Homemaker Radio in Nebraska

Radio has always played a role in connecting people. Early homemaker radio programs, like Mary Moore Homemaker on WJAG in Norfolk, focused on providing content and support for the women in their listening areas.

In this episode of the Nebraska History Podcast, we explore radio's impact in connecting with and influencing women in Nebraska through the 2019 Nebraska History Magazine article, "Stirring Up Conversation: The Radio Homemaker," by Mark Smith and Larry Walklin.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
The following episode features ahistoric article from the
Nebraska History magazine. This article may reflect the
language and attitudes of its time and while it offers
valuable insight into the past, may contend expressions or
viewpoints that are outdated or offensive by today's standards.
Any outdated terms do not reflect the current views or
perspectives of the Nebraska State Historical Society.
Welcome to the Nebraska history podcast.

(00:20):
I'm your host, Chris Goforth. Each episode we explore articles
written and published in Nebraska History Magazine.
Radio has always played a role in connecting people.
Early homemaker radio programs like Mary Moore Homemaker on
WJAG in Norfolk focus their efforts on providing content and
support for the women in their listening areas.

(00:40):
Today we explore the impact radio has played in connecting
with and influencing women in Nebraska through the 2019
Nebraska History Magazine article, Stirring Up
Conversation, The Radio Homemaker by Mark Smith and
Larry Walklin. The year is 1944.
On a rural farmstead in northeast Nebraska with no phone

(01:00):
service, a wife is tasked with operating a household.
A winter snowstorm means she won't make it to town for the
foreseeable future. Her children and husband provide
familial companionship and support, but the voices of other
women are missing. But then, at the appointed hour,
the household radio crackles alive each weekday with the

(01:22):
sound of a female broadcast hostwhose cheery demeanor is a
comfort to the homemaker. With the introduction of
widespread radio broadcasting inthe 1920's, the new medium had
demonstrated it could overcome distance, galvanized personal
connections with listeners and ease isolation, particularly in
rural middle America. It did so largely through men,

(01:46):
who dominated broadcast ownership and programming.
Within a few years, however, women began to make inroads on
the air, talking to other women throughout the Midwest.
Among the first such broadcasts targeted to homemakers was a
show beamed to radios in the Twin Cities.
In 1924. Washburn Crosby, later known as

(02:07):
General Mills and the maker of Gold Medal Flower, produced a
regularly scheduled homemaker program on a radio station the
company purchased in Minneapolis.
The Betty Crocker Cooking Schoolof the Air, broadcast on WCCO,
quickly connected with listeners.
Within a year, the program expanded to more than a dozen

(02:28):
stations on which multiple BettyCrocker hosts, furnished with
scripts produced by Washburn Crosby, talked to other women.
From 1926 to 1953, Betty Crockershifted to national status on
the NBC Radio network, with multiple hosts over the years.
Reminding homemakers quote how to buy, what to buy, and how to

(02:52):
make the best with what is available.
End Quote Marjorie Husted, a company employee who graduated
from the University of Minnesotawith a degree in home economics,
not only had a major role in creating the Betty Crocker icon,
but Husted also served for a time as the radio voice of the
iconic homemaker. Similarly, the US Department of

(03:16):
Agriculture initiated a radio text service in summer 1926 that
targeted a significant audience of women charged with caring for
households. Local county agents, most likely
men, produced advice broadcast scripts for Housekeepers Chat,
which featured A neighborly but patriarchal sounding host, Aunt

(03:37):
Sammy. Much like Betty Crocker, the
personification of Aunt Sammy relied upon women's stand in
hosts scattered among dozens of Midwest radio stations who
dispensed recipes and advice on such home care areas as pest
control, floor care, laundry andfood.
Aunt Sammy quickly secured a loyal audience.

(03:58):
Within a year of its first broadcast, the government
offered publications designed toquote meet the enormous demand
of the most popular recipes broadcast.
End Quote. Among the Midwest broadcasters
that subscribe to the service was KOIL in Omaha, originally
licensed to Council Bluffs, IA, KFAB in Lincoln, which later

(04:19):
shifted studio operations to Omaha, and KMA in Shenandoah,
IA. Increasingly, locally produced
homemaking shows appeared in themid and late 1920s on several
Great Plains radio schedules in South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska,
Kansas and Missouri. By 1926, listeners could hear

(04:41):
Stitch and Chat on KMA in Shenandoah and the Mother's Hour
on rival KFNF. Both shows had laid the
groundwork for regularly scheduled programming that
attracted not only large audiences of women who raised
children and tended to Midwest households, but also revenue
from local, regional and national advertisers.

