This week I talked with Kent Ian Paterson a producer at KUNM-FM in Albuquerque, New Mexico about my early years as a Progressive Rock DJ that kicked off my broadcasting career. Paterson contacted me in August about a history he was compiling at KUNM to celebrate the station’s 54th anniversary. Once it was confirmed I was the same person that worked at KUNM back in the early 1970s the conversations began. I talked about how I originally came to the University of New Mexico in 1969 & became involved with KUNM stating, “I went to UNM because they listed available courses in Radio & TV but when I got there I found out that those classes wouldn’t be offered for a few years. So I answered an ad on KUNM-FM looking for 'chicks to sharpen pencils'. When I applied they suggested I get my FCC license so I did. When I returned with my license they gave me a weekly shift on Thursdays from 1A to 3A. At the time UNM women had a 12 Midnight curfew & men did not. So the ACLU got involved & the curfew was lifted. I guess that was my first experience in the fight for equality.” It was the beginning of the Women’s Movement who adopted me because of the role I played in the ACLU curfew resolve. Paterson added, “You & the other women who were at KUNM 50 years ago were trailblazers. Women became much more prominent at KUNM after the mid 1970s. The station's first female manager served from 1974 to 1976.” We then talked about how my KUNM experience led to my career in broadcasting breaking the glass ceiling for women at WCVB-TV in Boston & then on to ABC, NBC & CBS TV Networks in New York, NY. LISTEN
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