Estrogen Radio's Period Ends

Gloria Steinem, Jane Fonda and their feminist buddies were going to teach the talk radio world, which they saw as male dominated, a thing or two when they launched their own women's radio network last year, GreenStone.

Green or not, they apparently didn't have the stones to succeed, and have followed Air America into the dustbin of bankrupt liberal radio concepts.

Now "talk radio without the testosterone" is gone, despite its grand effort to appeal to a big bunch of modern American women. Says NYPost:

Why did this effort fail? After all, the programming carefully was designed by feminist experts to appeal to female tastes. According to Steinem, "women are more and more turned off by the hostility and argumentative nature of AM talk radio." Greenstone Media was supposed to capitalize on that by offering a different tenor, more "community" and greater respect for different points of views.

GreenStone offered the typical liberal fare - boasting of interviews with Ralph Nader and Alec Baldwin - but also included programming that was downright girly. Morning show segments included "Mean Mommy," with advice for mothers, and "What's up with Guys," providing insights into the elusive male brain.

Sounds like any number of successful programming concepts -- Oprah and Oxygen come to mind -- but ...

GreenStone's problem was it couldn't attract an audience of either gender. The programming was picked up by only eight affiliates in small to mid-sized markets. Apparently, GreenStone's programming wasn't the talk that women really want.

Not that it can't be done, mind you. Laura Ingraham pulls in 5 million listeners a day. But then she's not a tepid lib. No rants, no whines, no platitudes, just good solid thinking, clearly articulated -- a concept that apparently goes beyond the talents of Fonda and Steinem.

hat-tip: Jim