenter.

There is also the rather matter of there being a massively limited number of radio presenter gigs. This must not be overlooked. For instance, to get a gig on Radio 4, people are literally waiting to fill dead man’s shoes. That’s the industry joke. Someone needs to actually die for a spot to free up on Radio 4.

For this reason, above all else, Husain has done amazingly well. Yes, she is hugely qualified. But getting a spot on Radio 4’s flagship programme is competitive work – regardless of gender.

I for one am looking forward to Husain starting on the Today programme come autumn, so hopefully that awful myth about women’s voices on the radio will finally die a death.