Women in Radio: Unfiltered Voices from Canada

By Helen Aitkin, Constance Dilley, Barbara M. Freeman and 17 more

Who are, au féminin, the legends who shaped radio in Canada? What did they contribute locally, regionally, and nationally? How was their experience in radio broadcasting different from that of their male counterparts? 

Women in Radio presents the women who built careers in the radio industry—yet whose contribution has often been overlooked simply because they were women. This collection of stories highlights the multi-faceted contributions they made to their field and explores issues specific to them. 

Academic research, interviews, personal reflections and accounts, historical reviews, and hybrid texts combine neatly in this eclectic yet well–researched edited volume to reflect the fast-paced world of radio broadcasting. Whether through storytelling, direct quotes, or quasi transcriptions best read aloud, the reader will come away with a real sense of the aural nature of radio, of the voice unaccompanied, of the pure spoken word and how it differs from the printed word. 

Published in English.

• Language: English
• Publisher: University of Ottawa Press
• Release date: Sep 22, 2020
• ISBN: 9780776629070

Book preview

Biography

Introduction

Geneviève A. Bonin-Labelle

Two billion, two hundred and fifty million is the number of results you obtain when you enter the keywords women and radio in Google’s search engine. ¹ This number demonstrates that radio is still significant and that women are increasingly participating online in relation to this medium. Obviously, we can discuss whether or not online streaming truly constitutes radio, but the need for women to find an outlet for their voices to be heard is something that is really not up for debate. Whether it is in the form of a YouTube video or a weekly podcast, women have found ways to flourish within media for several decades and have been an integral part of radio’s development since the time of the telegraph. Women have been operators of wireless radio on land and at sea; operators and engineers during the wars; announcers, producers, radio journalists; and so on. Nonetheless, when it comes down to naming the most famous female radio personalities from any decade, the task is arduous, particularly if we limit ourselves to Canada.

The names Peter Gzowski, one of the pillars of public broadcasting;² Lorne Greene, known as the Voice of Doom, informing Canada of the many fatalities of the war; and Michael Enright are household names to most Canadians, as are the names of many male radio and television journalists and announcers who have filled our airwaves and graced our screens. However, when it comes to the women in Canadian media, people can remember very few. Barbara Frum and a couple of Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) radio hosts from the last few decades are recalled mostly because they were as popular on radio as they were on television.³ But the truth is that we know little of the women who work hard behind the scenes or on air. Today’s announcers perhaps get a bit more exposure with the Internet, but, generally speaking, their reputation remains limited to the regions they serve. Yet, as Ross explains, local and regional media have different, but important, roles to play as they find ways to appeal to local audiences by providing news they want to hear about people and services in their communities.⁴ This, I believe, represents the essence of this book. Not only does it uncover the faces of women who, until now, remained nameless, it reveals the importance of the work women do locally, regionally, and nationally, and brings their issues to the forefront.

Why Women?

Previous books contribute to this process in their own way. Through feminist and cultural-studies lenses, van Zoonen provides one of the most lasting works that discusses feminist media theory.⁵ Through her thorough analysis of varying perspectives on feminism, she makes it possible to understand that there is no one feminism through which we can view the media or radio; however, she does insist that there are two clear ingredients to studying media in a feminist-theory perspective: gender and power. Looking at the stories of women and radio is no different. Likewise, her perspective on cultural studies is linked to the understanding of power relations, which are also at the heart of some of the essays in this book. Yet, what is different is that the women who took part in this collection were never told to discuss their subject matter in this perspective. Therefore, it was either a happy coincidence that these issues arose whereby some authors chose to use the feminist lens or, perhaps what I suspect is that, given the subject matter, it was almost inevitable to address issues of gender and power when looking at Canadian women and radio, as both are inherent to the topic. Nonetheless, as van Zoonen has highlighted, several critiques made by feminist researchers have, in some circumstances, still fallen on deaf ears.⁶ The contribution of women to the field of radio studies, like in communication studies, is important. Indeed, it is sometimes difficult to reconcile all the perspectives, but an acknowledgement of its existence is nevertheless essential to our societal understanding. In this same view, I acknowledge the need for discussions of other perspectives, such as the Indigenous and black perspectives, which are absent in this book. Views from every province and territory would also have made it more compelling, but it does not diminish its importance. It only serves to demonstrate the continued need to research this area and bring it to the forefront, all the while building on previous works.