(05:03):
Local homemaker shows, first on radio and later television,
reached its zenith in the post war years.
The long running programs not only opened the Airways for
women to produce and host radio shows in the Cornhusker State,
but also new revenue streams forbroadcast outlets overwhelmingly
controlled by men. Women emerged as personalities

(05:25):
on Nebraska radio and televisionthrough different sets of
circumstances. Georgia Crawford, a partner with
her husband in ownership of KCNIin Broken Bow, produced and
broadcast the Kitchen Kate program five days each week by
1954. Crawford assumed the role of
general manager and sole owner of the station after her

(05:46):
husband's death. Billy Oakley, whose 60 year
media career began in radio as aperformer personality in 1932,
produced homemaker programs for QMA in Shenandoah and KMMJ in
Grand Island. Oakley's controversial delivery
eventually paved a successful transition to television with a

(06:08):
daily program on KOLNTV in Lincoln.
One of the best known Nebraska homemaker producer personalities
was Martha Bolson, who was active from 1938 to 1984.
Bolson's program, distributed through the Omaha based Harold
Sotterland firm, was broadcast on 69 radio stations and 64

(06:31):
television stations in several states as well on at different
times all three Omaha commercialtelevision stations.
Bolson was an Omaha contemporaryof long time NBC Tonight Show
host Johnny Carson from Norfolk,NE.
When both Bolson and Carson worked on Omaha stations.
WOW Radio and WOWTVA Homemaker program with a 26 year run

(06:56):
secured strong connections with radio listeners in northeast
Nebraska. Eugene.
Gene Hughes, publisher of the family owned Norfolk Daily News,
was the driving force to secure a broadcast license in Norfolk,
nearly 100 miles northwest of Omaha.
The federal government granted alimited commercial land radio

(07:16):
station permit to Hughes Publishing for WJAG in 1922.
Women appeared on WJAG program schedules in the mid and late
1920s, mostly as entertainers like the Norco Feeds Girl and
Marjorie Beeler and Frances Warner Singers. day-to-day
announcing chores were largely confined to men.

(07:39):
In a rare instance, Alice Van Asten briefly served as a WJAG
substitute announcer. In 1930, WJAG tried to attract
housewives with programs such asOmar Cooking School of the Air,
sponsored by Omaha Flower Mills and Shopper's Guide.
These shows quickly faded, but by 1931 WJAG offered

(08:02):
housekeepers chat beauty hints with Mary Reynolds and Nancy
Foster's cooking school, sponsored by Nash Coffee.
A March 1932 Norfolk Daily News ad said WJAG was quote looking
for a woman in or near Norfolk who has had experience with
chickens and quote for a 15 to 30 minute daily poultry program.

(08:25):
Thomas Soon hired a host for Poultry Lady and a sponsor the
Omaha Cold Storage Company. Soon, caring for chickens gave
way to recipes and homespun conversation.
In 1939, the first regularly scheduled homemaker program
appeared on WJAG cousin Elsie's Kitchen.
Host Elsie Ludkey of Norfolk recalled that producing the 30

(08:48):
minute weekly program in her home targeted to other
homemakers was strenuous. Quote When the cat and the dog
had a fight on the air, or the time when the baby attacked the
microphone with a mixing spoon. End Quote.
Within a year the show had transformed into a live studio
presentation but ended shortly thereafter.

