Women in Media

The "Housewives' Protective League," which aired from 1948 to 1962, was a daily CBS radio feature that explored a variety of issues from childrearing and health to more irreverent topics.

Irene Beasley (1904-1980) was a composer, singer, and radio personality nicknamed "the long, tall gal from Dixie." Beasley is best known for "Grand Slam", her long-running musical quiz show which she conceived, wrote, designed, produced, and emceed.

Susan Stamberg is best known as a co-host on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" from 1971 to 1986 and as the host of "Weekend Edition Sunday" from its inception in 1987 to 1989. In her later career in the 1990s, she worked as a cultural reporter on various NPR newsmagazines.

Pegeen Fitzgerald (1911-1989) was a beloved New York broadcaster who, with her husband Edward, pioneered the "husband-and-wife-at-home" genre of radio talk. Their show was heard daily over the NYC airwaves for over 40 years.

Betty Ramey (c. 1924- ) co-founded WRKL Radio with her husband Al Spiro in Rockland, New York in 1964. WRKL radio grew into a pioneering, indomitable station which, despite setbacks, provided community members with a means of voicing their opinions over the airwaves.

Karen Leggett worked as a news reporter, broadcaster and newsmagazine host at WMAL Radio in Washington, D.C. from 1976-1993 where she covered major events and feature stories such as national elections, political conventions and inaugurations, the National Women’s Convention in Houston (1977) and the Iran hostage crisis and its aftermath in Washington.

Deena Clark was a writer and broadcast journalist who worked primarily in television. Ms. Clark had her television debut as a guest mediator on "Meet the Press" in 1954, and went on to host NBC's "Deena Clark: A Moment With...", as well as "The Deena Clark Show" on CBS.

Elizabeth Smith Brownstein, also known in the early part of her professional life as Betty Smith, began her career in television in the 1950s, serving for four years as chief television researcher for CBS where she worked on such programs as "See it Now" and "Person to Person".

Fran Norris (1911-1988) was Ohio's beloved "Aunt Fran," creator and host of the pioneering children's program "Aunt Fran and Her Playmates" which aired from 1950 to 1957 over WBNS-TV in Columbus, Ohio.

Gertrude Entenmann was an advertising copywriter and TV producer. She also served as regional chair of American Women in Radio and Television (AWRT) and would later produce a religious-based talk show for WRC-TV.

Inga Rundvold (1920-2004) is considered Washington, DC's First Lady of Television. She was on the air for over 17 years with such programs as "Inga's Angle" and "Let's Go Places."

Mary Kelly was a producer, reporter, and talent coordinator for the NBC's "Today" show between 1952-1958

Helen Sioussat (1902-1995) was Director of the Talks and Public Affairs Department at CBS from 1937 to 1958, where she oversaw as many as 300 broadcasts a year addressing such topics as government, labor, education, religion, civil rights and international affairs. She would go on to create the television program, "Table Talk," TV's first roundtable discussion show.

Lee Lawrence (1909-1990) was a long-time production aide, researcher and producer for NBC programs such as "Wide Wide World" and "The Today Show," both starring Dave Garroway.

Martha Brooks (1908-1999) was a legendary New York broadcaster whose "Martha Brooks Show" aired over WGY-Radio Schenectady from 1937 to 1971. She later became a TV pioneer on WGY's sister station WRGB-TV by writing, producing and often starring in live, on-air productions.

Mildred Funnell (1901-1977) was a Cleveland-based broadcaster of radio and TV, best known for her female-friendly programs like radio's "Mildred and Gloria" (co-hosted with Gloria Brown) and local TV's "The Idea Shop" (also with Brown).

Mona Kent (1909-1990) was a script writer for both radio and television, and wrote hundreds of scripts for the radio serial "Portia Faces Life" and contributing scripts to TV's "Captain Video" series.

Betty Garde (1905-1989) was an American actress best known for being the original Aunt Eller in Broadway's "Oklahoma" but whose career also include such radio programs as "Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch" and "The Aldrich Family" and work with Orson Welles and Eddie Cantor, among others. Ms. Garde also appeared on early TV in such programs as "The Honeymooners," "Decoy," and "The Twilight Zone."

Edythe Meserand (1908-1997) began her broadcasting career in 1926 at NBC, but had her greatest influence at WOR where she produced the first true radio documentary. She was also founding member of American Women in Radio and Television (AWRT) and served as the organization's first president.

Julie Stevens (1916-1984) was an American actress best known for playing the lead role on the radio soap opera "The Romance of Helen Trent." Ms. Stevens also appeared as a newspaper reporter on the TV series "Big Town," from 1951-1952.

Jeane Young's career in public broadcasting primarily focused on adult learning, as she directed the Television for Learning Project under the auspices of the Educative Awareness Project for the Public Broadcasting Service.

Mary Aladj worked for the Public Broadcasting Service's Public Information department from 1971 to 1978. This collection documents the activities of the PBS Public Information department such as the promotion of PBS programs and the analysis of viewer response to public television programming.

LaVerne Miller taught at University of Maryland and Montgomery College, and played a role in the development of the Maryland College of the Air Consortium on Maryland Public Television. Miller was also an active member of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT), serving on the Definitions and Technology Committee of the International Division.

Margaret Chisholm was an educational broadcaster, public television board member and board of trustees member of the Association for Public Broadcasting (APB). She also served as vice president of the APB lobbying arm National Association of Public Television Stations' Executive Committee from 1979 to 1983.

Susan Fratkin represented the concerns of higher education to the public broadcasting community when she was Director of Special Programs for the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges (NASULGC) from the late 1970s to 1992. She also served as first treasurer and then president of the Joint Council on Educational Telecommunications (JCET) from 1984 to 1992.

Fran Harris-Tuchman (1915- ) began her broadcasting career as a pioneering member of the all-female WATTS group who kept what is now WLS-TV on the air throughout the second world war. She later went on to be the first woman to head a television division for a major advertising agency and founded her own highly successful ad agency, Harris-Tuchman Productions.

Educator and television producer Rhea Gaynelle Sikes specialized in instructional television programming for adults and children during her tenure at the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), including programs for local stations WQED and WNET (PBS).

American Women in Radio and Television (AWRT) is the preeminent organization for women in the broadcasting industries. AWRT was founded in 1951 in response to the National Association of Broadcasters' decision to dissolve its women's division. Now called the Alliance for Women in Media (AWM), the organization has over 2,000 members and is a powerful advocate, educator and supporter of women in communications. See also "Current Organizations".

The American News Women's Club was founded in 1932 to support the advancement of women in newspaper journalism, and later expanded to include women from all areas of communications. See also "Current Organizations".

The NFCB is a national grass-roots, non-profit organization whose mission includes facilitating the production of innovative programming from diverse sources, and promoting the participation of minorities and women at all levels of public broadcasting. The audio recordings in this collection include programs on social and cultural issues in the U.S. and speeches from feminist and African-American activists. See also "Digitized Audiovisual Materials" and "Current Organizations".