Woman's Hour


Woman's Hour is a radio magazine programme broadcast in the United Kingdom on the BBC Light Programme, BBC Radio 2, and later BBC Radio 4. It has been on the air since 1946.

History

Created by Norman Collins and originally presented by Alan Ivimey, Woman's Hour was first broadcast on 7 October 1946 on the BBC's Light Programme. Janet Quigley, who was also involved with the birth of the UK radio programme Today, has been credited with "virtually creating" the programme.
The programme was transferred to its current home in 1973. Over the years it has been presented by Mary Hill, Joan Griffiths, Olive Shapley, Jean Metcalfe, Violet Carson, Marjorie Anderson, Teresa McGonagle, Judith Chalmers, Sue MacGregor, Jenni Murray, Martha Kearney, and Jane Garvey. Fill-in presenters have included Sheila McClennon, Carolyn Quinn, Jane Little, Ritula Shah, Oona King, Amanda Platell and Emma Barnett.
On 31 December 2004, the show became Man's Hour for one day only, on which it was presented by Channel 4 News anchor Jon Snow. On 18 July 2010, after 64 years of Woman's Hour, the BBC began broadcasting a full series called Men's Hour on BBC Radio 5 Live, presented by Tim Samuels.
For one week in April 2014, the programme was guest edited by J. K. Rowling, Kelly Holmes, Naomi Alderman, Doreen Lawrence and Lauren Laverne. It was the first time the programme had a guest editor since its initial decade of broadcast. In September 2015, the programme hosted "Woman's Hour Takeover" with a week of guest editors, including Kim Cattrall, Nimko Ali, Rachel Treweek, Michelle Mone and Jacqueline Wilson.
Late Night Woman's Hour, a spinoff series, was launched in 2015, presented by Lauren Laverne. The series is broadcast in an 11pm timeslot and each episode takes a single topic for discussion.
The lateness of the broadcast allows for more freedom to handle topics considered unsuitable for the morning broadcast.
The programme has an annual "power list" of highly achieving women.
In October 2016, it was recorded that the programme has 3.7 million listeners weekly and is the second most popular daily podcast across BBC Radio. A quarter of its audience where reported to be under 35 and 40% male. In 2013, the programme had 3.9 million listeners, 14% of whom were men. In 2006 it had 2.7 million listeners, 4% of whom were men.

Format

In its current format, the first 45 minutes of the programme consist of reports, interviews and debates on health, education, cultural and political topics aimed at women and mothers. The last 15 minutes feature short-run drama serials, which periodically change. One of the most popular of these is the recurring Ladies of Letters serials, starring Prunella Scales and Patricia Routledge. Before 1998 the last quarter of an hour was dedicated to readings.

Schedule

Woman's Hour has been broadcast at 10am Monday to Friday since James Boyle's revision of the Radio 4 schedules in April 1998. Between September 1991 and April 1998 it was broadcast at 10:30am, having previously gone out for many years in an early afternoon slot. The programme's move to a morning slot was unpopular among some listeners who, for family or other reasons, work only in the morning. Michael Green, the then controller of Radio 4, made his decision the previous year and considered the elimination of the programme title. Weekend Woman's Hour is broadcast on Saturday afternoons at 4pm, features highlights of the previous week introduced by one of the presenters and lasts almost an hour. Additionally, episodes are made available as a podcast following the broadcast of each programme.

Music

In its earlier years, it used a variety of popular light classics as signature tunes, including such pieces as H. Elliott-Smith's Wanderlust , Anthony Collins' Vanity Fair, and the lively Overture from Gabriel Fauré's Masques et Bergamasques. From the early 1970s, specially composed pieces were used, several of which were provided by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.
There is also a band called Woman's Hour based in the UK and signed to Secretly Canadian records who took their name from the radio show.

Controversies

Breach of BBC impartiality rules

A listener complained about the 1 October 2018 edition of Woman's Hour, which featured an item discussing the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court. The feature included an interview with a law professor who had worked with Anita Hill, in her pursuit of a sexual harassment complaint against an earlier nominee, Judge Clarence Thomas. The listener believed that allusions to the earlier case were immaterial and prejudicial, that the selection of interviewee was biased, and that presenter Jane Garvey had expressed her personal view on a controversial topic.
The BBC Executive Complaints Unit partially upheld the listener's complaint, stating that Garvey gave the impression of sympathising with the interviewee's viewpoint, and "did not challenge the interviewee in a manner which would have ensured due impartiality". As a result, the Woman’s Hour team and production staff attended a briefing on impartiality.

Feminism

Woman's Hour presenter Jenni Murray is a former patron of the charity Women's Aid and is president of the Fawcett Society.
In April 2014, Radio 4's Roger Bolton noted on the BBC's Feedback Blog: "As you well know BBC programmes are supposed to be impartial but I'm not sure if that can be said of Woman’s Hour, at least when it comes to feminism. Woman's Hour is in fact a powerful advocate for women’s empowerment and this week as part of that campaign it produced its second power list."

Awards and nominations