102.1 - who's listening?

Every morning on the way to work I listen to the Dean Blundell radio show on 102.1 the edge. It is a male dominated morning show that prides itself on being raunchy, disgusting and chauvinistic. It’s mostly harmless and it can be quite funny. Today, they introduced a new female intern onto the show and in their usual banter of inappropriate questions they ran down a list of similarly inappropriate tasks that would be included in their duties, most of which included breaking wind in each other’s offices. This was all well and good until I found out that the intern is a 22 year old girl. As a female listener, I take all of their nonsense with a grain of salt, but something inside of me wonders what will happen when you throw a young girl into the mix. What role will she play? Would she be relentlessly harassed because she was good-looking, young and new to the workplace or is she there to be “one of the boys”? Clearly sensationalism sells listenership. And, freedom of speech.... yes, I get it. Hey, I’m listening! But what accountability does 102.1 have to upholding fair, non-discriminatory workplace and broadcasting practices (and frankly common sense) as it relates to gender. And, through the popularization of misogyny with their dominantly male audience, does this not just serve to build the back room alpha boy banter?

So, I challenge the folks at 102.1 to take our Walk the Talk employee survey launching July 7th at www.marketyourselfsmarter.com . Or, send us a note and tell us where you stand on this.