Sunday, August 19, 2007
Jane Fonda’s Radio Network Tanks
The "feminist” radio company whose founders include Jane Fonda and Gloria Steinem failed to attract an audience and it signed off the air for good on 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.”
She also said radio was "overbalanced toward the ultra-right.” But "Greenstone Media’s brand of tepid liberalism didn’t appeal to women,” Carrie Lukas, author of "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Women, Sex and Feminism,” writes in the New York Post.
Greenstone offered interviews with such liberals as Ralph Nader, as well as segments on parenting and relationships.
But its programming was picked up by only eight affiliates in small to mid-sized markets, and its backers have now pulled the plug.
GreenStone’s CEO Susan Ness deplored the end of GreenStone as a loss for women. But Lukas observes: "Perhaps Ness should use her time off to tune in to other stations. She’ll find there are many prominent women on the airwaves – they’re just not saying what she thinks they should.”
Lukas pointed to Laura Ingraham, who is heard on 340 stations and has an audience of more than 5 million, and Dr. Laura Schlessinger, with some 7.75 million listeners.
To attract large numbers of female listeners, "it will take more than having ‘all-female’ programming from an ‘all-female’ network,” Lukas opines.
"Women want to be entertained and engaged. We don’t listen to radio or (Hillary backers take note) vote out of solidarity.”
The "feminist” radio company whose founders include Jane Fonda and Gloria Steinem failed to attract an audience and it signed off the air for good on 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.”
She also said radio was "overbalanced toward the ultra-right.” But "Greenstone Media’s brand of tepid liberalism didn’t appeal to women,” Carrie Lukas, author of "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Women, Sex and Feminism,” writes in the New York Post.
Greenstone offered interviews with such liberals as Ralph Nader, as well as segments on parenting and relationships.
But its programming was picked up by only eight affiliates in small to mid-sized markets, and its backers have now pulled the plug.
GreenStone’s CEO Susan Ness deplored the end of GreenStone as a loss for women. But Lukas observes: "Perhaps Ness should use her time off to tune in to other stations. She’ll find there are many prominent women on the airwaves – they’re just not saying what she thinks they should.”
Lukas pointed to Laura Ingraham, who is heard on 340 stations and has an audience of more than 5 million, and Dr. Laura Schlessinger, with some 7.75 million listeners.
To attract large numbers of female listeners, "it will take more than having ‘all-female’ programming from an ‘all-female’ network,” Lukas opines.
"Women want to be entertained and engaged. We don’t listen to radio or (Hillary backers take note) vote out of solidarity.”
