Lindsay Ell Gets Candid About Female Artists On Country Radio

Lindsay Ell, Beville Dunkerley and Beverlee Brannigan

COUNTRY RADIO BROADCASTERS' (CRB) once again tackled the thorny issue of gender imbalance in Country music during its second “CRS360” webinar on TUESDAY, JUNE 11th. Coincidentally, the webinar was held during a week when women had both the #1 record (KELSEA BALLERINI) and the most-added record of the week (TRISHA YEARWOOD).

STONEY CREEK artist LINDSAY ELL and PANDORA’s head of Country music, BEVILLE DUNKERLEY, were the featured speakers at the free event, moderated by BEVERLEE BRANNIGAN, SUMMITMEDIA’s VP/Programming and Pres./GM of its WICHITA cluster.

Asked if she felt there should be a quota system in place for female artists on the radio, ELL balked at the notion, saying, “New music isn’t supposed to be about forced numbers … it should be about quality.” She also said that, “Female artists need to work harder at establishing a brand and a lane” to make themselves distinctive from other artists.

The webinar’s most candid moment came when ELL was asked by a viewer whether she’d ever been encouraged to flirt with male programmers to curry favor. While she emphasized that nobody at her record label had ever suggested or implied that she do so, ELL said, “There’s a significantly underlying pressure … I have felt a numerous amount of times that I need to be the idea of a female that males expect,” adding that there have been 10 or 15 times in her dealings with radio over the course of her career that she has felt “completely uncomfortable.”

Despite that, ELL struck a positive tone, saying she feels the format is heading in the right direction with female artists, but that it would take time to level the playing field. Dismissing the theory that “women don’t want to hear other women” when it comes to music, she noted that 70% or more of her concert audiences are made up of women. 

DUNKERLEY said terrestrial radio needs to “take more chances,” but acknowledged, “that’s easier said than done.” Noting that fingers of blame for the format’s gender imbalance have been pointed at nearly every facet of the industry, DUNKERLEY took a conciliatory note when she said, “It’s really all of our fault, and we need to come together to make change.” DUNKERLEY also spoke about the special consideration PANDORA’s programmers give to female Country artists, noting that they find places to play them “everywhere they can.”

UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP NASHVILLE Pres. CINDY MABE, who had been among the scheduled speakers, was unable to join the event because of a family matter. The full webinar is now available to view or download online. Watch it here.

Additional CRS360 topics to be covered this year include a look at Country radio’s mid-year ratings; revisiting continuous measurement in diary markets (first discussed at CRS 2019 in FEBRUARY); and, a look at podcasting for radio personalities.  

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