0:02

Hello from Wonder Media Network. I'm

0:04

Jenny Kaplan, and this is Womanica.

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Each day we bring you the story of a woman from

0:09

history who you may or may not know but definitely

0:11

should. Today, in honor of

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International Women's Day, I'm thrilled

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to say that we on the Womanica team are

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doing something special in partnership with

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Iheart's International Women's Day initiative.

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Women take the Mic. So

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before we get to our regular episode, I'm

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going to take a couple of minutes to talk with a woman

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who inspires me daily. She

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literally and figuratively shaped me and

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Womanica co creator Liz Caplan. The

0:37

woman of the hour is the one and only Kathy

0:39

Manning. Our mom. Kathy

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Manning has many, many impressive accomplishments

0:44

to her name. Currently, she serves

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North Carolina as sixth District in the US

0:48

House of Representatives. In

0:51

that role, she's one of one hundred and fifty

0:53

one women in Congress. In other words,

0:55

women make up just twenty eight point two

0:57

percent of the House and Senate. Given

1:00

her role, I wanted to ask her a couple of questions

1:02

about representation and sharing women's

1:04

stories. Hi

1:07

Mom, Hi Jenny, thank you so

1:09

much for doing this my pleasure. We

1:11

are recording for International Women's Day,

1:14

and I'm curious, why

1:16

do you think it's important to

1:19

address gender inequality. Can you

1:21

tell a quick story about how your experience as

1:23

a woman has helped you serve your constituents

1:26

better At the Capitol, One

1:28

of.

1:28

The issues that we

1:30

spend a lot of time talking about

1:33

is the repeal of Roe

1:35

versus Wade, all of the different

1:38

abortion bands that have taken place in

1:40

different states. Because

1:42

I have had three children, because

1:45

I have used a variety of

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contraceptive methods, because

1:50

I've had genetic testing, and

1:53

one test that I had with my first

1:55

pregnancy that came back with a

1:57

potentially disastrous result where

2:00

I didn't get the good result back

2:03

until the twenty fifth week

2:05

in my pregnancy, I am able

2:07

to look at the abortion

2:10

issue with the experience of somebody who's

2:13

actually had children, who's

2:15

actually had to think through

2:17

the potential of what I would do if

2:20

I had a test result that came back

2:22

in the twenty fifth week showing

2:24

that the thetis I was caring had

2:26

a genetic abnormality that was

2:29

incompatible with life. And I

2:31

understand these issues because I've

2:33

lived through them. So many of the

2:35

men who opine

2:38

on this issue have very

2:40

little understanding of how

2:42

pregnancy works, or how women's

2:44

bodies work, or the kinds

2:47

of challenges that a woman conface

2:49

during a pregnancy that can put for life

2:52

at risk, for health at risk, or

2:54

the life of a fetus at ringsk.

2:56

As you well know, on Womanica, we

2:58

highlight the stories of women and who've done all kinds

3:01

of different things throughout history. Why

3:03

do you think it's important to share women's

3:05

stories?

3:06

Often when you study history,

3:09

at least when I was growing up, the

3:11

heroes that you hear about, the leaders

3:14

that you learn about are all

3:16

men. You might think that

3:19

it's only been in recent history that

3:21

women have done noteworthy things.

3:24

But when you take the time to actually

3:27

study the impact women

3:30

have had on history

3:33

in every facet of our

3:35

lives, from science

3:38

and medicine to the

3:40

arts and culture and healthcare,

3:43

women have had a critical impact

3:46

of all facets of life from

3:49

all around the world for

3:51

literally thousands of years.

