NewsByte: Women-Focused GreenStone Media Folds
After much to-do about delivering talk radio in a woman’s way, GreenStone Media, the high profile radio network founded by Susan Ness and backed by the likes of Jane Fonda and Gloria Steinem, has apparently folded.* I got the word from a friend in radio, but the Radio Equalizer blog is the only public source I could quickly locate.
While the radio industry is in need of good examples of how to more effectively reach women, GreenStone may have come out swinging too hard. When the company launched in September of 2006, the big selling point was that it would produce programs by women and for women, since traditional talk radio didn’t already serve that market. But, GreenStone had a tough time landing advertisers and its programs were not being picked up by the influential large markets as quickly as its executives may have anticipated.
What would have happened if GreenStone had taken more small steps toward the goal - so the company would have had enough money to operate for a few developmental years before making any grand pronouncements about changing the face of radio altogether? Radio, after all, is one of the most male-oriented/run industries out there, and so, of course, it would take a LOT longer (than 11 months) for a real shift in "the way things have always been done."
Whether we like it or not, history shows that the ways by which you educate the general business world, especially male-dominated industries, about the women’s market demand more nuance, more time, and more years of baby steps - in order to really sink in.
I was sorry to hear that GreenStone Media is no more. Still, I am sure lessons were learned by a lot of other people/organizations trying to bring the radio industry up to speed with the women’s market - and it will be interesting to see what arises from these ashes.
*This just in, after this post first published: Absent some last minute development GreenStone will
discontinue operations later this month. There are several developments
in the works.
If you are haven’t yet heard their programming, you may want to listen over these next two weeks: www.greenstonemedia.com
August 17th, 2007 at 9:23 am
WEll, I’m a male, a truck driver, and i think greenstone is the best thing to happen to radio since rock & roll. The other drivers here listen to them too.
I am devastated to see them fold. It’s not so much to do with women, it’s just that one can’t feed on outrage night after night; Civility makes such a nicer diet.