THE MIW RADIO GROUP CELEBRATES
NATIONAL WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH
Group Recognizes Women of Present and Past Who Have Made a Difference in Radio Broadcasting
The Mentoring and Inspiring Women (MIW) Radio Group is pleased to celebrate National Women’s History Month by honoring the rich and varied contributions of individuals who have made a difference in the radio broadcasting industry. Throughout the month of March, the MIWs will recognize these outstanding women through a series of special "Her-story" spotlight features and will provide a list of interesting websites that recognize the female pioneers of the radio broadcasting industry at http://www.radiomiw.com.
“It is a privilege to be able to celebrate the many outstanding accomplishments of women from the present and past who have enriched the radio broadcasting industry as we know it today,” said MIW Radio Spokesperson Heidi Raphael. "We are pleased to have MIW Radio Group members continue to blaze the trail started by these outstanding individuals."
The Mentoring and Inspiring Women in Radio group consists of top-level radio women across the country who are dedicated to using their influence and resources to help women in radio develop strong management and leadership skills. The MIWs are equally committed to advocating the advancement of women to senior positions in broadcasting.
MIW Members: "Her-story” Spotlight
Corinne Baldassano
Senior Vice President
Programming & Marketing
Take On The Day, LLC/The Dr. Laura Program
Why did you choose a career in radio?
Actually, radio chose ME. I just wanted to be in entertainment, and the only response I got to over 100 letters I had written came from WHN Radio in New York, where I got my start researching editorials and working in the news department. I segued into music and ended up as the Music Director, which is what literally started my career in programming. I was enthralled with the medium, and just never left. Best decision I ever made.
What was a defining moment in your career?
Becoming a Program Director at a time when there were less than ten women in that position in the country.
Who was your mentor?
I've had many, but I always give the most credit to Willard Lochridge and Larry Berger of WPLJ who encouraged me, promoted me, and supported me at a time when no one else would look twice at a woman who wanted a career in programming.
What was your biggest failure?
No BIG failure, but I was sometimes ahead of the curve when it came to trends. The good news is that I'm able to spot trends early, but the bad news is sometimes the timing is off.
What was your biggest success?
I'm very proud of the young men and women that I have mentored who have gone on to major success. I've always been a believer in "passing it on," especially since I was lucky enough to work with people who gave ME opportunities and guidance. And I've also learned just as much (if not more) from the ones I guided as they learned from me.
What is the most valuable thing you have learned?
You're never as good as the best press you get, and you're never as bad as the worst criticism. The truth lies somewhere in the middle, so keep your head about you and never, ever lose your sense of humor!
Mary Bennett
Executive Vice President
National Marketing
Radio
Advertising Bureau (RAB)
Why did you choose a career in radio?
I know a lot of radio career professionals -male and female- who
'fell' into the radio business on their path to something else. IN my case, I
was bitten by the radio bug while still in high school, and knew that in some
shape or manner, I wanted to be in the business. I was lucky enough to land my
first (real) job at WNIC Radio in Detroit at the ripe age of twenty.
What was a defining moment in your career?
Leaving the nest at WNIC Radio in '85 after 11 years to take a sales
management position with a newly formed group that was putting a new format on
the air in Detroit and testing what I was made of. It was really an
exhilarating experience.
Who was your mentor?
I've been lucky enough to have number of them.
Dick Kernen at Specs Howard in Detroit persuaded me to follow my heart and
pursue a career in Radio: I worked for one of the best broadcasters in the
business- Ed Christian - those first 11 years at WNIC; Lorraine Golden WNIC and
Metropolis Broadcasting in the 80's) and Diane Sutter (Shamrock Broadcasting
and now owner of Shooting Star Broadcasting) are my wizards.
What was your biggest failure?
I would say losing the classic rock war in Houston in '94 to ARROW.
(The silver lining was the chance to launch a new alternative rock station, and
re-experience the adrenalin of the start-up station in Detroit in 1985.)
What was your biggest success?
I have to choose? There are three actually- all related to having
the opportunity to be part of OR recruit and build great teams: WNIC in the
eighties; W4Country (WWWW) in the 90's and more recently recruiting the
expanded marketing team at RAB.
