For those of you who missed the Drudge headline on Wednesday, Gloria Steinem, Jane Fonda, Rosie O’Donnell (quite the trifecta!) just launched an all-women run radio network called Greenstone Media.
IWF’s Carrie Lukas provides a description of the station over at National Review Online this morning:
“A women-centered radio network isn’t a bad idea: Lots of successful media outlets specifically target women, from sappy television romances on Lifetime and Oxygen to family-centered morning shows and magazines. The new all-women creation, Greenstone Media, follows a similar model. It endeavors to be entertaining as well as informative, and relate to women’s everyday challenges with family and work. Steinem told Reuters that the network has a “different spirit,” will offer “more community” and show “respect for different points of view,” instead of “constant arguing.”
“Online descriptions of the shows sound perfectly girly. The “Radio Ritas” (Greenstone’s morning crew) features “three best friends…who will bring your mornings alive with amazing views, relevant news, life advice… all with their own brand of fun.” The website links to “Corey’s recipes,” including preparations for an Indian summer picnic and directions for “Cheerio Pop-ems,” a healthy alternative to your kids’ favorite Rice Krispie Treats.”
*Sigh* A liberal radio station? I could handle that. But Lifetime meets AM radio? I think I just threw up in my mouth a little. The only bright spot for me is that Lisa Bimbach, author of The Preppy Handbook is going to be on the station.
As Carrie points out in her article, “there’s something delicious about a feminist icon like Steinem creating such feminine programming when so much of the feminist movement still rejects the idea that men and women are different.”
Carrie goes on to talk about the women currently ruling the talk radio waves (like the fabulous Laura Ingraham) and the prospects for Greenstone Media to be a success. I encourage you to read the full article here.
Author Myrna Blyth, friend of IWF and judge in the upcoming 2006-2007 college essay contest (details to be announced next week), also tackles the new station in an article today.
The public position of the Greenstone Media folk is that the station is not a liberal station – they are striving for political balance. And I hope that’s correct. But a quick look at the backers of the project makes is really hard to believe that they really care about political balance. As Myrna points out:
“Ms. Steinem has made it clear that one of the reasons for launching the network is to give voice to opinions different from those forwarded by leading talk show hosts, and she has implied that women, just because they are women, would, inevitably have moderate or liberal viewpoints.”