Women in broadcasting ownership

[Donna Halper]

On 8/11/2011 7:49 PM, Doug Drown wrote:
> Brava to the estimable Ms. Zimmerman! 

She was an amazing lady.  Her husband, Bob, was 100% supportive of her 
radio career.  He was the city engineer in Vinton IA, so he built the 
station (and even built a portable version that she could drive around), 
and then she ran it.  Unfortunately, she ran out of money after a year, 
but that happened a lot in early radio, where there were no sponsorships 
and you either paid out of your pocket or you relied on a corporation 
like Westinghouse or GE.  There were several other women who briefly 
owned stations in the late 1920s-- in Oregon and in Arizona.  But as I 
said, the first women I know to go on the air here was WOCB.  Here's how 
the Barnstable Patriot explained it:

1940

Radio station WOCB, the new Cape Cod station located on South Sea 
avenue, West Yarmouth, went on the air for the first time... It will be 
found at 1210 on the waveband, or 121 on sets which knock off the zeros. 
WOCB is operated by the Cape Cod Broadcasting Company, of which Miss 
Helen W. MacLellan and Miss Harriett M. Alleman of Osterville are 
principal figures. Its broadcasting studio was built in early summer, 
and is a story and a half structure of Colonial design.