On Friday, March 8, coinciding with International Women’s Day, WFUV will debut an original documentary, “Sounds of Progress,” at 8am and 10am, EST on 90.7FM, streaming online.
The 90-minute special highlights the experiences of many artists who’ve spoken with our hosts at WFUV about representation in the music industry — the good, the bad, and what needs to be dramatically improved. Musicians such as Brittany Howard, Rosanne Cash, Brandi Carlile, Rhiannon Giddens, beabadoobee, Self Esteem’s Rebecca Lucy Taylor, Yola, Nadine Shah, The Japanese House, Trousdale, Vagabon and English Teacher’s Lily Fontaine weigh in on what they’ve experienced in their own careers, and what they hope can change. Additional conversations with other women in the music industry — Jennifer Daunt of Dauntless Promotion, Andie Aronow of Women That Rock, and Vanessa Silberman of A Diamond Heart Production — are also featured.
“Within the recording industry, it’s always been, like, mostly a male industry, but the women, in my opinion, are the ones that are thinking exceptionally outside of the box, because you have to, you have to be better than the best,” says Howard in the documentary. “I just want to shine more light on the women who are working so hard, and being so thoughtful and learning everything there is to learn.
They’re not given a leg up; they’re actually given a hard time to get into those studios. Especially in the engineering space and in the production space, I see a lot of women doing interesting, interesting things.”
“Sounds of Progress,” an original WFUV documentary, is hosted and produced by Meghan Offtermatt with additional reporting, editing, and contributions from FUV hosts and staffers Kara Manning, Laura Fedele, Alisa Ali, Robin Shannon, and Sam Sumpter. Following the broadcast on March 8, the documentary will be archived and available on demand.
In addition, “Sounds of Progress” will also air on these dates: March 12 (2pm), March 20 (6pm) and March 27 (10am), EDT. Photo collage: Rhiannon Giddens (Gus Philippas), Yola (Alex Brennan), Vagabon (Nora Doyle), Brandi Carlile (Laura Fedele), Rosanne Cash (Gus Philippas), Self Esteem (Gus Philippas), Nadine Shah (Tim Topple), Brittany Howard (Neil Swanson), and Lily Fontaine (Gus Philippas)