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Abstract
In the conservative, Catholic milieu of 1920s and 1930s Ireland, it should come as no surprise that women’s issues were not addressed on the national broadcaster, Radió Éireann. Women’s voices were effectively ‘tuned out’ and it would not be until 1963 that some attempts were made to publicly address, however benignly, issues on female sexuality. This came in the form of Ireland’s first radio agony aunt, Frankie Byrne and her programme Dear Frankie. However, it wasn’t until the 1970s that Irish radio really began to give women’s concerns the attention they fully deserved. It began in earnest in the form of Women Today, a pioneering radio programme, broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1 from 1979 to 1984. The fact that it lasted just four years and did not enjoy the longevity of the BBC 4’s flagship radio programme, Woman’s Hour, serves as a useful comparator for the issue addressed in this article; namely the differing cultures experienced by women, both on and off-air, at the BBC and RTÉ between 1926 and 1984.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1 Announcers Report and Program Schedule, 2 February 1926, RTÉ Archives.
2 Ibid.
3 Doireann Ní Bhrian interview with author, 15 November 2014.
4 RTÉ Annual Report 1939, 17.
5 Mitchell, Women and Radio, Airing Differences, 122.
6 Murphy, Behind the Wireless, 121.
7 Ibid., 251.
8 Ibid., 26.
9 Murphy, Behind the Wireless, 154.
10 The author in interview with Doireann Ni Bhriain, 5 October 2016.
11 Women in Irish Society Exhibition, RTÉ Archives.
12 Evening Mail, 3 May 1939.
13 BBC News Magazine, ‘The 1940’s Bandleader Who Braved Virulent Sexism,’ 14 October 2014.
14 Hodgson, For the Love of Radio 4.
15 Ibid., 183.
16 Hodgson, For the Love of Radio 4, 186.
17 Hendry, Life on Air, 332.
18 Murphy, Behind the Wireless, 254.
19 Irish National Productivity Committee Minutes in, Irish State Administration Database, Dáil Éireann Vol. 190, 14 June 1961.
20 RTÉ Radio Archives.
21 This ran from 1973 to 1998, presented by Gay Byrne.
22 ‘Dear Frankie’, Irish Independent, 19 December 1998.
23 RTÉ Guide, 13–19 September 1971.
24 Purcell, Inside RTÉ, 43.
25 RTÉ Guide, 6–12 July 1979.
26 Editorial Committee Minutes, 8 June 1979.
27 Editorial Committee Minutes, 15 June 1979.
28 Editorial Committee Minutes, 24 August 1979.
29 The RTÉ Authority, its members appointed by the Government, was set up under the 1960 Broadcasting Act to monitor the content of RTÉ programming.
30 Purcell, Inside RTÉ, 45.
31 RTÉ Authority Minutes, 8 March 1980.
32 Purcell, Inside RTÉ, 47.
33 Editorial Board Minutes, 8 January 1981.
34 RTÉ Authority Minutes, 10 April 1980.
35 Editorial Committee Minutes, 14 September 1979.
36 BBC Editorial Guidelines, 2006.
37 Editorial Committee Minutes, 31 August 1979.
38 Editorial Committee Minutes, 14 September 1979.
39 Purcell, Inside RTÉ, 73.
40 Ibid., 61.
41 Doireann Ní Bhriain has kindly provided the author with copies of these letters from the Woman Today programme.
42 Radió Éireann becomes RTÉ under the 1960 Broadcasting Act, to incorporate the new television service.
43 Doireann Ni Bhrian in interview with the author, 14 November 2014.
44 RTE Archives—Women in Irish society Exhibition.
45 Purcell, Inside RTÉ, 95.
46 Brok Weber, ‘A Loud Angry World on the Dial: 24 Hours of Talk Radio in a Town Meeting of the Alienated,’ New York Times, 2 June 1992.
47 Ibid., 333.
48 Ibid.
49 Feldman, ‘Twin Peaks,’ 65.
50 Murphy, Behind the Wireless, 256.
51 RTÉ Authority Minutes, 8 February 1979.
52 A Working Party Report on Women in Broadcasting, April 1981.
53 Ibid., 16.
54 Hendry, Life on Air, 333.
55 Ibid., 333.
56 Woman’s Hour: From Joyce Grenfell to Sharon Osborne, Celebrating Sixty Years of Women’s Lives, 256.
57 The Guardian, Woman’s Hour reaches 70th birthday—and no need for ‘light dusting of powder,’ 10 October 2016.
58 Minic, ‘What makes an issue a Woman’s Hour Issue?’.
59 Purcell, Inside RTÉ, 57.
60 Lifeline is now presented by Joe Duffy.