We want to hear Irish women and diverse artists & music on radio stations

0% Irish female solo artists featured in the Top 50 Radio Charts songs of 2022. In 2023 only 3% 3% of the Top 100 Songs on Irish radio in 2023 included solo/lead/front Irish female artists.

3,255,000 listeners tune into Irish radio every weekday. When it comes to music, getting your song added to a playlist on a radio station can be life-changing for an Irish artist.

The Irish broadcasting sector has historically not supported women or diverse artists in music from Ireland. Following a series of Gender Disparity Data Reports conducted by Linda Coogan Byrne and her team at Why Not Her?, the evidence showed that Irish radio managers consciously decide year in and year out to exclude Irish female-identifying artists, female fronting bands and diverse artists from Radio Playlists across Ireland.

Of songs featured in the Top 50 Radio Charts of 2022, only 12% were by domestic Irish artists or bands (0% Irish female solo artists). This translates to 6 songs by 4 Irish artists: 1 song by Belters Only feat. Jazzy; 3 songs by Dermot Kennedy; 1 song by Moncrieff; and 1 song by Welshy feat. Nono. None were by Irish persons of colour - solo artists or groups - and none were by female solo artists or groups. Fast forward a year later and only 3% of the Top 100 Songs on Irish radio in 2023 included solo/lead/front Irish female artists: Jazzy*, Aimée and Dolores O'Riordan of The Cranberries. As the years go by, it is becoming more and more difficult for Irish people to discover and hear the music of Irish women and diverse artists.

When asked why there are so few women artists played on the radio, managers said:

"Men make better music than women"
"Why are you feeding us to the wolves?"
"We don't have the budget to be diverse"
"We don't make the rules"
"Women just moan"
"She is too old and long in the tooth to be making music"
"We actually had some women on a Special Friday Night show back in Feb"
"It's the label's fault, not ours"
"You should analyse the record companies. You’ll see an imbalance in what we’re being sent".
"It is whatever makes the charts"
"People prefer to listen to male acts, they request them on air!"
"You need to be careful and stop stepping on people's toes in radio"
"You need to stop asking questions"

In the meantime, many new and emerging male artists are recognised and supported across the airwaves, allowing for a host of new household names to emerge in the landscape of Irish music in the past decade. It is common for white male lead/front artists/bands such as Hozier, Gavin James, Cian Ducrot, Robert Grace, Moncrieff, The Script, etc. to be heavily played during the day and evening on Irish airwaves, while their diverse and female counterparts are played in the middle of the night.

The Journal.ie 13.02.24 https://www.thejournal.ie/prev/6298235/dvX7Tyf5Xocvo/