Transcript
Speaker: When I worked in Buffalo, I filed a lawsuit against them for salary disparity because there's a guy who's my co -host. And when we found out what the salaries were, I'm like, yeah, there's a big difference. It's not a slight difference. It's a big difference. So I'm like, yeah, why is this? And they really couldn't come up with a reason. And when I went to an attorney.
Speaker: It's just like there is no reason except for gender. There's a gender disparity. So then when I get to Cleveland and I'm in this researcher position and not being a producer salary, though, that's what I'm doing, it wasn't until I left. You won't believe this. When I left, they're having a farewell party for me. The chief financial officer comes up to me. He's like, Kim, I'm so glad you're leaving. You have the lowest salary in the company. Whoa.
Speaker: Imagine a world where we have gender equality and equity in and through the media. That is our vision and our mission at African Women in Media. I'm Dr. Yemisia Kimbabola and this is Her Media Diary, a podcast that captures the lived experiences of African women working in media industry.
Speaker: On today's show, I'm excited to have Kim Fox, a professor of practice in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at the American University in Cairo, Egypt, and a veteran in the world of radio and audio production.
Speaker: Professor Fox shares her life story from the streets of Akron, Hawaii to the academic halls in Cairo and how her passion for audio led her from being a voice on black radio stations in the US to becoming an influential educator shaping the future of podcasting and audio.
Speaker: Throughout this series, I am in conversation with African women academics in the field of media and gender studies. Discussing our experiences, and I say our because I'm also an academic, our experiences navigating academia, teaching and researching gender, challenges we face and how we've managed to navigate our way despite these hurdles.
Speaker: By inviting these voices into conversation, we hope to provide solutions to break down barriers faced by African women in media education. So it's great to have you on the call, Professor Kim Fox. I think we first engaged when we were planning our 2021 conference. If you remember, you kind of organised the panel, didn't you?
Speaker: It was so nice. Thank you. Thank you. It's great to have you on the podcast. So I often start this interview by trying to get to know the person I'm speaking to, their histories, their background. So from the earliest memories, tell us about Kim Fox.
Speaker: I don't know about the earliest memories, but I'm American. I'm from the United States. I was born and raised in a, I don't think it's a small town, but some people think it's a small town, Akron, Ohio. A lot of people don't know that it's the rubber capital of the world. A lot of the major rubber manufacturers, Goodyear, Firestone are all headquartered in my hometown. So that's kind of a cool thing.
Speaker: That's great. So what was it like growing up there? I mean, it was a very working class. Again, you've got these rubber factories. So that was kind of the city's history. A very strong black community, which is pretty much my growing up, hanging out and doing cookouts, family gatherings, music, lots of culture and arts and dancing and things like that.
Speaker: So it was a good growing up and the city has since transformed, but it's where I got my interest in radio and audio. Listening to the radio growing up, going to concerts and just having that, no matter what the family circumstance was, there was always music. There was always something that brought people together.
Speaker: So tell me more about the family dynamics and those experiences back in the day. I mean, it's typical family dynamics. My dad worked in a rubber factory and so did my granddad on my father's side. On my mom's side, they were, I guess they were more like entrepreneurs. Everyone just kind of did different kinds of jobs. I mean, it wasn't until later that I learned that my mom's father had his own asphalt company.
Speaker: which is kind of like, like, really? How do you get into that and make your way into that field because it's so specific and so labor intense? And anyway, that's kind of like the family dynamics, but that doesn't really
Speaker: tell you like, well, how did I get, like, no one did what I'm doing. I'm not following that family legacy of what. Like, my mom and my grandmother are seamstresses and are really good at sewing. And sadly, I didn't pick up that skill set, which I think is an amazing skill set to have. But my mom could just like look at a dress and go and make a pattern out of newspaper.
Speaker: Wow. And it's just like, who does that? Like off the top of your head, you can kind of look at this. And I'm just like, why didn't I pick up that skill? That's an amazing skill.
Speaker: Absolutely. So where did your love for audio and radio start from? Just from listening to the radio, which is kind of interesting because like, yeah, that's what my friends did as well. But I don't, obviously they didn't have the ambition to say, Oh, I want to do that too. Um, I mean, initially I wanted to do TV producing, uh, which I've done a little bit of, I've done a lot of radio producing. So, you know, it all, I kind of feel like I've done what I said I would do and I've done it because I want to do it, not because I said I was going to do what I have to do it.
Speaker: But that's the thing that I like to do is to do the producing to do the radio and the audio stuff Yeah, so how did you get started though? Like what was the journey to kind of get into where you are now? Ah, yeah in my high school We had a program. It's like a career program and they had many areas you could go into law or to business you could go into communication and
Speaker: And I say law and business because that was my one and two and I didn't get my one and two and I ended up getting communication. I was like, that's a bummer. Like here I'm stuck in the thing, the third thing on my list. But it ended up being that gift that keeps giving back because our teacher for that course, for that program was really into it.
Speaker: And it was just like, yeah, we're going to do, we have a radio station here, like in the high school, we had a radio station. They were like, we're going to give you a volunteer op. We're going to expose you to all these careers in this field. You're going to make videos and films. And it was just like, oh, okay. And I ended up doing really well in that program. And so that was the catalyst to say, like, I have these opportunities and I know what kind of careers can stem from this.
