Global makes a global hiring; female voices and the radio
Bold and interesting move for a UK radio broadcaster. Sharon Dastur has joined Global as Senior Programming & Content Advisor. She’s been a senior programmer for iHeartRadio, now working at a record company. (A company linked to Global is trying to buy 49.9% of iHeartRadio).
Nobody was interested in buying an AM licence this time round from the FCC; nor a third of the FM stations available. Apparently it’s all about local ownership rules.
Spotted - a random drive-by #lazybuggleslede in this podcast-but-not-a-podcast app.
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An excellent clip of BBC Radio 4, that might raise a smile.
Radio 4 is also not immune to biscuit talk, it turns out.
On The Media tackles the oft-quoted research that listeners find female voices annoying to listen to. The research is traced back to Radio Broadcast magazine from the 1920s (compiled by a female editor, incidentally), and is, at least partially, the fault of AM broadcasting and early microphones, as some 1927 Bell Labs research highlights.
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- RIP Phil Valentine, a radio host for WTN in Nashville TN, USA. In December last year, he tweeted “I have a very low risk of a) getting COVID and b) dying of it if I do. Why would I risk getting a heart attack or paralysis by getting the vaccine?”, and then went on to record a parody song, Vaxman, mocking the vaccine and any of his listeners who wanted to protect themselves. He died of COVID-19 on Saturday. We have power. Use it wisely.
Supporters
Thank you to Barrie Stephenson: “thanks for digging this out - it keeps an old radio guy up to date”, and to T Carter Ross: “Thanks for pointing to that Spotify paper on language-use. Really interesting.” - for your kind coffees this week. I’m not in lockdown any more, so have spent it!
Thanks to James Masterton, Richard Hilton, and Brun Audio Consulting for your ongoing support of this newsletter. I’m very grateful to you.
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