Ruth Anderson at KFRC

KFRC Ruth Anderson

Most women in early radio were actresses, musicians or secretaries.  The choice positions of announcer, news reporter or commentator were always reserved for men.  However, in the early 1940s many of the country’s best announcers and commentators were taking leaves of absences to fight in the war.   As with other critical services, some women stepped in to take their places.  Ruth Anderson at KFRC was the city's only woman news reporter.  A graduate of radio soap operas, she started editing, preparing and reading her own newscasts in October of 1942. Her fifteen-minute program “Last Minute News” was heard six days a week, sponsored by a San Francisco department store.   Women were heard more frequently in such roles after the war, but it would still take decades for them to achieve parity with their male counterparts on the air. 
(A Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Photo, courtesy of the Library of Congress)


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