Heated debate

The heated debate about the gender balance target for presentation of BBC local radio breakfast shows, set to be achieved by the end of 2014, has started.

This from a blog by David Lloyd, currently Director of Marketing and Planning for Orion, which runs the "Free Radio" cluster in the Midlands..

I don't count the number of audition MP3s and Soundcloud files I get sent each week, but I would hazard a guess that well over 90% of unsolicited auditions come from lads. When more high quality auditions are submitted by women, more will be recruited. And we programmers must not nurture that irrational fear of two successive women on a programme schedule. 

Is it appropriate to engineer a 50% ratio of women on BBC Local Radio breakfast programmes by the end of 2014? I would question that tactic; although I welcome a strategy. 

Is it correct to aim for a better gender balance and benchmark how the situation evolves over time? Absolutely.

This is from John Myers's blog. John currently consults and "professes" on radio.

If Tony Hall had said that women in key presenting roles is an important goal (which it is) and urged management to create the right environment for it to occur, then he would be applauded. Instead, he’s confused everyone. He demands a quota. Wow. I’m guessing then that some very experienced men are going to have to walk the plank to create these vacancies. There can’t be more cash, they’ve just take a shedload from them. The only reason for being fired guys is that you’re unlucky. You were born a man. Boy, if this was me, I would have them tied up in lawyers for months.

And there's this from BBC Controller English Regions, David Holdsworth - the man who has to reach the target.

Finding new and diverse voices is a challenge we relish and is fundamental to the role of local radio. Work is already underway to better reflect the communities we serve. A series of initiatives have been launched to widen the way BBC Local Radio searches for and identifies talented presenters while, at the same time, seeking to address any challenges that women may face in this area.

Carina Tillson, of the pressure group Sound Women, currently working on compeition policy at Ofcom:

We’re thrilled that this issue is being considered at the highest levels of the BBC. Whilst women are well represented in some areas of the industry, they are not well represented on air – our recent research report, Sound Women on Air, found that women comprise just 1 in 8 voices on air at breakfast. 

Having women’s voices on-air is hugely important, both to female radio audiences and to aspiring female presenters.