Gender and the Media served as a building block to discuss representations of gender in the media,⁷ the various tools used in research to analyze representations, as well as the political and cultural strategies that are used to challenge societal constructs of gender, whether they be images projected by the media or situations involving the media themselves. Four years later, Gender and Transformations: Theory and Practices on Gender and Media⁸ continued on that path by shedding light on issues such as gender in relation to journalistic careers,⁹ as well as the need to provide spaces that allow for the exercise of participatory citizenship and the promotion of dialogue and debate concerning issues deemed as publicly relevant.¹⁰

These voices were crucial to reaffirm the relevance of feminist discourse within media and to bring about the flaws of using a one-dimensional perspective to study media. They have also demonstrated the importance of place and time to explain the realities of women in media. The discussion of Western views or European views are prevalent.

From these overarching views on gender come a few books that delve into specific stories of women in more specific realms. Barbara M. Freeman’s book The Satellite Sex: The Media and Women’s Issues in English Canada, 1966–1971, examines a particular period in Canada’s history and focuses on English views.¹¹ Her collection of essays entitled Beyond Bylines: Workers and Women’s Rights in Canada showcases the lives of some media women who have gone beyond their regular duties to pursue women’s ideas and goals in Canada; however, it is not media-specific.¹²

There are several reasons that make media-specific books, particularly about radio, more difficult to produce. For starters, the attractiveness of television in the 1950s made radio a less interesting subject of research and, consequently, left the radio scene with a gap of knowledge that has only been partly restored. Also, part of this reality can be attributed to the fact that, in relation to their male counterparts, women were prevented from having an active on-air role for many years. How can we forget the long-held belief that radio could not properly transmit female voices! Caroline Mitchell’s Women & Radio: Airing Differences provides a chapter on this very issue,¹³ and luckily concludes that long past are the days where comments about women’s voices lacking the suitability to be on air constitute a principal argument for dismissing them.¹⁴ Nonetheless, as she explains, even with a microphone, women have had to fight to be heard, particularly when their topics or roles have been in conflict with those of men of influence.¹⁵ Women have made much progress on this front, but there still are many stories to tell to document their struggles. That is not to say that radio completely lost its allure, but more often than not radio has been limited to a few paragraphs or chapters in more generalized books on media. Therefore, it is not surprising that the most noteworthy book on women and radio of late is Mitchell’s. She lays the ground for future research on women and radio in a four-part collection broadly based in the United Kingdom that reflects the development of radio programming by and for women, the rise of feminist radio, stories of women working in radio, and offers a collection of resources and contacts for radio in that country.

Her book resembles Freeman’s in that the chapters provide a timeline of women’s challenges. With so many viewpoints to explore and issues at hand, from the representations of media to the construct of media artefacts themselves, it is not at all surprising that we have not exhausted the ways in which we can explore the female reality in media in general and in relation to specific media.

I applaud those who have contributed to uncovering the systemic discrimination and challenges women have faced and still confront today. However, they have been insufficient in explaining the breadth of the contributions by and for women. Therefore, the need for a book on women and radio in Canada is warranted. While past authors’ description of challenges is important, our paths part ways early on in this collection as the objective here is not to explain the plight of women, although some of the examples do help in painting this picture. This book lends a voice to the women who have worked in one of the oldest media by giving them air time to talk about their field in their own way.

Radio is such a personal medium, as Crisell and many others have explained.¹⁶ It follows us throughout our daily lives and takes part in the most personal, special, and sometimes mundane aspects of our lives. But it is also a fleeting medium, as it is not written and is rarely preserved. Therefore, there is a purpose in trying to capture some of its moments for future generations. Otherwise, we will continue to perpetuate the myth of its demise.

Why Radio?

