No Country for Female Singers

I have never found the appeal in country music. Yet, many of my friends can't get enough of the southern sound. Whenever they tune into channel 99.5 on the radio, I cringe as they sing along to male voices with country twang. I rarely hear them singing along to female country singers, despite a few songs by Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood, or Taylor Swift. It turns out that country radio stations purposely avoid playing too many female artists in order to achieve the highest ratings possible. Keith Hill, the self-proclaimed "leading authority on music scheduling," insists that country music stations will acquire the greatest number of listeners by limiting the number of songs by female vocalists to 15%. He remarked, “If you want to make ratings in Country radio, take females out." Although Hill's comments shocked me, I thought he was just trying to advise radio stations to appeal to their audiences. Yet, many people viewed Hill's comments in a much more negative light.

Miranda Lambert

Many female country singers, including Miranda Lambert, viewed Hill's remarks about only dedicating 15% of overall music to female vocalists as extremely sexist. She fired back, saying "this is the biggest bunch of BULLS*** I have ever heard." She then continued on, insisting that she is "gonna do everything in [her] power to support and promote female singer/songwriters in country music. Always." While I am supportive of Lambert for promoting fellow female musicians, I disagree that Hill's remarks are completely inaccurate. They may seem sexist on the forefront, but to me, Hill only seemed to be reporting facts on what country radio listeners tend to tune into. Unfortunately for female country vocalists, it appears that most country fans are drawn more toward male voices because the listeners are, for the majority, female. I believe in equal rights for men and women and I am obviously against sexism, but I don't think Hill was intentionally being sexist. All types of media have their audiences. For country radio, it's young females. Appealing to an audience is supposed to be the goal of radio stations. Businesses, in the end, are all about profit. I can't blame country radio stations for taking action based on what will appeal to their audience and earn them the most money.