3:54

Yeah, I feel like one of the things I find

3:56

most interesting is, and even a

3:58

smaller scale, when I

4:00

was a little kid, thinking about what all the

4:02

possibilities were as

4:05

career options growing up. You

4:08

know, you think of what your parents do or

4:11

what people you know in your community what

4:13

they do. But when

4:15

you listen to something like Willmanica, you realize

4:17

there are infinite ways to be successful

4:20

and make a difference depending on what your interests

4:22

and skills and you know, ideas

4:25

are. So I think there's a benefit

4:27

to both understanding better what's happened

4:29

in the past and history and the impact women

4:31

have had forever, and

4:34

also the impact that women can have

4:36

moving forward, because there

4:38

are so many more opportunities to make

4:41

change or make a difference in ways

4:43

that may not be considered

4:45

the norm.

4:46

So often girls

4:48

say that they can only

4:51

envision themselves in a certain career

4:53

path if they see someone who

4:55

looks like them in that job.

4:59

And by portray the incredible

5:01

things that women have done throughout history

5:04

with your podcast, you allow

5:06

girls to see themselves in a whole

5:08

variety of jobs

5:11

or careers, life choices

5:14

that they might not otherwise see.

5:17

And with that, onto the regular show.

5:19

Thank You Mom, Thank you Jenny.

5:24

This month we're talking about women of sound.

5:28

These women dominated the airwaves, innovating,

5:30

documenting, and creating the audio landscape

5:33

we live in today. What

5:37

is in the news this week tryal

5:40

of the old Bolsheviks in Russia.

5:44

You can have vegetables, lots of them

5:46

on your table next winter. Every

5:52

day listeners in the greater Pittsburgh area

5:54

could switch on their radios to hear from today's

5:56

wimanniquin. She was

5:58

a compass on current events, a north star

6:01

on musical stylings, and above all, an

6:03

architect at the early daily show format.

6:06

Tune in, We're talking about Mary d. Dudley.

6:15

Mary was born around nineteen twelve in Homestead,

6:17

Pennsylvania, just outside of Pittsburgh.

6:20

She was one of six children born to William

6:23

and Mary Hunter Goode. The

6:25

kids would become bastions of Pittsburgh's black

6:27

community. James was one

6:29

of the first black men to operate a real estate firm

6:31

in the city. William

6:33

ran the only black owned twenty four hour drug

6:36

store in the country. Ruth managed

6:38

the same pharmacy. Mal

6:40

was the first black network television correspondent.

6:43

Alan worked at an esteemed news agency,

6:46

and Mary would become the first African American

6:49

female disc jockey in the US.

6:52

When Mary was growing up, you could

6:54

find black performers on the radio. The

6:57

singing quartet known as the Southern Airs

7:03

Eddie Rochester Anderson and his comedy

7:05

routines the phone, the phone,

7:08

or why didn't chance for This is My Day

7:10

on? Or

7:12

Hattie McDaniels on The Bulah Show.

7:15

Everybody says, I'm a girl that knows all

7:17

answers. The only probably don't

7:20

want ever ask me the question.

7:24

But there weren't black owned radio stations

7:26

or black DJs to tune into. That

7:29

didn't dissuade Mary. After

7:31

attending Howard University, she enrolled in a

7:34

school to study radio, where she graduated

7:36

with high honors. In

7:38

nineteen forty eight, Mary got her chance.

7:41

A local AM radio station, WHOD

7:44

opened up right in Homestead. Mary's

7:47

original application to join the station's

7:49

staff was turned down, but

7:51

she didn't take no for an answer. She

7:54

finally convinced the station manager to give her

7:56

a shock. Mary could have a fifteen

7:58

minute slot if she could get a sponsor.