With the arrival of new technologies, we have often heard that radio is dead. Regardless of declining listenership over the years, radio still holds its own within the broadcasting industry, and in society as a whole. According to the 2017 Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission’s Communication and Monitoring Report, 9 percent of the $17.9 billion in broadcasting industry revenue was derived through commercial radio and 2 percent by public radio (CBC).¹⁷ Commercial radio stations reported $1.5 billion in revenues, with an 18.6 percent profitability margin, thereby demonstrating overall profitability despite important variations. One hundred and eighty community, campus, and Indigenous radio stations completed the landscape in 2016, reporting $58 million in revenues.

Overall listening habits have been relatively stable over the past five years, with an average of sixteen listening hours per week for people aged twelve and up.¹⁸ Although radio has been surpassed by subscription-based services and the Internet as a contributor to revenue for the industry, radio still has a lot to teach us. It offers lessons in communication and, in Canada, it serves as a vehicle in the continuing effort to promote national values and to reflect the country to itself by showcasing Canadian talent.

The lack of literature focusing on radio is not only a question of diversity and gender, it is rooted in a much larger issue. Although it may be difficult to believe, there are few documented examples of radio’s continued success, longevity, and sustained existence after the 1950s. It seems that radio beyond this point was mostly eclipsed by television, which arrived as a well-oiled machine. It inherited the practices of radio listening, appeared within the pre-existing, fully established context of advertising-supported network broadcasting, and did not require a period of amateur experimentation and no crystal-set phase.¹⁹ Television not only captured most of the radio audience, but it also captured the eyes of many researchers. Not only was radio seldom written about within these years, little has been written since, particularly with the arrival of the Internet.

The lack of documentation, however, does not mean that radio did not change to include new formats such as news and talk radio, as well as different styles of musical programming.²⁰ Radio solidified the presence of the Top 40 format first introduced in the early 1950s and promoted album-oriented rock throughout the 1960s and 1970s and alternative/postmodern music in the 1980s.²¹ And, despite what we may say about the loss of drama to television, radio enthusiasts still find notable contributions when tuning to community radio shows. The CBC also has its occasional special broadcasts, like the adaptation of Mordecai Richler’s novel Barney’s Version, which aired as a radio drama in 2003, or the award-winning drama Afghanada, which aired for six seasons, until 2011. Satellite radio has provided the industry with a second life, despite its share of disappointments in Canada.²² And, let us not forget podcasting, which, although it is not considered to be radio per se because of its lack of instantaneity, still provides audio content for the attentive ear.

When discussing a topic such as gender diversity, or women and media, one must, therefore, consider the larger context, which includes a general historical lack of information. As previously noted, women and radio books exist, but the topic always seems to be intertwined in a more general historical overview of women and media, like in the cases of Susan Crean’s Newsworthy: The Lives of Media Women²³ and Marjory Lang’s Women Who Made the News.²⁴ Other books that have showcased particular personalities like Barbara Frum are interesting, but only tell the story of one person even though thousands more have shaped radio as we know it today. Many have been forgotten, and the work of others has never truly been acknowledged because most of it was done behind the scenes instead of in front of a mic. Many have been women. This book serves to provide insight into a few lives and times of women in Canadian radio in the hope of inspiring others to contribute to the history and future of radio in Canada.

Making Sense of the Collection

Considering the amount of information potentially missing in the Canadian radio archive, a voluntary decision was made to avoid the traditional approach to building a collection in favour of something more eclectic that would break ground in this area but leave room for others to participate in the creation of a more complete picture of women and radio in Canada. Consequently, a group of texts that not only include academic research on the subject but also interviews, personal reflections and accounts, historical reviews, and hybrid texts are incorporated, using several different formats. The differences do not stop there, however. Verbal formats are varied, including direct quotes and grammatical styles, which are best read aloud. In the absence of an image, it seemed natural, but also necessary, to represent both radio and the women who shape it in this way, as this variety provides the reader with a real sense of the aural nature of radio, of the voice unaccompanied, of the pure spoken word and how it differs from the printed word. It also helps maintain the context in which many of the texts were created. To some, it may seem jarring, but it should be read as authentic.

