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Sisterhood ... What They Know & Why They Act
August 11, 2009
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Bottom-Line, Not Hemline
This is the first in our series of editorials about females in the workforce. Given some of the changes that have occurred recently regarding females in our industries, it's become even more important for complete clarity of expectations. Women have gone from being midday hosts, APDs and MDs and sidekicks to hosting drivetime slots, programming, managing and ownership. Today, more than ever in business, it's about bottom line, not hemline.
As a programmer or air personality, you should know by now that radio is still the best medium to reach women. This is partly because females multi-task through their day and listen with both sides of their brain simultaneously.
Advertisers want to reach the female audience our formats attract, so you should figure out how to deliver a strong female audience without turning off males. You have found what music they like, but you should also know that more than men, women are emotional creatures. Radio for them is a one-on-one, personal experience. You have to offer these females listeners an opportunity to have a relationship with your station and engage her emotionally.
Remember the "bad old days" when women traveled on the job, entertained clients over dinner or roamed the floors of a trade show or conference and had to fight off stereotypes, suggestions and slurs while taking care of business? This was an era when T&E sometimes got confused with T&A. Times have changed.
First there are more female executives. Second because of the economy, T&E has been scaled way back. A third reason for the change is sobering -- drinking and business entertaining no longer mix at many companies. While there are many reasons for the decline in alcohol consumption, one very important influence is the increase in corporate liability for employees who drink.
Most professional women feel no hesitation about being asked or asking a male client or associate to join them at a restaurant for a work-related meal or vice-versa. Several female broadcasters we spoke with said if they're asked to do anything in questionable taste, they simply politely decline.
Female Focus
One of the positive facts of 2009 is the ongoing trend in which females continue breaking through the so-called "glass ceiling." That's the invisible barrier that prevents qualified individuals from advancing within the organization and reaching their full potential. These ceilings and walls exist throughout our industries, especially for minorities and females. On the surface, the radio and music industries, with their abundant entry-level positions and apprenticeships, appear to be somewhat immune to this type of discrimination, as if the glass ceiling is either a myth or a decaying artifact. But the fact is, although things may have improved, we've still got a long way to go.
Female Generation Y
The truth is that discrimination in all its forms is not a myth; it is a fact. There is an often overlooked, non-Arbitron-defined category of 18-49 listeners who are the key to success for any Urban-formatted station. Most obviously, they're African-Americans. What you may not know is that they are also female. We simply cannot win without them, nor are these young female adult listeners limited to African-Americans, either. For the most part, they are more aware and better educated than the generation they replaced. They are part of the new "Black Generation Jones" or "Generation Y."
According to the results of some recent studies in which we participated, we found working women spend more time listening to the radio than non-working women, many whom used to seem to favor TV soaps and game shows. Now these same studies show that African-American working women spend more time listening to Urban radio, when it's available, than do working women among total listeners.
Something else that is in the process of being removed and changed are the statistics on what African-Americans spend. For example, the average yearly expenditures for black households for food eaten at home far exceed the average spent for food consumed by a black household away from home. This information was provided to us from The Bureau of Labor Statistic Consumer Expenditure Survey 2008.
Included in that group of 8.6 million black women who have personal incomes, 476,0000 have annual incomes of over $35,000, 74,0000 have incomes of over $50,000 and more than 9,000 bring in over $75,000 a year. (All these numbers have to be adjusted due to the economy and the latest numbers for 2009 have not yet been released.)
Just as significant is the fact that the vast majority of African-American women today totally control how they spend that money. Of the 8.6 million black women, only about 2.9 million are married with a husband present, meaning that 5.8 million black women over 18 have personal incomes and are single, widowed or separated from their husbands. Those 5.8 million women, who solely control the buying decisions, have total annual personal incomes of over $50.1 billion.
Add to this information the fact that women between the ages of 18-39, which is perhaps the prime buying segment, are in the highest income-earning segment of the African-American population (as opposed to white women, whose highest income earning period comes in their later years). The fact is that nearly 50% of all black households are female-headed, with the black woman again making all of the purchasing decisions. The females who listen to Urban radio stations are much more likely to agree that "I make all of the money decisions in the household" than the female listeners of other formats. More than a third strongly agree with this statement. In other words, if you advertise directly to them, they can do something about it without checking with anybody else.
Since working women, as a rule, do not have as much time to cook as those who remain at home, using Urban radio to reach them consistently is definitely the way to score big at the cash registers for the makers of easy-to-prepare convenience foods. Because, as the ever-changing stats indicate, more meals are prepared at home than are eaten out.
