Imaginary Women, Imaginary Audience: Gender and Top 40 Radio in Montréal

Though they no longer call themselves Top 40, popular music radio stations remain present on the dial today, complete with loud, mostly male DJs, hoping to attract a mainly female audi ence. Using the talk on two Montréal music stations, which hire mainly male announcers who select music assumed to fit wom en’s tastes, Christine Maki examines the continuing perception that women’s voices aren’t low or authoritative enough and that emotional issues prevent them from presenting difficult news stories. Her conclusion: the overall medium remains relatively unchanged over the decades, despite massive evolution in the wider media landscape.