Mary Margaret McBride was a legendary inspiration. She was a successful female American radio interview host and strong writer.
Her most popular radio shows lasted for over 40 years, and continued on air even after her death.
She was called "The First Lady of Radio."
Early Life of McBride:
Mary Margaret McBride was born on November 16th, 1899, in Paris, Missouri. Her family constantly moved houses,
but at the age of six, she became a student at a preparatory school called William Woods College. When she was 16 years old, she attended the University of Missouri, receiving a degree in journalism in 1919. She was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta at the University of Missouri as well. She worked almost a
year as a reporter at the Cleveland Press. She then worked until the year of 1924 at the New York Evening Mail.
After this, she wrote a lot of freelance for The Saturday Evening Post, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping. Finally, in 1926, she collaborated in writing travel-oriented books.
Her Successful Career:
In 1937, she was on the CBS radio network the first of a series of shows, as Mary Margaret McBride.
She interviewed figures well known in the world of entertainment.
She did advertising only for products she was able to discuss and had experience from, and she turned down all tobacco
or alcohol products.
Her NBC show in the 1940’s had a broad range of guests. Something that made the shows
so exciting was that she never announced her guests in advance. In September of 1948, NBC
brought McBride in for a 30-minute prime time show on Tuesdays at 9pm. However, NBC took down the
show in its third month of its screening.From 1953 to 1956, she conducted a newspaper column for the Associated Press.
Then, over 20 years, she wrote two books for girls, with "Elizabeth" in the titles. As time went on, she appeared
in smaller radio shows.
Toward the end of her career, she hosted "Your Hudson Valley Neighbor" three times a week
on WGHQ Kingston, NY from the living room of her house.
Unfortunately, she died at the age of 76 on April 7th, 1976, at her home in West Shokan, New York.
She now has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her work in radio to hold her legacy.
Career Timeline:
- CBS until 1941
- NBC until 1950
- ABC until 1954
- NBC again until 1960
- The New York Herald Tribune's radio broadcasts with the largest audience
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