Seventy years of Radio 4鈥檚 Woman鈥檚 Hour
Hannah Khalil
Digital Content Producer, About The 主播大秀 Blog
Tagged with:
Olive Shapley interviews Mrs Eleanor Roosevelt for Woman's Hour, 1951
Seventy years ago today a great British institution was established. At 2pm on 7 October 1946 the first edition of graced the airwaves on the 主播大秀’s Light Programme, 2pm being the hour it was deemed women would have finished the majority of their housework, and therefore have a moment for a cuppa before the kids got home.
The originally-billed programme "that offers a female perspective on the world” was originally presented by a man - Alan Ivimey - listed in the Radio Times as a specialist "in writing for and talking to women."
Early segments like "how to hang your husband’s suit" didn't go down well with listeners who found the programme at times patronising. But, the programme still addressed serious issues. When the word “vagina” was used in the programme's first year in a talk about women’s health there was an outcry from the public. Birth canal was the favoured term for a number of years afterwards.
The programme became part of the Radio 4 schedule in 1973. Following Ivimey’s tenure as presented, the programme has been fronted by women including Violet Carson, Olive Sharpley, Jean Metcalfe and Marjorie Anderson. In 1990 the time slot was changed to its current morning slot (10-11am on weekdays) and the feature was added.
Sue MacGregor interviews Margaret Thatcher for Woman's Hour, 1985
The 'magazine' format of Woman's Hour has, right from the outset, featured cooking segments. Currently titled “ chefs including Gordon Ramsay, Angela Hartnett and Rick Stein have featured. Political guests have also been a staple part of the line-up including Eleanor Roosevelt, Nancy Astor, Vera Brittain, Margaret Thatcher, Hillary Clinton, Cherie Blair, Tony Blair, Michael Howard, Gordon Brown and David Cameron.
Martha Kearney interviews Hilary Clinton for Woman's Hour, 2003
The which started in 2013 as a list of the 100 most powerful women in the UK - has since evolved into a list of in 2014 and in 2015.
The show’s current presenters are Jenni Murray and Jane Garvey. Today the programme has six shows a week, Monday to Friday from 10-11am and Saturdays from 5-5pm, and attracts 3.7m listeners weekly. And it's not just men listening either. Many of the subjects featured on the programme have universal appeal. Currently, the gender split of listeners is 40/60 male/female. What’s more, 25% under the age of 35, which is higher than average for Radio 4.
The Woman's Hour podcast has 1m downloads per month making it the second most popular daily podcast across all 主播大秀 radio after The Archers.
We spoke to presenter Jenni Murray for a blog last year. In it she revealed what keeps her excited about the show – which she has been presenting for 29 years:
"I grew up with Woman’s Hour. My mother used to have very strict feeding routines for me, and they coincided with Woman’s Hour. So we would listen to it together. If there were any parts that included a health warning she’d send me into the kitchen – to put on the kettle or get something. So it’s always been a part of my life.
"My first time in the studio presenting it was incredible because I’d heard over the years 'Woman’s Hour presented by Sue MacGregor'. So the first time they said 'Woman’s Hour presented by Jenni Murray' I got very excited. And people will think I’m silly but I still get that same excited feeling every time I hear those words. It’s a wonderful job, I’ve always loved broadcasting, I’ve presented some TV programmes and written books, but I feel most at home in a radio studio so I feel very, very lucky.”
- Read
- Listen to