(09:09):
Lutke then joined The Breakfast Club team on WJAG.
Cousin Elsie assumed an on air role of serving and promoting
coffee and pastries sponsored bya coffee maker and local
bakeries to her male announcer counterparts.
Maude Werner, who later became aradio homemaker on WJAG,
described Lutke's combination ofadvertising and visiting on the

(09:33):
Norfolk station as among the first of such local broadcasts
by a woman to area homemakers. Although Lutke's participation
in the program ended in 1940, the template had been forged for
a permanent homemaker show aimedat northeast Nebraska
housewives. In late 1940, WJAG secured an

(09:55):
Omaha advertiser interested in promoting a product line
targeted to women. The station conducted auditions
searching for a female host who would combine quote advertising
and chatting with homemakers. End Quote.
In December, WJAG hired Edith Hansen of Norfolk to host the
Mary Moore Homemaker Show. Station records and interviews

(10:18):
failed to reveal the genesis foran on air moniker of Mary Moore
or why Edith Hansen did not use her name.
A Norfolk Daily News promotionalad promised quote a new and
different kind of homemaker program on WJAG.
End Quote. The Monday through Saturday half
hour show, from 9:00 to 9:30 in the morning with host Mary

(10:39):
Moore, would broadcast money saving, household tips, recipes,
news, bargains and the latest fashion trends.
Hanson described the first broadcast as experiments,
leaving her frightened and nervous.
But soon she came to feel as if she was sitting right in the
kitchen exchanging recipes and ideas with neighbors.

(11:01):
Station management urged Hanson to query the audience as often
as possible to determine the direction of the program.
When World War 2 began nearly a year after the inaugural
broadcast in 1940, government mandated rationing meant that
Hansen had to be more creative with the ingredients in recipes
and meal preparation. She explained to listeners how

(11:23):
to prepare sugarless recipes andhow to find a substitute for
that cup of coffee. In 1942, Hansen departed WJAG to
replace Jesse Young, a radio homemaker on KMA in Shenandoah.
The Kitchen Club Show, ranked the second most popular show on
KMA, conceded the number one position on station program

(11:46):
listings to Leanna Field Drift Meyer's Kitchen Clatter.
Hansen departed KMA in 1945, butreturned nearly two years later
to the same station. By the late 1940s, Hansen began
to Co host a nationally syndicated homemaker program.
With the departure of Hanson, WJAG needed a new Mary Moore.

(12:09):
Friends of Maude Werner of Battle Creek urged her to pursue
the homemaker position. She was initially hesitant about
hosting a radio show, but did apply.
Werner had acquired on air experience having participated
in broadcast programs for local women's organizations on WJAG,
coupled with a background in education.

(12:30):
Born in nearby Stanton, she attended colleges in Wayne, Peru
and Fremont, as well as the University of Nebraska, and had
served as a school principal. By the early 1940s, Leo and
Maude Werner had set up a household in Battle Creek, 12
miles West of Norfolk, to purchase and operate a local
grocery store. Werner and nearly two dozen

(12:52):
women had been invited to WJAG for additions.
Werner returned for further interviews and recalled Art
Thomas and two male employees popping questions at me.
The station had a new Mary Moore.
Werner began hosting the show inMay of 1942.
Outgoing host Edith Hanson, a WJAG male announcer, and Thomas

(13:17):
coached Werner on the finer points of producing 1/2 hour
live studio broadcast. Werner confronted harsh Nebraska
winters in treks to the station from nearby Battle Creek in the
1940s. After several attempts by local
residents, 1/6 Driver was able to deliver Werner to the studios
10 minutes into the scheduled start time of Mary Moore.

(13:40):
On another occasion, Werner was not as fortunate.
A January Blizzard in 1947 left her snow bound in Battle Creek.
Bob Verzil, a veteran WJAG announcer, conducted the show.
After the broadcast, fellow employees teased Verzil with the
new nickname Mary. Verzil was not the first male

(14:02):
substitute host, of course. Not long after Werner began to
produce, Mary Moore, a new host,suffered a three day illness
which forced WJAG male announcers to the microphone.
In 1943, a lengthy ailment kept Werner from entering the studio
for nearly six weeks. The wife of WJAG announcer Ken

(14:24):
Meyers, all of Meyers, appeared on Mary Moore, with Werner
composing commercial continuity from her bed.
Meyers produced the program withadditional material from women's
magazines, letters from listeners and recipes from
cookbooks. Throughout the 1940s, Warner
broadcast Mary Moore live to Northeast Nebraska Homemakers

(14:46):
for 30 minutes a day, continuingHansen's practice of presenting
herself as a neighbor who visitsvia the radio, sharing recipes,
household tips, product plugs, and homespun conversation.
Art Thomas methodically exploited local media to keep
Warner, AKA Mary Moore, in frontof northeast Nebraska residents,