The book begins by describing the contributions of different women throughout specific historical periods, beginning in the 1930s with Linda Kay’s historical account of Kate Aitken. Aiken’s versatile personality made it possible for her to transfer her skills as a chef to a well-established on-air host. She is known as the most popular radio personality of her time. Her story is followed by that of Majorie McEnaney (written by Barbara M. Freeman), who strived to gain rights and equality not only for married women working on air but women in general throughout the 1940s and 1960s. Her story of determination is an inspiration for all women. Then, Gertrude Robinson discusses two particular periods where the role of women and radio is evident. She uses examples of many female radio personalities from the 1950s to the 1970s, with a particular focus on those from Québec. Finally, Chantal Dumas, a Québec sound artist and curator, describes her original trajectory working as an artist on and off the air. You can almost hear what she describes as the art of radio from the 1980s until today.

The second section of the book focuses on portraits of particular women in Canadian radio, including Elizabeth Long (Anita Marie Slominska), Patti Schmidt (personal narrative), Carol Off (Constance Dilley), and Jennifer McGuire (Ross Perigoe), who all worked for or are currently employed by the CBC but have distinct stories and perspectives on life, on and off the air. Also included in this section is a story about making it in community radio, a sector often seen as a playground for aspiring radio personalities, but never as a career in its own right. However, with the candid narrative provided by Lise Millette, one clearly sees that community radio is not solely an amateur sport.

The third section discusses profession and P(p)olitics, the hurdles women have had to deal with in getting a job working in radio, particularly positions on air that have historically been labelled male. Pierre Dufault and Pierre Chamberland, two well-known broadcasting industry personalities in Québec, took the time to discuss stereotypes and politics with reporter Lise Millette. Then, Andra McCartney explains how women today are developing audio skills in and out of community radio in a way that demonstrates how radio has evolved. On the other hand, Christine Maki describes the work required to achieve equality in commercial Top 40 radio, and, finally, Gregory Taylor examines gender- and equality-policy improvements in the broadcasting industry.

The final section of the book tells of the many ways women have assisted in encouraging diversity on the air, not only by their physical presence but also in their many contributions to various facets of the industry. Angela Wilson tells the story of the OWL collective and how it has provided access to more senior members of our society to secure a voice. Helen Hambly, Helen Aitken, and Tanis McKnight tell the story of three intertwined Helens who have been at the forefront of rural radio initiatives in Canada and abroad. Marian van der Zon describes pirate radio in western Canada and how it has become a particular space for musicians and artists. Anna Leventhal’s article about Venus on Venus showcases women’s perspectives and stories about music and women in community radio. Sophie Toupin, then, brings to life the amazing journey of Frieda Werden and her contribution to the Women’s Information News Gathering Service (known as WINGS), and, finally, Lise Millette’s interview with Mélissa Cabana shows how a regular school co-op program can lead to amazing adventures that last a lifetime.

Behind each text is a story, a unique expression of a person or group’s investment in the radio industry over time. Taken together, these articles are an historical journey into some of radio’s best-kept secrets. The amusement is to find the various connections between the articles and chapters, whereas the legacy will be the inspiration the book provides others to tell the stories of the Canadian female radio legends we forgot, those who were or will never be truly recognized, and those who still work in the shadows for our listening pleasure.

Notes

1As at January 24, 2020.

2Canada Mourns Death of Peter Gzowski, CBC News, last modified January 25, 2002, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canada-mourns-death-

of-peter-gzowski-1.323165.

3Barbara Frum: Pioneering Broadcaster, CBC, accessed February 28, 2020, https://www.cbc.ca/archives/topic/barbara-frum-pioneering-broadcaster;

Knowlton Nash, The Microphone Wars: A History of Triumph and Betrayal at the CBC (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1994).

4Karen Ross, Silent Witness: News Sources, the Local Press and the Disappeared Woman, in Gendered Transformations: Theory and Practices on Gender and Media, eds. Tonny Krijnen, Claudia Alvares, and Sofie Van Bauwel (Bristol: Intellect, 2011), 9–23.

5Liesbet van Zoonen, Feminist Media Studies (Thousand Oaks: Sage, 1994).

6van Zoonen, Feminist Media Studies, 15.