8:02

In some stories, that sponsor was a local floorist,

8:04

and others it was Rufus Sunnyman Jackson,

8:07

co owner of the black baseball team, the Homestead

8:09

Grays. Either way,

8:11

Mary got that sponsor, and on

8:14

August first, nineteen forty eight, she debuted

8:16

her fifteen minute show moving around with Mary

8:18

D. With it, she

8:20

made radio history. Mary's

8:24

show was so successful that within three

8:26

days it was extended to half an hour. In

8:29

less than a year, whod

8:31

gave her another half hour. By

8:35

nineteen forty nine, less than two years

8:37

after joining the station, Mary's

8:39

show ran for two hours daily. Moving

8:42

around pioneered a new radio format,

8:45

a mixture of all sorts of audio. With the fabulous

8:47

Mary D conducting, she played new

8:49

music by black artists, brought

8:51

on new local talent, and interviewed

8:54

national celebrities like Nat King, Cole, Eartha

8:56

Kit, Sarah Vaughan, and Tony Bennett. It

8:59

was a family affair too. Her brother

9:02

Mal ran a new segment reporting stories

9:04

from the Pittsburgh Courier, a national black

9:06

newspaper. He covered topics

9:08

like police brutality, Jim Crow, laws and

9:10

housing. Then one

9:12

of Mary's daughters, known on air as Little

9:14

D, helmed the Teenage Express

9:16

for younger listeners. Mary

9:19

was a leader off air too. She gave

9:22

away an average of two hundred music records

9:24

a month to hospitals and community centers.

9:27

She made regular appearances at local clubs

9:29

and teen centers, and mced talent shows

9:31

to foster new talent. By

9:34

nineteen fifty one, Mary d was a staple

9:36

of Pittsburgh society. She

9:39

moved the show to the corner of Heron and Center

9:41

Avenues. There, she broadcasted

9:43

from behind a wall of windows in a studio she

9:45

called Studio D. Passers

9:48

by would be able to watch the show and put in requests

9:51

in real time. Mary

9:54

eventually reserved the last fifteen minutes

9:56

of the show for the Gospel Train, an

9:58

all request and gospel

10:00

playlist I'm

10:06

a In

10:10

nineteen fifty two, the Pittsburgh Courier named

10:12

Mary's show the most popular daytime show

10:15

in the country. It had

10:17

garnered at least five fan clubs in the Pittsburgh

10:19

area. By nineteen

10:22

fifty five, Mary was receiving two hundred

10:24

fan letters a day. Then

10:28

suddenly, WHOD was sold

10:30

to new owners. It turned

10:32

into a country in Western music station overnight.

10:35

But Mary was never one to get stuck in a dead end.

10:38

She packed up her family and moved to Baltimore,

10:41

where she hosted another radio show.

10:45

In nineteen fifty eight, she took over a show at

10:47

Philadelphia's WHAT Radio

10:49

station. Her program Songs

10:51

of Faith, became one of the station's most popular.

10:55

Though Mary's name isn't very well known today.

10:58

She was a powerhouse in radio her own

11:00

lifetime. She received

11:02

countless awards for her work, not

11:04

only for media associations, but also

11:06

from cultural institutions. She

11:10

was one of the first black members of the organization

11:12

American Women in Radio and TV. She

11:15

was also part of the Greater Philadelphia Press

11:17

Women and an active member of the

11:19

NAACP's Philadelphia branch.

11:23

In February of nineteen sixty four, Mary

11:26

was a runner up for a Woman of the Year award.

11:28

She appeared in person to accept the award despite

11:31

being an ailing health. She

11:34

died on March seventeenth, nineteen sixty

11:36

four after a long illness.

11:41

All month for talking about women of sound. For

11:43

more information, find us on Facebook and Instagram

11:45

at Womanica podcast special

11:48

thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co creator.

11:52

We mentioned it at the start of the show, but

11:55

the teen hero Omanica is celebrating International

11:57

Women's Day this week. For more

11:59

programming honoring the incredible women at

12:01

the network and worldwide, head over

12:04

to iHeart Podcasts International Women's

12:06

Day Feed by searching Women Take the Mic

12:08

wherever you look for podcasts. We

12:11

are featured alongside reasonably Shady,

12:14

very special episodes with Dana Schwartz and

12:16

others. That's Women Take

12:18

the Mic on the iHeartRadio app or

12:20

wherever you get your podcasts. As

12:23

always, will be taking a break for the weekend. Talk

12:25

to you on Monday.