EOTO pt. 1 : Mary Margaret McBride

November 16, 1899 in Paris, MO, Mary Margaret McBride was born.

She was born into a farm family but that did not limit her hopes and dreams of her future. In 1919 she graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree in journalism.

After college she worked for a Cleveland newspaper and then later moved to New York and obtained a job for New York Evening Mail as a reporter.

She quickly became one of the most prominent women journalists reporting on major news like the first transatlantic flight and the coronation of Queen Elizabeth however, McBride found herself out of a job during the Great Depression.

In a bit of a rut her agent suggested that she try her hand at radio just to have a job and this was the beginning of some of the most historical moments in radio.

RADIO:

Having been persuaded to audition for a radio show, McBride made her radio debut in 1934 by hosting a 30- minute radio program on WOR in New York.

It is important to note that the radio was created in the mid 1980s so she was really one of the pioneer radio hosts.

Then in 1937, she added a second show that was 15- minutes and in the 1940’s merged the two shows together. Her program was a series of short feature stories and interviews to not only entertain but inform the listeners.

Her influence and popularity in radio was so prevalent that they were even going to make a tv show about her and her interviews. Below is the pilot of that show.

IMPORTANCE:

She was able to talk about some of the biggest issues in that time period like feminism, anti-semitism, racial Jim Crow laws, civil rights and the rise of consumerism.

Not only did she talk about these hard topics but she also showed the significance of Talk Radio and paved the way for people like Oprah. The creation of the magazine- style format for talk shows and radios that she helped invent is still used today.

While most people have never heard of McBride today she still is and remains a key factor journalism and radio by paving the way for young journalists and women in this field.