PrintAugust 21, 2007
Jane Fonda Feminist Radio Network Tanks
A talk radio network launched last year by Jane Fond and Gloria Steinman that was supposed to appeal to women ended up appealing to no one. It signed off the air permanently last Friday:
When the talk-radio network, called GreenStone, officially launched in September 2006, NewsMax reported that it was a "new left-wing radio network that plans to appeal to women listeners and counter the dominance of conservative talk radio.”
GreenStone claimed it would deliver "de-politicized, de-polarized talk radio by women hosts for female listeners,” and Steinem said it would offer an alternative to current radio talk, which she described as "very argumentative, quite hostile, and very much male-dominated.”
What Fonda didn't reckon with was the fact that there are plenty of woman hosts already on talk radio. It's just that most of them are conservative.
Carrie Lukas, writing in the New York Post points out that talk radio stars like Laura Ingraham, Tammy Bruce, and Dr. Laura are already heard on hundreds of stations by millions of people. They appeal to both women and men while showing that the sex of a host is less important than their entertainment value to listeners.
It somehow isn't surprising that Fonda and Steinam would have neglected that fundamental law of capitalism; give the customer what they want.
