ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that, due in large part to the intersection of race and gender, women and minorities have tended to follow different paths in their quest to become broadcasters. Women fill positions traditionally held by men, but the message is unchanged. Despite the change of presenter, the content reflects the status quo and perpetuates the dominant ideology. For the most part, women seeking access to commercial broadcasting needed to ignore their gender, their ethnic background, and their own voices, and produce an assimilationist message acceptable to the status quo. When blocks of time are programmed by women and ethnic minorities they frequently bring issues of race/ethnicity and gender to the foreground. Ethnic and racial minorities have a rich tradition of following Carter’s third model of access. Equal opportunities laws have removed the overt restrictions preventing minorities from using the first model of access, but this assimilationist model precludes drawing attention to one’s race or ethnicity.
