Female Friendly

Heard it again yesterday. In order for (insert station here) to be successful, they have to be more "female friendly". I fought the urge with all of my might to ask the simple question, "what does 'female friendly' mean?" Really, I don't know, but that's been the buzz phrase for the past couple of years for what it takes to make a radio station successful. 

The three women I know the best- Pumpkin, my mom, and my sister- are all drastically different. They all get along, but they don't share common interests. Shannon hates kids and is a fan of the NHL. She doesn't watch "Dancing With The Stars". She watches "Rescue Me". My mom drinks gin every afternoon (for her health). My sister changes by the day...and that's the key here.

Radio's listenership and revenues have taken a dive ever since the goal of "female friendly" radio was first established. It's an indisputable fact that women are harder to figure out than men. Men are simple, women are complicated. So why does radio chase "female friendly" when a woman's mind changes by the hour? It's much easier to make the fellas happy than it is the gals, but that whole section of the audience is being sacrificed to reach the impossible dream- to make radio the equivalent what's on TV between 9a-3p. God help us.