Let’s hear it for the girls

Whether by accident or design, Zoë Ball took over the coveted early-morning slot on Radio 2 this week just as Radio 4 launched another of its Riot Girls series, celebrating ‘extraordinary’ women writers, those who have overturned convention, risen up against the status quo, proved themselves to be just as capable as their male oppressors (if not more so). Ball launched herself on to the airwaves on Monday morning at a pace it was hard to keep up with when it was still dark outside and the house had not yet warmed up. Her first track, that key statement of how she intends to reshape the breakfast show, give it a woman’s own makeover, was of course from Aretha Franklin. It just had to be. And the track — ‘Respect’. It could hardly have been anything else, given the overexcited anticipation that Ball’s promotion to the leading Radio 2 show has aroused in the media. She’s been heralded as the first female capable of breaking through the breakfast airwaves without frightening away the listeners by being too shrill, too dull or too safe.

It’s a tough call. Up at 3.30 a.m., Monday to Friday, into the studio, headphones on, and three hours to fill with unscripted chat between tracks, traffic and news before handing over to Ken Bruce. On Monday morning Ball admitted that ‘Pause for Thought’ was a welcome moment to catch her breath and let someone else do the talking after a couple of hours of being on-the-button, gauging what people might want to hear her rattling on about while they’re dashing through their daily rituals of shower, Weetabix, teeth, bag, phone, keys and out the door. It will take a few weeks, if not months, to know whether she will become as much of a favourite as Terry Wogan.