Mary Margaret McBride- The Lady of the Radio

 Mary Margaret McBride... a writer and journalist who became one of the most popular radio broadcasters from the 1930s-50s. McBride was born in Paris, Missouri in 1899 to farming parents, McBride went on to attend William Woods College. McBride paid her way through school by working a part-time job at a local newspaper, the Paris Mercury. Mary gained practical experience, and the paper's editor encouraged her to get a college education.

McBride earned a journalism degree from the University of Missouri in 1918. She was in and out of work writing books under pseudonyms until 1934 when she found her calling after auditioning for a women's radio show. She was hired to portray a fictional grandmother, and in less than 3 weeks, she revealed the lie and portrayed herself as a reporter. 

Mary went on to have weekly radio shows, interviewed celebrities from politics, entertainment, and the arts. Over her career, McBride conducted over 30,000 interviews, and 6-8 million men and women listened to her show daily. In 1994, McBride was celebrated in Madison Square Garden where Eleanor Roosevelt introduced her to 18,000 people. 

Mary Margaret McBride retired in 1954 but continued broadcasting from her living room. McBride is remembered as the first lady of the radio, and her listeners appreciated that she did not talk down on them but took them seriously as people. McBride will be remembered as a woman who brought black figures onto the show, took advantage of the anonymizing quality of the radio, and played as an important forerunner for talk radio and television talk show personalities.

Sources

https://historicmissourians.shsmo.org/mary-margaret-mcbride

https://library.missouri.edu/specialcollections/exhibits/show/heroes/mcbride