Cometh the hour
Nuala McGovern, the new host of Woman’s Hour, hopes to help the next generation find its voice
BBC
- Rosie Millard
Add Woman’s Hour to your collection.
Ad
Patience pays off. After 27 years in radio, including an award-winning stint in New York for National Public Radio (NPR), numerous shifts at the BBC World Service, bits and bobs on 5 Live and a stint covering for the main presenter, Nuala McGovern is formally installed behind the Radio 4 mic, and has been hosting Woman’s Hour Monday–Wednesday since May, when Emma Barnett moved to the Today programme. “It’s my dream gig,” says the 52-year-old Dublin-born journalist. “Best job in the BBC.”
Does she finally feel, now, that she has “arrived”? It seems wrong to compare BBC outlets, but Radio 4 does have a sort of top dog feel about it. Everyone knows it, even if they don’t admit it publicly. “Well, I don’t know about a ‘pecking order’, but different parts do feel… different,” says McGovern, diplomatically.
Regular listeners might not feel much has changed: last year she put in nine months on the show while Barnett was on maternity leave. Her easy manner and silky skill in doing those tricky handbrake turns between hard news and amusing features were already well established. “Some of my experience is American, and some is international,” she says. “I’ve travelled to more than 30 countries with the BBC, I’ve interviewed prime ministers and refugees. I am able to interview and find people at every level of a story.”
Her time in New York is notable, not only for being where she met her future husband Tristan Agates (who now teaches horticulture at the University of Greenwich) in the famed CBGB nightclub – but also because her work at NPR won a Peabody Award for community driven radio in 2008. “With radio, you have a special position in people’s lives, an intimate connection with them. And that helps connect communities.” What sort of communities would she like to bring to Woman’s Hour?
“We’ve just been to Glastonbury and also Lord’s.” No shocks there, then; the BBC gives a lot of airtime every summer to both institutions. “Well, Lord’s Cricket Ground is a very masculine space. And we interviewed the first ever female groundswoman there. But yes, I would like to go to places where we haven’t got listeners. Also, to provide something for news avoiders.” Meaning? “We want to have a space for escapism and fun. Something that is uplifting. People turn off because they fear bad news.”
Whether good or bad, it’s still key to measure the news via a female-oriented lens, says McGovern. Woman’s Hour is still needed. “Because we haven’t got gender equality yet. No country has. Woman’s Hour is a very particular space for women. A space where women of all different opinions can come and express themselves.”
Woman's Hour is a space where women of all different opinions can come and express themselves
I mention that the ascent of Kamala Harris may mean the election of the first female leader of the US. “We’re not there yet. There is progress, but it’s sort of two steps forward, one step back. Take healthcare, for example. The recent traumatic stories of women in maternity services [the UK’s first inquiry into birth trauma released its findings in May] were heartbreaking. This show traces what progress, if any, has been made. And our listeners tell us what is going on. The listeners, actually, are the joy of the job, they bring such experience and expertise to the airwaves.”
She doesn’t shy away from the currently charged area of female definition. “It’s a conversation to have on Woman’s Hour, and we have had it. During the election I hosted a debate between senior women from all seven of the main political parties. I asked them all to define what a woman is. I am paid to be impartial, but it’s an issue that needs to be thrashed out.”
As are some areas of the digital world. “The internet represents a new frontier for young women. Revenge porn, cyber stalking, the whole online image thing. I want to help young women navigate it, figure out the solutions.”
To switch off, her leisure time is also female-orientated. “My joy is going to swim in the Ladies’ Pond at Hampstead Heath. The vibe is so different there from the Mixed Ponds. Even the sounds are different, you just hear women’s voices. I’m always hoping they will clean out the Thames so I might go swimming there, just like they’ve done in Paris with the Seine.”
Is there anything she would like to change to make the world more female-centric? We discuss the problem of women’s clothes often not having pockets, but there is something else. “The height of seatbelts. They are too high! They go into my clavicle, to be honest.”
Ad
Becoming a Woman’s Hour presenter places her in a long line of revered broadcasters, but former presenters have been nothing but welcoming, she says. “Jane Garvey and Emma Barnett have been wonderful. The sisterhood is real.”
Authors
Rosie Millard
Ad
Ad
Subscribe for £1 per week
Too much to watch this autumn? Let Radio Times magazine and app do the choosing, with expert picks across TV, streaming and film.
Loading...
Ad
Loading...