One thing that has not changed is the fact that females are still the first to be attracted to the Urban formats. Who is the new sister of soul? Well, for one thing, a growing number of them believe their chances of getting married may be slimmer, or if they do get married, they feel that they may not have the time for a large family. Some will not want children at all. While women continue to want to be part of dual-earning households, many are placing less emphasis on work and more on family.
Here's a lesser-known secret about female listeners: They are worriers. Women who listen to radio are more likely than average to worry. They worry about their future, their safety and their health, and if they have kids, they worry a lot about their kids' future. They are no more likely that the average diary-keeper and PPM meter carrier, to agree with the statement, "I get angry more often that I used to." This worry and anger are driving forces when they listen to Urban radio. Surprisingly, 72% listen to relax and 53% listen to reduce stress, both percentages much higher-than-average diary-keepers. Urban radio's mission in 2009: Make them feel good. Don't add to their stress or discomfort.
Today more than ever, women who listen to Urban radio are kid-sensitive. They don't want radio that is inappropriate for kids. More than 55% "strongly agree" they'll tune out if the kids can't or shouldn't listen. Among women 18-49 who listen to Urban radio, nearly 50% are under the age of 29 ... and two-thirds are under the age of 34.
Women are tired of the "superwoman" image. For many working women there has been a major shift of a withdrawal from work and a new emphasis placed on personal lives ... needing their own time and space. These young potential female listeners are, for the most part, better educated and want to be better informed, as well as entertained.
So far, our research has been concentrated on the entertainment aspect. Now added to the equation of "What songs do they want to hear?" must also be "What else do they want to know? And when do they want to know it?" "Do they want it just in morning drive or anytime we can give it them?"
Misogyny & Sexual Harassment
Misogyny is now becoming a breeding ground for sexual harassment and demeaning taunts aimed at women. There are plenty of recent examples and plenty of people who are concerned about the disturbing trend of anti-female abuse from rappers, concerts and even on the radio. In concerts, these kinds of rap acts and their type of music can fuel a sense of entitlement to the crowd, that they can do anything they want and victimize people, especially women. When artists, rappers and male fans urge women to take off their clothes, it all adds up to intense social pressure on young females in their teens.
Generally, we as a culture, don't see it as a big deal to call women vile names, but we're dealing with young people and there is a lot of peer pressure. They are in the developmental stages of their lives and they want to fit in and belong to a group. Today women should be prepared for the worse when attending a rap concert. They shouldn't be afraid, but they probably shouldn't go to these concerts alone. They should go with a group of friends or a boyfriend. Many of these rap concerts have traditionally been male domains, but in recent years more women are getting close to the action. There are even a growing number of female rappers.
The women who attend these events want to see the acts they hear on the radio. Smart promoters often combine tender balladeers such as Ne-Yo, Maxwell. Anthony Hamilton or Ginuine with real hardcore hip-hoppers. They perform as guests on each other's records. So why wouldn't they combine to tour?
Hip-hop artists often use coarse street language usually associated with hard-core rap and hip-hop music to enhance their songs, because they feel that's what's expected of them. That type of lyrical aggression can be lethal, especially when it is combined with the ear-shattering music, energy and physical confrontation in these concerts.
Women Live In Two Different Worlds
African-American females speak like their male counterparts of living in two different worlds. In one, they are judged by their credentials and capabilities. In the other, race and gender still come first. Around the turn of the century W.E.B. Dubois described this "twoness" felt by blacks, who were forced by segregation to see themselves both from the inside and from without, as they might appear to a hostile white world. Today that world seems to be less hostile. But achievement and a limited degree of acceptance have dove-tailed to remove all traces of ambiguity from the lives of African-American women in America.
Those of us who would be on top of the trends in this decade have to reflect their fresh direction. A prevailing attitude is that time is more precious than money. Tired of superficiality and status symbolism, today's woman will be attempting to live a more authentic life. Substance will prevail over hype.
Ever the prototypical image of what makes a woman attractive has been somewhat transformed. There are many images of attractiveness now. There have been a number of ladies who have broken down the barrier and proven that success does not depend upon gender, but rather upon talent and ability.
Even though the overall numbers are down proportionately, there are more females at Urban radio stations than in the past, although as the industry continues to shrink and downsize, so will that number. Our sisters have made great strides, moving steadily up the corporate ladder and pushing the "glass ceiling" even higher. Career and families are not mutually exclusive for today's female executives, who previously were forced to choose one or the other.
While the women's movement in our industries is maturing into higher expectations, sisterhood is still mighty powerful and growing. As we see it, in 2009, real men no longer hide behind women's skirts; neither do women.
Word.
(Next Week - Part II "What Do Women Want?")
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