Finding Their Voices: Midwestern Women Broadcasters, 1922-1992

FAIN: FT-229517-15

Tracy Lucht
Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Ames, IA 50011-2000)

Summer research and writing on Journalism and Women's History.

This project explores the historical experiences and cultural contributions of women broadcasters in the Midwest, a region that has been overlooked in the scholarly literature on women and the media. Until now, the history of women in radio and television, arguably the most important sites of American civic discourse in the twentieth century, has been told almost entirely from the perspectives of women working in large coastal cities. Yet the Midwest launched several female "firsts" in broadcasting and sprouted a significant group of women known as the radio homemakers. Based on archival sources, oral histories, press clippings, and broadcast recordings, this project investigates the influence of gender ideology and regional culture on the careers and community voices of these professional pioneers. The result will be a book prospectus that promises to appeal to a range of readers, especially those drawn to Midwestern history and the stories of exceptional women.