Media: Talk of the Trade: Radio rudery

THE BROADCASTING Standards Council, which carries out annual reviews of subjects such as violence and sex on television, has decided to study radio, which it regards as unexplored territory. Radio has no 'watershed' marking the start of adult programmes, hence the protests over sexually explicit material on Woman's Hour. The Radio Authority recently upheld a complaint about Virgin Radio, where, following an Independent media-page article by the feminist writer Robin Katz questioning the lack of female broadcasters at the station, a disc jockey called her a 'bitch' on air and threatened to 'rip her a new arse'. The authority stated that 'any similar lapse is likely to result in regulatory action'.