(15:07):
whom he coveted as potential listeners to sell to
advertisers. Printed recipes, a station
newsletter, and program offerings in the local newspaper
provide early examples of media saturation.
In the early years, the Norfolk Daily News, the Co owned
publication of WJAG, promoted Werner through daily and years

(15:28):
later, weekly program schedules.In the 1940's the station
printed and distributed a monthly newsletter, WJAG News,
to showcase its personalities and a separate publication, Mary
Moore's Prize Recipes. The latter publication consisted
of a sponsored cover page, 2 pages of recipes, and the names

(15:50):
of winners who submitted entries.
Initially, prize recipes found its way to listeners each week,
but soon shifted to a monthly schedule.
Media industry practices and changing technology transformed
the production process in the coming years.
As early as the 1930s, KMA in Shenandoah initiated live

(16:12):
Homemaker broadcast from the homes of Leanna Field,
Driftmeyer and Jesse Young, which the other stations began
to emulate. By the 1950s, quarter inch
electromagnetic tape recording technology meant that radio
shows could be easily and cheaply stored.
In January 1950, a promotional ad in the Daily News informed

(16:34):
listeners that More would broadcast quote from her own
home and quote in Battle Creek for 45 minutes each day, Monday
through Saturday. The ad, which portrays Werner
situated behind a microphone, failed to state that she had
been coached to produce episodesof Mary Moore on a reel to reel
recorder for later broadcast. Warner's husband, Leo, created

(16:58):
an in home recording studio, a room retrofitted with soundproof
material designed to dampen unwanted voice reverberations.
By 1953, Mary Moore returned to its original running time of 30
minutes. For the next 13 years, the
broadcast generated thousands oflistener responses and high

(17:19):
dollar regional and national advertising, a revenue bonanza
for WJAG. Several companies purchased
airtime over successive years onMary Moore.
Tidy House, the producer of the Perfects and Gloss Techs brands
based in Shenandoah, lured the first Mary Moore of the early
1940s, Edith Hansen, who left WJAG for KMA to Co host and

(17:43):
nationally broadcast homemaker show in Norfolk.
Robert E Thomas or Bob Thomas, who assumed general manager
responsibilities of the 1000 Watt WJAG after his father's
death in 1951, claimed that TinyHouse sold products on Kitchen
Club and on one other local radio homemaker show.

(18:04):
Mary Moore saying, quote. Consistently, year after year,
Mary would produce orders and sales volumes on the air that
surpassed the achievement on other individual stations that
were stimulated by this firm's own exclusive homemaker.
Not only that, but Mary Moore would produce more orders per
dollar spent than this firm's homemaker did on stations of

(18:26):
5000 watts and even 50,000 wattsof power.
End Quote. The successful Homemaker Show
had achieved national advertising status by the 1950s.
A publication targeted to advertisers nationwide promoted
Mary Moore with the reminder that WJAG is quote represented
by the Walker Company and quote,an ad agency with offices in New

(18:50):
York, Kansas City, and other metropolitan areas, Mary Moore
generated revenue from a number of regional and national
advertisers. Dizana pancake mix, Dwarfies,
vitamin and wheat germ supplements, EZ on transfer
patterns, Fairmont Foods of Omaha, Gingham girl furniture
Polish and floor wax, plastic plastic gloves.

(19:13):
Mother's best flower. Nash's coffee and China dish.
Much of the financial success ofMary Moore emerges from a
consistent pattern of connectingwith listeners on a personal
level. Episodes produced initially by
Edith Hansen and longtime successor Maude Werner, along
with Martha Bolson, Billy Oakleyand other Nebraska broadcasters

(19:35):
who produced homemaker shows, did more than dispense recipes,
advice and pitch sponsored products.
These women developed long distance friendships with
housewives. In a 1952 WJAG anniversary
broadcast, Werner offered an example of homespun
friendliness, delivered in a warm, conversational tone.

