Judith C. Waller

Judith Cary Waller (February 19, 1889 – October 28, 1973) was an American broadcasting pioneer. Despite the fact that she knew nothing about radio at the time, she became the first station manager of Chicago radio station WMAQ when it went on the air in 1922. She was one of the first female radio station managers in the United States, along with Eleanor Poehler of WLAG/WCCO in Minneapolis,^[1] and Bertha Brainard of WJZ and Vaughn De Leath of WDT in New York City. During her tenure as station manager, Waller was responsible for obtaining broadcast rights for Chicago Cubs home games for WMAQ and for hiring Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll as Amos 'n' Andy after they left WGN radio over syndication rights. Waller tried to interest the CBS radio network in the program with no success. NBC brought the program to its Blue Network three years before its purchase of WMAQ in 1931.

Waller was also responsible for the long-running discussion program University of Chicago Round Table on radio. The program began at WMAQ; it was then heard on the NBC Radio Network for over twenty years. She was also active in various educational programs, having started a children's radio club centered around the educational programs broadcast by WMAQ; there were more than 275,000 children enrolled in the club with more than 100 area schools participating in the program. Waller also began a program at Northwestern University to provide professional training to college students interested in broadcasting as a profession.

She also entered into television work. Waller promoted the idea of a nursery school program for television; it began on WMAQ-TV as Ding Dong School in 1952. Within months, it was picked up by NBC's television network. Waller remained station manager until WMAQ was purchased by the National Broadcasting Company in 1931. She was then appointed director of education and public affairs for NBC's Midwest operations. In 1955, Waller was named as the public affairs representative for the NBC network, a post she held until her retirement from NBC in 1957. While Waller was no longer working at NBC, she did not stop her activities involving media and education. After leaving NBC, she was active in the Midwest Program on Airborne Television Instruction and other projects. Waller died in Evanston, Illinois, on October 28, 1973; she was known to many as "The First Lady of Radio."