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Life Of A Radio Girl is the real-talk, no-holds-barred diary of a 15-year career in commercial radio. This isn't a masterclass; it's a mic drop on the reality of the industry. The good, the bad, and the unscripted chaos from the booth and beyond. Tune in for the unfiltered story of what it takes to entertain the masses while trying not to lose your mind in the meantime.
Whereas the men would laugh and we'd have fun together and then you say something like, man, I really wanna be a content writer. Man, I really wanna schedule music. And they kinda chuckle at you and give you that like blanket head tilt. Life of a radio gal. Throughout radio, I have made some of the best female connections I've ever had in my life.
Radio Girl:I have always been a guy's girl, but in radio, it really did open up a softer side to me. Women were both my biggest allies and the biggest assholes that I encountered in my career. And some of the biggest assholes actually became my biggest allies. I think it stems from the fact that the nature of radio pits women against women. You know, there's not many shows with three women and one guy on there.
Radio Girl:You know, it's always two guys, one girl. Three guys, one girl. And so the female host can sometimes see a female producer as a threat. Even if you have no intention of going on air, you may not have any desire to be on air or want that on air role. They just see you as sort of competition.
Radio Girl:And I must say, I don't really blame them, especially not Eugenix sort of female host because they went through some real hell to get there. And I know that I went through my own batch of fresh hell to get as far as I've gotten, And I don't even think it was as crazy as it was, say, back in nineties radio and naughtiest radio. My first breakfast show, I had to apply more than once. I didn't get the first one, and it was the female host who was not wanting a bar of me. I think she just saw me as a young threat.
Radio Girl:Radio was full of these juxtaposed personalities, which have a very big ego and very low self esteem. You put a woman who is, you know, quote, unquote, older, which might just be in your late thirties, forties, god forbid fifties in radio. Oh my. And send them a mid twenties producer and holy hell. That particular host ended up being one of my biggest allies later because I really had to prove myself that I was here to make you sound better.
Radio Girl:I was not trying to take my job. I wanted you to shine. If you're shining, I'm shining. The show's shining. Another female that I worked with a few years later, damn near broke me.
Radio Girl:I mean, it was like her mission every day was to bring me down, and she would pick at me and and say stupid things about anything. But it was always later that the women would come around because they always was able to show that I really did not want their job. You know? And once you sort of peeled away at that huge ego and just time spent together showed you that I really am here for you, they softened. But sometimes they put me through some sort of hell to get there.
Radio Girl:Whereas the men were different. Right? The men were kinder. However, they had more influence over your career overall. Right?
Radio Girl:Because as the nature of the business, the men are the ones that become the content directors. They become the music directors. They become the heads of content, the program brand managers. They're just miles ahead in pay. They're miles ahead in influence.
Radio Girl:And so there's a few lessons that I learned where I thought that these men were allies of mine, but they were really just kind of fucking me over behind the scenes. Not all of them, though. I have some men that were in my corner and that I could pick up today and call, and they would move mountains if they could for me. I know that. But it was just so interesting how the women would be mean, but not necessarily have a bearing on my future.
Radio Girl:Whereas the men would laugh and we'd have fun together and then you say something like, man, I really wanna be a content director. Man, I really wanna schedule music. And they kinda chuckle at you and give you that like, oh, like in head tilt. Pat pat you on the head. Oh, cute.
Radio Girl:Coming up through radio, the big thing was always like operational skills. Oh, you have to have operational skills to become a content director, program brand manager. Right? Which is so odd to me because it's not the tech people that are known for their shining interactions with individuals. And I'm not saying for everybody, I'm just saying there's usually a buffer between your human and customer experience and your tech guys or your engineers.
Radio Girl:And yet, these are the ones who would then go on to make content decisions and be training the next producers and working with these female hosts that are getting marginalized through their whole career and then having no idea why they're quote being over reactive or quote being sensitive or quote being emotional. And so that sort of all kind of tied into it. It became all part and parcel of the experience. It's like, here I'd have this woman actively making my life hell because she was threatened or she would think that I want her job. But then I'd watch the way she'd get treated and spoken to by a content director and think, man, that is fucked up.