(19:56):
Quote Life is made sweet by the friends and things in common we
share. We want to live not because of
ourselves, but because of the people who care.
And the joys of this life, when you sum it all up, are found in
the making of friends. That's why I like the Mary More
program. That is why I've gotten so much

(20:17):
out of it. End Quote.
The ubiquity of broadcasting further enhanced the image of
Mary More. As a friendly neighbor next
door, a woman who communicated with other women, a rarity on
radio program schedules in that era, Hanson said.
Quote, Mary is a neighbor to so many people.
You can depend on your neighbor coming in to the home via the

(20:39):
radio. And that neighbor is Mary Moore.
She always has a cheery message for you.
And quote Finally, technology fueled the success of radio
homemakers in the 1950s. The availability of tabletop
radios, an alternative to bulky living room sets, allowed women
to work side by side with their favorite broadcast homemakers.

(21:03):
Perceived individual connectionsbetween listener and host
propelled Werner to regional celebrity status.
WJAG mail counts demonstrate thepotential of Mary Moore to
galvanized listener response andrevenue.
With the exception of 1946, Werner, through the on air
persona of Mary Moore, generatedsubstantially more mail from

(21:26):
1942 to 1950 than any other program, promotion or advertised
product. By late 1949, the mail count had
nearly quadrupled in seven yearsand was on track the first six
months of 1950, the last year ofavailable station data.
To establish another record to better understand the folksy

(21:47):
appeal of Mary Moore in another context, the population of
Madison County, Nebraska, at thecenter of WJAG's nearly 100 mile
radius transmission signal, was nearly 24,300 residents in 1940.
By 1949, Werner generated more mail than the entire county

(22:08):
population. The increasing workload of
preparing Mary Moore broadcasts forced Werner to utilize the
services of production assistance, including Becky
Peters. Besides heavy mail volumes and
other program production duties,Werner was the * attraction of
yearly Mary Moore picnics. In 1951, the second annual

(22:30):
picnic attracted 650 listeners on a rainy Monday in the Norfolk
City Auditorium. Werner conducted live broadcasts
on WJAG as loyal listeners competed in several
competitions, potato and backward races, horseshoe
pitching and a slipper kicking contest.
Awards were presented to the oldest person present hold a

(22:53):
euchre, 84, from Norfolk, and the youngest newlywed, youngest
baby boy and girl, and largest family, seven children by the
way, and farthest distance traveled Alba, Nebraska, 120
miles southwest of Norfolk. A similar outdoor picnic two
years later attracted more than 500 listeners.

(23:14):
WJAG seized on the popularity ofits iconic radio homemaker in
the 1950s, with a nearly identical format but different
host of a new weekday broadcast.A syndicated show, a departure
from the locally produced Mary Moore, was recorded in
Shenandoah, a hotbed of women's homemaker shows on KMA and KFNF.

(23:37):
Jane's Journal, hosted by Jane Robinson and sponsored by Tidy
House, featured quote 15 minutesof helpful hints, homemaking
ideas, and new recipes, and Quote Jane's Journal began in
1952 and appears to have been short lived.
A January 1954 WJAG schedule fails to list the program.

(24:00):
Industry practices, declining revenue, changes in lifestyle
and ambiguous federal regulations led to the final
broadcast of Mary Moore in late 1966.
After thousands of productions over a span of 26 years, with
many of those broadcasts under the direction of Maude Werner,
the then 73 year old host retired in December.

(24:23):
The station announced that it would not replace Werner, whose
career began in the Hotel Madison mezzanine studio in
downtown Norfolk and came to a conclusion with record
broadcasts originating from the Werner home in Battle Creek.
General manager Bob Thomas blamed the show's demise on
several factors, including a quote determined trend away from

(24:44):
a homemaker program such as she has developed for so many years.
End Quote, Thomas told listenersin a broadcast salute to Warner.
Many stations that program similar homemaker shows quote no
longer have such programming on the air.
Then to this station maintains another extremely well produced
women's program. End Quote.

(25:04):
That program was kitchen clatterproduced in Shenandoah.
The 30 Minute Daily Show had appeared on WJAG program
schedules on and off since the 1950s.
Mary Moore's popularity with listeners and advertisers
reached its zenith in the 1950s,a time of significant national
economic expansion. By 1954, WJAG exploited Werner's

(25:29):
popularity with two Mary Moore shows, the long standing 30
minute broadcast at 9:00 AM, anda 15 minute feature, the Brunch
Hour with Mary Moore at 11. A review of available station
revenue, however, signals A downward trend during the last
decade of local homemaker broadcasts.
Gross sales on Mary Moore in 1956 totaled nearly $10,000.

