Ruth Anderson, San Francisco's only woman radio news reporter. Ann Rosener, photographer. 1943 Feb. Prints and Photographs Division. LC-USE6-D-009785 (b&w film nitrate neg.)
From radio's earliest pre-network days, women worked in almost every capacity, both at the microphone and behind the scenes.
Women have been among radio's most imaginative and productive writers and producers. Eva vom Baur Hansl (1888?-1978), a journalist
who worked with several different broadcasting organizations, produced such educational programs as Women in the Making of America (1939), a Federal Radio Theatre project written by Jane Ashman (n.d.); Gallant American Women (1939-40); and Womanpower (1942). Virginia Safford Lynne (n.d.) and Ruth Adams Knight (1898-1974) wrote for, among other programs, The Great Gildersleeve (1941-49, 1952-57, 1966) and Those We Love (1942, 1944), respectively. Writers Ann Barley (n.d.) and Ruth Barth (n.d.) contributed to the docudrama series March of Time (1937-39, 1941-45). Helen Mack (1913-1986) directed The Saint (1950-51) and The Alan Young Show (1944-47, 1949-50). In 1930, actress-turned-writer Edith Meiser (1898-1993) persuaded the National Broadcasting Company to
produce Sherlock Holmes (1939-40), which she had adapted for radio from the original stories. She continued to work on the series as script editor,
writer, and adapter through the late 1940s.3