Radio Girl:And so I'd be on her side. She was hating on me, but I'd still be on her side because I'm like, this just isn't right. I mean, I learned operational skills by begging to learn them. I mean, I had to will and truly make a big ass stink because I kept going for those assisting content director jobs or operational jobs, and they kept getting knocked back because it was like, well, you just don't have the operational skills. All of those are learned.
Radio Girl:I mean, operational skills are literally you sit down in front of your different programs, your g selector, your Zetta, your, you know, VoxPro, your shortcuts, and you put your hands on the tools and you learn it. You form guide, you schedule music, You link songs and sweepers, and you put your exact time markers in. I mean, this is not rocket science. I'm not saying it's easy. I'm not saying anybody can do it, but what I'm saying is a lot of people with the previous knowledge I know that at least I had, if you've got some radio experience and you've got the desire to learn, there's really no reason you can't learn.
Radio Girl:And yet these are the things that were being held against me. But eventually, I had that male ally in my corner that was my content director at the time that kind of, in the beginning of our relationship, I think gave me that little pat on the head, but then eventually could see how damn hungry I was. So it was my content director that would produce breakfast once a week so that I could use that one day a week to do the form guiding or scheduling or or get my hands on that operational experience. So I'll always be grateful for that. But it really is such a male dominated industry.
Radio Girl:I remember I had a very candid conversation with someone very high up in content at one very particularly male dominated station, which I loved. I wanna put that out there. Absolutely bloody loved it. But I remember I was saying quite heatedly, like, where are all the female content directors? Like, they don't exist.
Radio Girl:And they said, oh, well, so and so and she didn't work out. And I was like, are you really saying this? And you know what you do with your failed content directors? You make them music directors, which no offense to the music directors out there. But it was like the one woman got the chance, and it was like, oh, she didn't do it, so no woman can.
Radio Girl:It was such bullshit, but I still just haven't made it. I haven't ticked that goal off, and I and I really want to. You know, here's a wild one. I actually ended up having to get a total hysterectomy when I worked at this very male dominated station. And even the men were sending me actually the loveliest text.
Radio Girl:Good luck. All the best today with that thing. So the boys, they do come around. You know? It's not an all men are evil situation.
Radio Girl:It's really not. It's just being able to traverse those very male dominant situations. I have the most inappropriate joke, and I almost am too afraid to tell it, but please don't cancel me. So I had this icebreaker joke because when I go to a new station and a new group of boys, men, you could tell they would sort of walk on eggshells around me. It was like, oh, is she cool?
Radio Girl:Is she gonna be, you know, one of the offended females? What what is she like? So, you know, they would sort of make these pseudo questionable jokes, and everybody kinda look at me. So my icebreaker joke from way back is always and it's not like I would tell the whole room. I'd pull the one most alpha manly man off to the side and go, hey.
Radio Girl:What's the difference between jelly and jam? They kinda look at you, and I go, well, you can't jelly a dick in anyone's ass. And that was usually enough to sort of for the boys to give me that green light and go, oh, okay. She's alright. Look.
Radio Girl:I have one more, but I'm pretty sure this would be my second and last podcast. So I'll save that one for maybe when we're on another season and prove myself. But, you know, for me, radio wasn't about being someone that I'm not because if I'm gonna be frank with you, I actually do like a naughty joke, you know, a fucked up story here and there. I've got a bit of black humor, and I actually credit working with the hospital before I ever went into radio with a bit of that. Because let me say, when you see the worst of life, you gotta make some fucked up jokes or else that shit's just gonna break you.
Radio Girl:So for me, it wasn't about being someone completely different, but it was a lot of biting my tongue. You know? A lot of knowing when to speak up and when to just let it through. Let it through to the keeper. Just let it go.
Radio Girl:Whatever. This isn't worth it. The worst are the white anthers. They're the ones that, woof, that you really gotta look out for, and they're so cheeky because you just don't see it coming. You don't see it coming until it's too late and the whole shit's collapsing.
Radio Girl:And white dancers were men and women. But it's interesting because I have daughters, and I think, oh, I hope they don't become cheerleaders, and I hope they don't become radio producers. Find something. Find a sport where you stay on the ground and find a profession that is just a little bit more grounded. But then again, if they fall in love with it like me, even in spite of all of the fuckery, nothing I can do about it.