Radio Silence: the movement to diversify the UK radio industry

The Radio Silence movement has published a range of statistics in regards to diversity within the UK radio industry, but what’s particularly important in this research is that it covers production staff as well as presenters. According to Ofcom’s 2019 Diversity and equal opportunities in radio report, the total percentage of staff in minority ethnic groups at the UK’s three main radio broadcasters was low: just 9% at BBC Radio, 8% at Global, and 3% at Bauer. The national workforce average was 12%, while the 2011 census put the non-white population of the UK at 14%.

Radio Silence also found that many mainstream national stations have a lack of Black and non-Black POC presenters: LBC, Radio X, Capital FM, Magic FM, and Absolute Radio only have one POC presenter each on their schedules. Even worse are Talkradio and Virgin Radio, who have none at all. As a POC presenter myself, I feel extremely underrepresented, and it has made me question whether I will ever be able to present on national radio full time.

Unfortunately I am not the only POC presenter that feels this way. “Growing up, and even now, having the one or two Black female radio presenters at big stations to look up to is great (big up Jenny Francis, Clara Amfo, Shayna [Marie], Yinka and more), but it’s not enough,” says FEE MAK, who presents the Drivetime show on London’s Westside Radio, and was selected to cover Radio 1 shows during the Christmas programming period.

“This lack of representation kills dreams, feeds doubt and makes Black female presenters think, ‘Well, if there’s only three Black female radio presenters at that station, how the hell am I going to get there?’” she continues. “It’s such a shame because there’s so much power in our voices and stories. All we need is a platform to really embrace us for everything that we are.”

This is why it’s so important that radio stations employ a variety of presenters of different ethnicities, for young people to aspire to. When we do see Black presenters, it’s often only on specialist stations like Capital XTRA, 1Xtra or KISS Fresh. There’s an extreme lack of diversity on their parent stations. But why is this the case? Radio 1Xtra’s DJ Ace shares his thoughts: “I do think sometimes we are seen as ‘Black broadcasters’ and not broadcasters who are Black. So if you’re a Black person trying to get into radio, it’s assumed you want to be on 1Xtra or Capital XTRA. This isn’t always the case; although the music bangs, a person of colour could be more suited to speech radio, sport radio or even mainstream radio.”

Assumptions like this based on race are dangerous, and they’re not the only way Black presenters are mistreated. Swarzy, of KISS FM, is one of just two Black female presenters you can hear across the entire KISS network. “I’ve been called a ‘diva’ at work whenever I have had conversations about being paid,” she tells me. “It’s not uncommon for me to receive an email about an opportunity with all the information included — date, time, location, brief, etc. — except for the fee. The moment I follow up this email and ask about my pay, I’m laughed off and called a ‘diva’ for caring more about my money than being grateful for the opportunity. The language of ‘diva’ is damaging and made even more frustrating after discovering that other presenters escape asking about their pay, since their fee is mentioned in the first email.

“There seems to be a love/hate relationship with my voice,” she continues. “Although I’ve been told I sound too ‘street’ for KISS Breakfast, I’ve also been asked to re-word scripts to help make the message sound younger and more ‘cool’. This mixed message is confusing because where there is a desire from others for me to essentially sound more ‘white’, radio also loves my authenticity. I can’t win.”

Lack of diversity can take an emotional toll, too. “Feeling underrepresented comes with loneliness,” says Swarzy. “I feel lonely because I find myself left alone to do the work of changing attitudes and perceptions towards Black people. I can think of countless occasions where someone has said something to me, and no one around has come to my defence. And yet, whilst this is the hard truth that shouldn’t be the case in 2020, I’m glad that my experience has built my resilience. I’m proud to be the only Swarzy who looks and sounds like me at KISS.”

As Swarzy mentions, sometimes presenters can be told to be ‘less Black’, or content can be steered away from the Black community. Despite Black music dominating the airwaves, the actual content of programming often misses out broader aspects of Black culture. One station that has been particularly outspoken during the Black Lives Matter movement, however, is BBC 1Xtra. At the start of June, just days after the murder of George Floyd, DJ Ace and Seani B hosted a special show on racial injustice on the station. “It’s important to have these conversations on air because radio is powerful,” DJ Ace tells me. “It’s reach is far and impactful, and we are educating some people that have no idea what the British Black experience is. I think a lot of people will have learnt from the show we delivered.’”

With the Radio Silence movement, it was vital that we both discuss the problems and provide some solutions. We shared a second series of images on our social media called ‘The reality behind the race gap in the UK radio industry’. One of the biggest factors behind the lack of diversity in radio is the amount of unpaid work that takes place. Time after time I was told that I would have to work for free if I wanted to get into radio. When you come from a low income background, it can be very difficult to work for free when you could be supporting your family with a paid job instead. This is the case for many POC in this country.

According to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, POC have the highest rates of income poverty in the UK. Unpaid internships offer an unfair advantage for those of higher incomes, and you are more likely to come from a high income background if you are white. In the long-term, unpaid internships contribute to making wealthy students wealthier, and poor students poorer. In sharing our posts on ‘The reality behind the race gap in the UK radio industry’, we proposed that radio stations stop offering unpaid work and instead paid all internships. This opens up the training opportunities for people with lower incomes, and increases the chances of progressing to a full-time career within radio.

Many radio stations also rely on internal referrals, rather than scouting for new talent at smaller stations such as community radio. Although it may be easier and quicker to have an internal referral, this can be detrimental to bringing in a diverse range of people.

Ivor Etienne is station manager of The Beat London, one of the few Black-owned DAB and FM community radio stations in the capital. “It’s where the creative talent can be nurtured and developed, and allowed to make and learn from mistakes,” he says, when asked about the importance of community stations. “It’s where future schedulers, producers, commercial production producers and presenters can learn their trade. I believe that the commercial and public service broadcasting sector should pay a levy to help nurture this talent. The community stations take the risk but get little reward when the talent decides to move on.”

There are so many community radio stations developing new diverse talent, including Reprezent, No Signal, Westside Radio, The Beat London and Foundation FM. The latter puts diversity first and foremost in their mission statement, promising to “showcase the hottest emerging talent in the underground music scene, led by a diverse group of women, LGBTQI+ persons and talented creatives who support our values — with women at the forefront.”

Foundation FM co-founder Frankie Wells explains their focus: “To us, one of the most important things is for people to listen to Foundation FM and feel represented, to hear someone like them and say, ‘Well if they can do it, so can I.’ We want to spark change, give people a platform, build their careers, make noise so they do get the attention of stations such as Radio 1, KISS and Capital. We want to make change from the ground up.”