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Best Female DJ's of the 60's and 70's?

I have to drop in a vote for "Shelia", who did evenings for WHBQ, Memphis in the mid-70's, then moved on to Houston. She was a master (mistress?) of the post-Drake RKO quick-hitting "one-liner" personality. I believe she became a writer over the course of time.

Incidentally, Memphis was home to the first all-female radio station, WHER, which went on the air in 1955. It was the brainchild of Sam Phillips (the man who first recorded Elvis and owned Sun records) and Kemmons Wilson (the founder of Holiday Inns).
 
Oddly enough, that could be the same Sheila I'm talking about... Sheila York is the former WHBQ DJ who is now an author.
 
and on the urban side of things, at least in NYC proper, you had Vy Higginsen (who would LATER go on to produce "Mama I Want to Sing") and the late "Princess" LaMarr Renee, both of whom spent MUCH time at the LEGENDARY WBLS-FM....

and outside NYC, at least urban-ly speaking....FIVE words:

Martha Jean "The Queen" Steinberg!!!
 
Trish Battey (not sure of the spelling it was pronounced Bay-tee) KDKA..she did afternoons 2-430 before they went into 90 to 6 at 430pm.
 
I can think of 3 and they all did overnights. Carol Ford on WOWO Fort Wayne, Beverly Burke and Trish Mattimore who both did overnights on WKBW Buffalo. All these ladies were very good on the air and could have worked any other daypart.
 
if you mean the SAME Carol Ford who WAS on WRKS-FM (98.7) in the 90's and is PRESENTLY doing weekends on Sirius 53 (SoulTown), then I GOTTA agree with you!! :) :)

Andrea
 
Mike Sheridan said:
Trish Mattimore who both did overnights on WKBW Buffalo. All these ladies were very good on the air and could have worked any other daypart.
Click to expand...

I think she moved up to mid-days after a years or so of doing overnights.
What ever happened to her anyway? Out of the biz?
 
C.J. Bronson was an excellent personality at KNBR "68" in San Francisco during the 70s and early 80s. At the time, KNBR was primarily an MOR station, not rock; but CJ was hip and would have fit in just fine on a Top 40 or AOR station.
 
Two great female jocks in Phoenix:

1. Chaz Kelley - KOPA FM, late 1970s. She later worked for RKO Radio doing news. Last I heard she was doing some weekend work here and there. Great voice and a very nice person.

2. Mary "Bone Mama" McCann. I think she did some work in the 70s. Unique talent.
 
buster2 said:
Chaz Kelley...I heard she was doing some weekend work here and there.
Click to expand...

Chaz does overnights (ET) on two of the Dial-Global sat nets.
(One or both would seemingly be voicetracked.)

She has had several stints doing weekends/swing at (cue Charlie)
"KRTH, KRTH HD1 Los Angeles, a CBS Radio station."
 
Hands down.. Robin Wood WEBN in Cincinnati. She had the market tied up for several years here. Didn't hurt that she was the owners daughter.
 
Very intersting thread.

I will second Yvonne Daniels on WLS. What a distinctive, smooth voice.

Also interesting that many of the women mentioned above did overnights, atleast at first. Tells you something about how women were treated early on.

I saw a documentary on the late NBC newswoman, Jessica Savitch. In it, mentions that she was a jock in some small market in New Jersey in the 60's before she hit it big.
 
searadiofreak said:
I saw a documentary on the late NBC newswoman, Jessica Savitch. In it, mentions that she was a jock in some small market in New Jersey in the 60's before she hit it big.
Click to expand...

...she was also a part-timer on WBBF Rochester while attending Ithaca College. The aircheck I heard from that period wouldn't qualify her for this thread...
 
Undoubtedly Yvonne Daniels "The Queen of Rock" on WLS

Allison "Nightbird" Stelle who also did a 25 minute program on LPs for the National Guard for small market stations with rock formats.

and ...the one I felt who started it all...the legendary Ruth Lons of 700 WLW and WLWT-TV in Cincinnati. She personified personality and professionalism with an intimate rapport with her audience earning a waiting list of sponsors on her "50-50 Club"

(right CC???)

God rest their souls!
 
After reviewing all the posts on this topic, I see that Mary Turner, (6-10pm back in the day) on KMET, Los Angeles, somehow has not yet been mentioned.
 
Yvonne Daniels by far set the bar for the female of the species...in the mid 70s, I was in college in western NY, and spent many late study nights with this extraordinary talent for company, WLS coming in better than the locals (then again, the two local AM CHRs, which were 20 miles away, had notoriously lousy night coverage- WKBW which was 60 miles away came in much better- proof positive that 50,000 watts at 1520 sure got the job done). Ms. Daniels just got the job done- and did it so very well.

I noticed that Beverly Burke was mentioned at KB as well- she was around about the same time- and I remember nobody that I knew had much good to say about her- especially my roommate in those days, who later worked at KB! Talk about affirmative action.

Two more I'd like to mention- anyone remember Candi Clark at WPXY, or Adrienne Edwards at WHFM (or FM99 as it was known then) from good old Rochester, NY?
 
Allison Steele had the distinction of being the
first female announcer on a soap; she became
announcer on "Search For Tomorrow" when
Dwight Weist retired.

And Ruth Lyons must date back at least to
the '40s; her "50 Club" (later the "50/50 Club")
on WLW started in 1942. When it moved to
television in the early '50s, NBC carried it nationally
for about a year. Despite good ratings, the show
was canceled because NBC wanted Ms. Lyons to move
to New York, and she was Cincinnati to the core.
She continued the show regionally until her retirement
in 1967; Bob Braun then carried it into the 1980s. I'm
told it ended because WLWT elected to concentrate
its financial resources on news.
 
I'll put in a plug for an obscure one - "Outrageous Nevada" - aka Susan Carter - who was sexy and sounded great for a brief year or two in the early 70s at KPPC 106.7 in Pasadena - the frequency home to KROQ for many years now.

KPPC was -for awhile - a very inventive underground FM station which also featured Harry Shearer (SNL, voices on The Simpsons, and Le Show on NPR), David L. Lander and Michael McKean - who became Lenny & Squiggy on Laverne and Shirley just a few years later.


http://www.tedalvy.com/mallard3.htm
 
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