The headline of today’s post alone ought to generate some raised eyebrows. But the fact is, this question is asked a lot in media circles.
And the fascinating thing about this bold query is how different media verticals view the battle of the genders through different lenses and filters.
Let’s start with voice, the fast-rising platform occupying more and more gadgets. They’re the “assistants” we’re talking to more and more in our cars, in our kitchens, and our bedrooms. Alexa, Cortana, Google Voice, Siri, as well as the voices that occupy our cars, are becoming parts of the family, helping consumers run and control their media and gadgetry.
Perhaps you’ve noticed that most of these voices are decidedly female. And that’s no accident. In fact, there’s a news site that focuses on diversity and sexuality out of Western Australia – OUTinPerth – and they say women simply test better when it comes to voice command hardware and software.
They quote a Stanford professor and author, Clifford Nass, who boils it down this way:
“It’s much easier to find a female voice that everyone likes than a male voice that everyone likes. It’s a well-established phenomenon that the human brain is developed to like female voices.”
Really?
Talk to most people who’ve worked in the radio industry for any length of time and they may tell you just the opposite.
OUTinPerth notes that a few years back, Amazon tested a series of voices for their Echo smart speakers – and as we well know, ended up with a female voice assistant, the now ubiquitous “Alexa.”
Siri is a female, and while Apple provides an option for a male voice, its devices are shipped with the more familiar female persona. And it’s the one most of us end up using.
So, if all this research clearly indicates that a woman’s voice is the overall preference, why then are there so many more male voices on the AM and FM airwaves working on the air in broadcast radio?
Last spring, we partnered with Don Anthony’s Morning Show Boot Camp to produce AQ, radio’s first ever research study among air talent. It was a wide open survey, and a more than ample 1,100 members of radio’s personality community took the time to answer our questions, representing the biggest and smallest markets, prominent morning hosts as well as overnight DJs.
Now, there’s no census taken in radio, so none of us knows with any certainty the true demography of those working on the air. But I have confidence that with a sample as large as we attracted for AQ, we have a pretty good representation of the people plying their craft behind the mic.
Here’s how gender broke out in AQ 2018:
If you work for a radio station in a local market, I’m betting this 3:1 ratio has the ring of reality when you think about the people who walk in and out of your cluster’s air studios. And while perhaps there are more women working on the air today than there were in 1999 or 1969, the belief that male DJs are more appealing than their female counterparts must be in play here.
What else would explain why a medium that depends heavily on female listeners to generate ratings and of course, revenue, would be so tipped toward male DJs and hosts?
In every industry, beliefs about what works are passed down like folklore from generation to generation of radio programmers. Like stopset placement, artist separation, and time checks, certain “rules of engagement” are formed over time, becoming as firm as cement, accepted as industry standards.
How many times have we heard (or said) that women on the 
air in back to back dayparts isn’t good for ratings? Or that two female vocalists in a row is “clumpy?”
Or that women would rather listen to men on the radio? But if that’s true, how would you explain the iconic appeal of hosts from Delilah to Ellen K. to Dr. Ruth? They’ve all pulled down pretty good numbers among members of their own gender.
Those types of “isms” become entrenched throughout the entire industry. So, when something like this story in OUTinPerth comes along suggesting tech companies on the scale of Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, and Google have determined that a woman’s voice is more appealing than a man’s – well, it should make all of us in radio sit up and think about that.
Meantime, in an effort to rid the world – or at least gadgetry – of gender association, a group by the name of Copenhagen Pride and Virtue has created a voice known as Q – billed as “the world’s first genderless voice assistant.”
And here’s a clip of Q. See what you think:
Personally, Q doesn’t do much for me. And while I hate to sound insensitive or politically incorrect, I’d much rather hear production voiced by Randy Thomas or Ann DeWig, or listen to radio shows from the likes of Mandy James, Randi Scott, Ann Delisi, Kristine Stone, or Rita Wilde.
There are a lot of talented women on the airwaves all over North America and the world, not to mention those on the outside, working hard to find their place entertaining and performing on the radio.
Maybe we should suspend “the rules” and admit that in a rapidly changing media landscape, things are indeed changing.
Of maybe they’ve been this way all along.
More diversity on the airwaves just might make for more interesting sounding stations, and a way to expand the tent to reach audiences otherwise not engaged by broadcast radio.
We’ll be in the field later in the spring for AQ2 – the follow-up study.
Let’s see if anything’s changed in 12 months.
Stand by.
Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.
In 2008, jacapps was launched - a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created - a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact.
Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.
Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
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I remember reading some research years ago that NASA used a feminine (hope that doesn’t offend, these days you never know) voice on their computer systems because the male astronauts responded better to a female voice and that a female voice got their attention faster and garnered more authority with the astronauts. Could be. I used to wonder, if this is true, why did male demographic stations always go for the big, scary VO guy for their imaging? Should have been a women. Undoubtedly some PD decided to use the big, ballsy and scary VO guy and like rats, everyone followed suit down the line.
John, when you step back from the way most of us were “trained” in radio, these kinds of questions keep popping up. Looks like the post may have had the desired effect. Thanks for chiming in.
All good points I’ve heard many times over the years about voices on the radio.
But maybe the male/female difference on computer devices has to do more with the residual hangover from the homicidal HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey than for any real preference for a female.
We might be suspicious of Siri and Alexa but we probably don’t think they will try to murder us!
“I’m sorry Mike, I’m afraid I can’t do that.” Uuuugggghhhhh.
I still get the chills when I hear HAL. Good point, Mike.
The no female back-to-back rule proved impossible in Hot or Modern AC in the mid-1990’s. I was APD/MD/on-air at The Loop in Chicago in 1996/97. We were a Modern AC then, and I had to immediately change the Selector policies. So many great female artists that playing males back-to-back became the exception.
The days of Lilith Fair. Thanks for the story, Vinny.