What is the most valuable thing you have
learned?
I learned it from Ed Christian and I like to think I learned it
well. It has been reinforced in every professional experience I've had since:
People are the most valuable and important asset in any station or radio
company. Treat them that way.
MIW
Spotlight: Erica Farber
Publisher and President
Radio & Records
Why did you choose a career in radio?
I did not choose radio, it chose me. Into my first job
in radio I became enamored with the business. I saw first hand that
it made a difference in people's lives, it educated and informed
and advertisers saw concrete results. And on top of it I
think some of the most interesting people work in radio and for that reason
alone I have stayed in it!
What was a defining moment in your career?
There isn't one moment; there have been hundreds. Each
day is a gift to me.
Who was your mentor?
I have had too many to list but my mother always told me I
could do anything I wanted and I believed her!
What was your biggest failure?
There have been many but I don't regret any of them.
If I repeated the same failure than that would be the biggest one and
fortunately that hasn't happened yet!
What was your biggest success?
That I am still in the business making a contribution.
What is the most valuable thing you have learned?
Always, always be true to yourself. At the end of the
day you have to live with yourself.
Radio has provided me with a wonderful career but it is not my life and
does not define me.
Mary Beth Garber
President
Southern California Broadcasters Association
Why did you choose a career in radio?
It offered me a way to be my own business, and all the freedom and responsibilities that came with it. I had a baby and wanted to be able to control my schedule enough to be a mom and have a career. I wanted to be able to run my own business, yet have the benefits of being associated with a bigger company. And I thought radio was creative and fun.
What was a defining moment in your career?
When I realized that I was good at selling radio. I was at my second radio station when my GSM called me in. I wondered (as most women in business do) what I had done wrong. He told me I was the #1 biller that month, and asked if I'd share some of my tactics with the other sales people. I'd been selling for only about two years. In hindsight, it's a shame it took having someone else tell me I was good for me to realize it. And then, I became really good at it.
Who was your mentor?
Many people played many mentoring roles as my career took different twists (I have worked on the agency side in media, local radio sales and management, national radio sales and management and client side in marketing, before becoming President of the SCBA). One who stands out is Ralph Guild, who helped me understand leadership.
What was your biggest failure?
Mismanaging my Boss when I was a regional Director of Sales for a locally owned radio company. Harvard Business Review says you have to learn to "manage up," or manage your boss. I failed to do that and paid the consequences.
What was your biggest success?
At that same company, bringing completely disparate staffs and departments together to form a cohesive community with a shared goal. Together we created a strategic plan that made us a top notch team that thrived on making two classical stations into tough competitors and serving audiences that loved us.
What is the most valuable thing you have learned?
Two things: One- not to undervalue or underestimate my own capabilities and two-to be attuned to the subtle signals of people around me.
Joan Gerberding
Co-founder
MIW Radio Group
Why did you choose a career in radio?
When I started in radio as an Account Executives (AE ) in 1975, there were only a handful of women in the business and virtually none of them were AEs. They were receptionists, bookkeepers, traffic directors (maybe). I had had about six years experience at that time in advertising and felt that I had really found my niche. If you happen to tune into the AMC show "Mad Men," that's about as realistic as it gets as a history lesson of the ad business in the late '60s and through the '70s, so my ability to have any opportunity to advance was sorely lacking.
I saw an ad in the local paper for a Radio Account Executive position and thought "I can do that." After jumping through a few dozen hoops, that's exactly where I ended up and it became my very first and enduring love affair.
What was a defining moment in your career?
When I answered the Radio AE ad, the General Sales Manager interviewed me for a full hour and at the end told me that I was certainly qualified for the job but that he "didn't hire women because they were too much trouble." That was all the challenge I needed and it defined who I was and am for the rest of my career; I realized that I would have to work harder, achieve more, and actively pursue greatness just to be considered as good as any man in the business. By the way, I got the job two weeks later....and then his job a year and a half later.
Who was your mentor?
My Dad. He was my hero. My father was bigger than life. He was a bank president and was totally accessible to his customers and his staff. When he passed away in November of 2004, we were forced to hold two memorial services--one in Vermont, where he and my Mom had retired, and one in NJ, where they had lived for many years. Dozens of people stood up to tell stories about how he had changed their lives. He certainly left this world--and my world--a better place.
