Women's Radio in Europe Network (WREN)

Gendered divisions of labour are common in the history of radio production (and are one of the things groups like the Sound Women are seeking to address.)  It has happened quite regularly that once a technical task (such as sound technician) becomes a domain open to women, it is also devalued – or vice versa.

In discussion today with Andras Simongati-Farquhar, an MA student at the Insitute of Sonology in the Hague , he pointed out that such a phenomenon also seems to have occurred in the Soviet Union’s radio jamming activities.  This is mentioned in a section of a documentary by Rimantas Pleikys, former Minister for Communications and Informatics of Lithuania, called The Empire of Noise about Soviet radio jamming.  While transmitting jamming signals was the domain of the men, it was largely a corps of women who monitored frequencies for the effects of jamming.  Check out the section of the documentary here:

Fugitive Waves has published a 2-part documentary on Memphis’s all-female radio station WHER, begun as a novelty in 1955 that quickly took on a personality of its own.  Click on the links for part 1 and part 2.

Bringing together several important things for WREN, this just spotted from the Women’s International News Gathering Service WINGS).  (On Facebook : www.facebook.com/wingsradio):

Lydia Ajono interviews Freda Pigru, a young radio station manager in rural northern Ghana, and West and Central Africa Representative to the Women’s International Network of AMARC (the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters). Pigru describes her activities running a rural community radio station and especially recruiting and supporting women, who are shy of talking on mic but sometimes sing their issues.

Download link: http://wings.org/ftp/WINGS2015series/WINGS25-15RadioRoleModels-28_47-192kbps.mp3

There are many fascinating aspects of the interview, including finding ways for women to feel comfortable speaking on the radio – sometimes singing works better! – but also note on the beginning the interviewer also asking about having enough language competence to operate in a transnational environment of AMARC (specifically whether her French is up to it) and living near the border between Ghana and Burkina Faso.

Do also note the call to help fund the stations run both by Lydia Ajono and Freda Pigru, which can also be done via WINGS:  wings@wings.org.

WREN Kate Murphy has written a fascinating entry for the BBC blog on women and early BBC based on her forthcoming book Behind the Wireless: An Early History of Women at the BBC. Check it out.

One of the great legends of British broadcasting history is that the popular BBC soap opera “The Archers” killed off its heroine Grace Archer in a dramatic fire in its early years – supposedly not coincidentally with the launch of the BBC’s commercial rival ITV.  Now, at age 90, the actress Ysanne Churchman, has offered a more mundane and all-too-familiar explanation, that has been now been adapted into a fascinating radio docudrama.  It centred, among other things, around a demand for equal pay….

Check out the BBC news report on the story, and listen while you can here.

The Austrian mediatheque has just opened a new online exhibition devoted to women’s voices in honour of International Woman’s Day.  Drawing on a large number of documents in Austrian archives, it explores a number of themes, from eras defined by the World Wars.

While drawing on Austrian archives, it is important to note that the exhibit and its voices are not at all limited to Austria.  Eleanor Roosevelt, among many other famous women, is featured as well.

While the exhibition is not limited to radio, there is also a fascinating section devoted to radio voices: http://www.mediathek.at/frauenstimmen/nach-1945/radiostimmen/

The site is mostly in German, but an English description can be found  at Europeana Sounds

Check out this piece from NPR….