#bbclocalradio

[craigcatling]

A festive thank you to BBC’s Geoff Barker for giving My Christmas Prayer another spin. If you missed it you can tune in here at 1:53 https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06rqc14 #bbclocalradio #xmas #billyfury #bbc #christmassingle (at Swindon) https://www.instagram.com/p/BrfZgPdBtyg/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1089oqlfmf8k1

[womeninbbclocalradio]

Chart: Detailed breakdown of BBC Local Radio programming by part of the day and gender of presenters

The chart below provides the answer to my fourth and final research question:

How does solo and shared programming differ between dayparts?

[womeninbbclocalradio]

Chart: How does the proportion of airtime filled by female and male radio presenters vary between parts of the day?

The chart below provides the answer to my third research question:

How does the proportion of airtime filled by female and male radio presenters vary between RAJAR dayparts?

Tony Hall’s stated ambition is for half of all breakfast shows on BBC local radio to have a female presenter by the end of 2014. At present, around a quarter (27%) of all programming aired between 06:00 and 10:00 – RAJAR’s definition of the Breakfast Peak daypart – contains a female presenter. This means that of the six RAJAR dayparts, Breakfast Peak (27%) contains the third highest proportion of women, behind Afternoon (38%) and Mid Morning (29%).

Although relatively low, the proportion of women presenting during the Breakfast Peak daypart compares very favourably to the other peak daypart, PM Drive (16:00-19:00), when female presenters are present for an average of just 17% of airtime.

At present, male presenters (85%) cover over three times as much of the Breakfast Peak daypart as women (27%). This means that, on average, men are on air for 51 minutes in every hour of the Breakfast Peak daypart, whereas women are present for 16 minutes. Again, though, this disparity is considerably less than during PM Drive, during which men (86%, 52 minutes in every hour) are on air for over five times as long as women (17%, 10 minutes in every hour).

[womeninbbclocalradio]

Chart: Shared BBC Local Radio programming by gender

During the data collection period, shows with multiple presenters accounted for an average of 418 minutes of airtime per station per week (5.14% of all airtime).

Around three-quarters of shared airtime was filled by mixed-sex presenter teams (74%).

In terms of same-sex presenter teams, all-male teams accounted for around a quarter of shared airtime (24%).

By contrast, all-female presenting teams accounted for just 2% of shared airtime. This equates to an average of 9 minutes per station per week and means that audiences were 12 times as likely to hear a show presented by an all-male as by all-female one. What is more, just three stations were found to have programmes presented by all-female teams (Bristol, Newcastle and Solent).

There is a notable difference between weekdays and weekends, with the proportion of shared time filled by mixed-sex presenter teams falling from 86% to 55% in order to facilitate a sharp increase in all-male teams, up from 12% during the week to 44% at weekends. Notably, however, the proportion of all-female programming remained minuscule, falling from 2% to 1%.

[womeninbbclocalradio]

Chart: Solo BBC Local Radio presenters by gender

Looking exclusively at solo presenters, 81% of airtime is filled by male presenters. This is around four times the amount filled by solo female presenters (19%).

The proportion of solo shows presented by women is slightly higher at weekends (22%) than on weekdays (18%).

[womeninbbclocalradio]

Graphic: BBC Local Radio – must try harder

Station notes

BBC Tees – Across the two weeks, BBC Tees did not broadcast a single minute of weekday programming presented by a woman.

BBC Norfolk – The situation would have been the same at BBC Norfolk had Thordis Fridriksson not been sitting in for Stephen Bumfrey during both weeks (12:00-16:00, Mon-Fri).

BBC Three Counties – Sue Marchant’s three hour show, aired at 22:00 on Wednesday, 5 December, was the only weekday programme presented by a woman on BBC Three Counties in either week.

BBC Guernsey – ‘Classical Choice’ (09:00-10:00, Sunday) was the only weekend programme presented by a woman on BBC Guernsey (Sam Oakley in September; Fiona Le Tissier in December).

BBC Lancashire – Although BBC Lancashire’s weekday schedule contained a relatively high proportion of female presenters (41% of the station’s weekday programming), the weekend was very different. Over the weekend, BBC Lancashire averaged just 90 minutes of programming presented by women (4% of weekend programming).

[womeninbbclocalradio]

Graphic: BBC Local Radio – peak periods in numbers