What was your biggest failure?
OK, this is going to sound totally hokey, but I don't consider anything I've done a failure. Have I made some whopper mistakes? Oh yes! But, everything I've accomplished in my life and career, every time I've made a mis-step has taken me on the path that got me to where I am today.
What was your biggest success?
Fortunately, I feel that I've had a number of successes in my life. But there are two of which I am most proud. One is taking this idea of the MIW group and helping to guide and grow it over the past eight years into a thriving and active group that has really done some good, I believe, for the industry and especially for the women of Radio. Second is, as national President of American Women in Radio and Television, I came up with the idea and then implemented the Empowering America PSA program that celebrates woman in all walks of life. The program was responsible for bringing in the largest single contribution to the AWRT Foundation in its 50+ year history and is still bringing in donations today.
What is the most valuable thing you have learned?
That's easy. Whatever you do; whatever path you take, if you do it for the right reasons and with integrity, you'll always have success.
If you had to write your own epitaph today, what would it say?
Here lies Joan Gerberding. She understood the power of a smile and the strength of the human heart. She made a difference.
Denise Oliver
Oliver Media
Media Consulting/Content Development
Why did you choose a career in radio?
I loved music so I applied for a shift at my college radio station at SUNY Binghamton. The program director who auditioned me, Steve Elman, told me I had a nice enough voice to be on the air professionally, but there were so few women on the air I didn't take it too seriously until a local commercial station called our college station one day and asked if there were any women on the air. They were looking for a "gimmick!"
What was a defining moment in your career?
Getting hired to program 98 Rock in Baltimore was the most meaningful since it marked my transition from air personality to programmer. I soon learned that I loved working behind the scenes figuring out what made listeners tick much more than performing.
Who was your mentor?
Lee Abrams was certainly instrumental in my career. Not only did he and Kent Burkhart get me my first programming job, but every conversation with Lee sparked so many ideas. Al Burke, the General Manager of WBAL and 98 Rock was also a great teacher and inspiration.
What was your biggest failure?
I had a short, unsuccessful stay at WYNY, NY. It was tough, but I learned that sooner or later you lose a battle and that sometimes you wind up in a job that just isn't a good fit.
What was your biggest success?
Well, it was certainly wonderful to get that first big ratings book with Howard Stern and Robin Quivers tripling morning drive at DC 101 in Washington and I remain tremendously proud to have been associated with them. But I'm equally proud of 98 Rock. We set out to create one of the great rock stations in the northeast and I'm thrilled with their continued success.
What is the most valuable thing you have learned?
There are so many I don't know if I can choose just one. But every success I've had has been the result of a great team effort. Also, I've learned the value of keeping things in perspective, retaining a sense of humor and always being true to myself.
Celebrating the PAST:
Women who have contributed to Radio Broadcasting History
Mildred Carter
Mildred Carter, along with her husband, Andrew "Skip" Carter, founded the first African American owned radio station west of the Mississippi in the U.S. in 1950, when KPRS 1590 debuted as a 500-watt daytimer (now home to sister station KPRT-FM) in Kansas City, Missouri.
When her husband died in 1989, Mildred Carter became chairperson of the board and the stations continued to grow and to solidify its standing in the Black community with various outreach programs and promotions. In 1995, KPRS picked up the Crystal Radio Award from the National Association of Broadcasters. The Carter Broadcast Group In 2000, the company celebrated its 50th anniversary.
Mrs. Carter ran the Carter Broadcast Group for many years, before eventually turning over control of the company to her grandson, Michael Carter, in 1987.
Here are some wonderful websites that celebrate women’s contributions in radio broadcasting:
Library of American Broadcasting/Taking a Leading Role: Women in Broadcasting History
http://www.lib.umd.edu/LAB/exhibits/leadingrole/
The Paley Center for Media
The Broadcast Archive
http://www.oldradio.com/current/bc_anncr.htm
American Women in Radio & Television
A Salute to the Women of Early Radio
http://www.distinguishedwomen.com/biographies/remembering.html
“She Made It” Celebrates Broadcast Women
http://tvfanforums.net/index.php?showtopic=11598