At Last! It's The End Of Men-Only Clubs On Air

Zoë Ball and Sara Cox have landed two of the most important jobs in radio. So why did it take so long, asks Miranda Sawyer

- Miranda Sawyer

RADIO 2 – THE UK’S most popular radio station, with 15m listeners – has remembered that women have voices (and ears) too, and appointed Zoë Ball and Sara Cox to host its breakfast and drive time weekday shows. Last week, Radio 2’s head of content commissioning said they were thrilled to be welcoming them both.

‘So what?’ you may think. These are two great broadcasters, who have proved their talent on both TV and radio: of course, they should be hosting such prestigious programmes. Well, yes. Except that for the past 20 years, Radio 2 somehow couldn’t find room for any female broadcaster during weekday daylight hours. From 1998 until May of this year, there wasn’t a woman in the host role between 6.30am and 7pm, Monday to Friday. It has taken years of pressure on the BBC’s top brass to get them to make this change.