7Rosalind Gill, Gender and the Media (Cambridge, UK: Polity, 2007).

8Tonny Krijnen, Claudia Alvares, and Sofie Van Bauwel, eds., Gendered Transformations: Theory and Practices on Gender and Media (Bristol: Intellect, 2011).

9Sinikka Torkkola and Iiris Ruoho, Looking for Gender Equality in Journalism, in Krijnen, Alvares, and Van Bauwel, Gendered Transformations, 203–220.

10Claudia Alvares, Tracing Gendered (In)visibilities in the Portuguese Quality Press, in Krijnen, Alvares, and Van Bauwel, Gendered Transformations, 27.

11Barbara M. Freeman, The Satellite Sex: The Media and Women’s Issues in English Canada, 1966–1971 (Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier Press, 2001).

12Freeman, Beyond Bylines: Media Workers and Women’s Rights in Canada (Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier Press, 2011).

13Caroline Mitchell, Women & Radio: Airing Differences (London: Routledge, 2000).

14Mitchell, Women & Radio, 5.

15Mitchell, Women & Radio, 26.

16Andrew Crisell, Understanding Radio, 2nd ed. (New York: Routledge, 2006).

17Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, Communications Monitoring Report 2017, (Ottawa, CRTC, 2017), 100, https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/publications/reports/PolicyMonitoring/2017/cmr2017.pdf.

18CRTC, Communications Monitoring Report, 54.

19Richard Butsch, The Making of American Audiences: From Stage to Television, 1750–1990 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 235.

20Ross McCreath, Radio—From Crystal Sets to Satellites, Canadian Broadcasting History, Canadian Communications Foundation, 2006, https://www.broadcasting-history.ca/radio-%E2%80%93-crystal-sets-

satellites.

21Keith Negus, Producing Pop: Culture and Conflict in the Popular Music Industry (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993).

22Brian O’Neill, Digital Audio Broadcasting in Canada: Technology and Policy in the Transition to Digital Radio, Canadian Journal of Communication 32, no. 1 (2007): 71–90, https://doi.org/10.22230/cjc.2007v32n1a1809; Brian O’Neill, Digital Radio Policy in Canada: From Analog Replacement to Multimedia Convergence, Journal of Radio & Audio Media 15, no. 1 (2008): 26–40, https://doi.org/10.1080/19376520801978126.

23Susan Crean, Newsworthy: The Lives of Media Women (Toronto: Stoddart, 1985).

24Marjory Lang, Women Who Made the News: Female Journalists in Canada, 1880–1945 (Montréal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1999).

DECADES OF RADIO: CONTRIBUTIONS BY WOMEN

CHAPTER 1

Mrs. A: The Hardest

Working Woman in Radio

Linda Kay (in memoriam)

Summary

From cook to radio announcer, to best-selling book author, Kate Aitken was the Oprah Winfrey of the 1930s and 1940s. She dispensed advice on anything from family life to world political situations in innovative ways that captivated her audience for decades. One of Canada’s most recognized radio personalities, she sold jellies, travelled the world, and wrote about her many insights in books and numerous newspaper articles and columns, paving the way for future female radio personalities. Mrs. A was one of a kind, not only for her family, but for generations of Canadians, and an example for women broadcasters everywhere.

Kate Aitken’s work as a radio commentator has taken her all over the world. Both at home and overseas, it has given her unique opportunities to observe and record.¹

The most popular radio personality in Canada in the 1930 and 1940s, whose valued advice and can-do spirit validated a generation of women and resonates today, got her start in truly accidental fashion.

Kate Aitken happened to be conducting a weeklong cooking school in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, when a woman commentator at the local radio station had an accident on her way to work and broke her leg. To fill the gap, the enterprising station manager hurried to a nearby theatre to broadcast the event live. Upon arrival, Kate Aitken was already in the midst of showing a rapt audience how to bake a cake. As Aitken mixed her batter and cheerfully explained the process to the audience, the unrehearsed broadcast captivated listeners at home. The rest of the week, the show aired live from the stage of the theatre.

