Radio 5 live has announced their “exciting new line-up” today. Twenty years after the station started broadcasting, two of its original names, Adrian Chiles and Peter Allen, are returning to present a new show in which they will apparently be “really getting under the skin of the biggest national and international stories every day”.
However, look a bit closer and it’s not hard to see something very unexciting about the new line-up. On the new schedule, there will only be one hour a week on the station that is fronted by a woman, as current presenters Victoria Derbyshire and Shelagh Fogarty (along with Richard Bacon) are leaving 5 live for “new ventures”. Drivetime presenter Anna Foster will remain in her slot, but will now be joined by Tony Livesey. New hire Sarah Brett will share the mic with BBC Sport’s Dan Walker. Rachel Burden will continue to co-host in the breakfast slot with Nicky Campbell. All of this means that Eleanor Oldroyd’s “Friday Sports Panel” will become the only hour in the week that is hosted solely by a woman.
BBC director-general Tony Hall has made a number of commitments to improving the corporation’s representation of women in top jobs “as a matter of urgency”. What a shame that those in charge at 5 live don’t seem to have got the boss’s memo.
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