(25:54):
By the end of 1960, revenue before expenses had plummeted
nearly $3000, a 30% decline. To enhance the declining revenue
line, station accounting recordsdocument yet another program
produced by Werner, an advertiser supported Garden show
broadcast for a few months in 1957 and in 1958.

(26:17):
By 1966, Werner's half hour block of airtime six days a week
was more valuable for new programming and revenue
generation, Thomas said. Quote Business matters, meaning
daytime stations in particular must find ways to curtail costs
and make most efficient use of every single minute of broadcast
time. End Quote.

(26:39):
Finally, Thomas laid blame on the Federal Communications
Commission, or the FCC and theirregulations strongly tied to the
business side of broadcasting for further exacerbating efforts
to sustain a local homemaker show.
The FCC raised its regulatory eyebrow over the industry
practice of limiting the number of commercial minutes allotted

(27:00):
to feature length programs. Werner promoted numerous
sponsors at length on each 30 minute broadcast.
According to government regulators, in that era,
Werner's productions constitutedprogram length commercials, that
is 1/2 hour of commercial matterper program.
Because radio stations had to adhere to commercial time

(27:21):
restrictions each hour, a 30 minute commercial would have
exceeded federal government standards.
Kitchen Clatter, the syndicated homemaker show that filled the
void left by the departure of Maude Werner and Mary Moore,
abruptly ended its daily broadcast in 1985.
Not long after, Billy Oakley, a familiar voice to listeners in

(27:42):
other Nebraska radio markets, served as host of a 10 minute
syndicated show broadcast Mondaythrough Saturday on WJAG,
sponsored by the Extra Touch Company of Shenandoah.
The ability of women to control programming was an important
development in the history of radio, driven by station
managers in Nebraska as lucrative financial

(28:04):
opportunities. The image of women maintaining
households may have been reinforced by early homemaker
shows. However, radio operations in
Nebraska sensed A niche, underserved audience, thus
opening the door of broadcastingfrom program production to
hosting for many women to explore.
Because of the specialized nature of programming to women,

(28:26):
the men who operated broadcast outlets granted almost sole
content and production duties tothe women hosts of homemaker
shows. This effectively provided women
with historic opportunities to produce broadcast programming
out of the dominant shadow of male influences.
WJAG manager Art Thomas nurturedthe broadcast skills of the two

(28:49):
hosts of Mary Moore. Beyond that initial coaching,
much of show's resilience year after year lies with Edith
Hansen and Maude Warner, whose hosting abilities and production
techniques resonated with local homemakers.
To be sure, the marketing image of more constructed and
maintained by Thomas and his sonlater on Bob was a focal

(29:11):
component on the success of MaryMoore as well.
Successful radio home advice programs with Nebraska ties such
as Martha Bolson and Billy Oakley shifted to local
television in Nebraska. WJAG did not transition Mary
Moore to television or regional radio syndication.

(29:32):
However, Maude Werner's daily production on WJAG is emblematic
of the homemaker format that emerged on other Nebraska radio
stations before and during the same era of Mary Moore.
Whether on radio or television, changes in family lifestyles and
more women working outside the home further impacted the

(29:53):
decisions of many station operators to end homemaker
programs by the end of Mary Moore in the 1960s.
According to Werner in a 1973 interview, the preparation of
meals from scratch was not as common as Americans turned
increasingly to convenience foods.
More women entering the workforce meant fewer listeners

(30:16):
for homemaker programs and, as aresult, fewer advertisers.
Nevertheless, revenue producing sponsored homemaker programs
offered women such as Maude Werner and her broadcast
contemporaries in Nebraska and the Midwest opportunities to
become influential in their own right during the early years of

(30:37):
radio. Thank you for listening to the
Nebraska History Podcast. To learn more about Nebraska
History Magazine, to listen to more podcasts, or to support our
podcast by becoming a member of the Nebraska State Historical
Society, go to history.nebraska.gov/podcast.
And don't forget to subscribe tothe podcast and get notified
when we release new episodes on your favorite podcast platform.

(31:01):
Until next time, I'm Chris Goforth.