Back home my sponsors decided that this type of spontaneous broadcast was an excellent advertising medium; and by Monday morning, still breathless, I was launched on a new career.² At age forty-three, Kate Aitken, who had been giving cooking lessons across Canada for five years at the behest of a flour manufacturer, had transformed, via radio, into Mrs. A.

From Cake Recipes to Commentaries

Mrs. A’s first broadcast from that PEI theatre in 1934 kicked off a radio career spanning almost a quarter-century. Kate Aitken reached popularity never attained by any Canadian broadcaster, male or female. She drew three million listeners a week—a quarter of the population of Canada at the time. And while she made her name dispensing household tips, culinary advice, and information on fashion, beauty, and etiquette, her topics widened as she ventured far outside the kitchen.

There is a noticeable evolution in her commentaries as the farm wife from Ontario gains access to the world’s leading political figures, including Winston Churchill, Clement Atlee, Franklin Roosevelt, Adlai Stevenson, Pope Pius XII, Joseph Stalin, and Benito Mussolini, and visits fifty-nine countries over a long career in radio, newspapers, and television.

By our standards, Aitken would be considered a truly convergent journalist, well versed in many mediums. She focused her commentaries on the housewife and the home, but she also reported news back to Canadians on international matters: on conditions in postwar Europe; on the marriage and later the coronation of Queen Elizabeth; on the status of Canadians fighting in the Korean War; and on the exodus of refugees to Austria after the 1956 Hungarian revolution. The scope of her travels and her relentless energy astounded even fellow broadcasters. Journalist Gordon Sinclair called her the busiest woman in the world.³

In March 1954, just shy of her sixty-third birthday, Kate Aitken made a two-week reporting trip with stops in New York, London, Rome, Cairo, Karachi, New Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Rangoon, Singapore, Djakarta, Darwin, Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne, Fiji, Honolulu, Vancouver, and San Francisco.

Speak Up—Or Never Be Heard

Katherine May Scott was born in the Ontario village of Beeton on April 6, 1891, a decade before the advent of radio’s first signal. She grew up in a family home attached to her father’s general store in an atmosphere of ordered confusion.⁴ The fifth of seven children and the first girl, Katie Scott quickly learned to speak up—politely, she noted—or never be heard.

Several boarders lived under the Scott’s roof, and every night as many as twenty-three people gathered round the dinner table for supper. Among the boarders were an itinerant milliner, who came twice a year to design or remodel hats for the women of Beeton: a tailor, a dressmaker, store employees, and, at any given time, a few school teachers.

According to Kate’s grandson, who spent his first twenty years living next door to Mrs. A, the forces that shaped the future broadcaster stemmed from the stimulating environment in that general store, where Kate developed her people skills. Scott Hortop, son of Kate’s younger daughter, Mary, believes that by interacting with teachers on a daily basis, Kate gained an academic leg up. And the lively dinnertime conversation she heard (and participated in) likely forged her ability to express her thoughts with such ease on air and in print.⁵

Kate read voraciously as a youth (and her father, Robert, read aloud to his children), but she also showed an entrepreneurial spirit at an early age. When the milliner—who sold cosmetics as a sideline—left town, twelve-year-old Kate inherited the business, which consisted of a sample kit, filled with face cream, powder, and perfume, and order forms. She rented a bicycle and travelled the country roads all summer, proving so apt a saleswoman that even the minister’s wife succumbed to the lure of face powder.⁶

At age fourteen, Kate secured her next job, albeit a temporary one, when the local schoolteacher fell ill and she was drafted as a substitute for a few days. Not long after, teaching became a full-time endeavour. Following a three-month training course, Kate entered the teaching profession at age sixteen, a common route followed at that time by many women who would later become journalists. She taught for the next seven years, including a period spent with ex-Mounties and their families in the Cypress Hills of Saskatchewan.

Returning to Beeton because of her father’s failing health, Kate later married a local boy, Henry Aitken, whose parents owned a flour mill. At the time, Henry had a real-estate business in Minnesota, where the couple settled after their marriage, but the death of Henry’s brother brought them back to Beeton, where Henry took over the mill operation. At Kate’s urging, they bought twenty-six acres of land and built a house to accommodate a