Ware, Susan. It's One O'Clock and Here Is Mary Margaret McBride. New York: New York University Press, 2005. 336 pp.

by Mary Hurley

The history of radio is typically presented as a master narrative, emphasis on the "master." The tale starts with the great men whose technological wizardry brought the medium into being: Hertz, Marconi, Fessenden, de Forest, Armstrong. Other men, David Sarnoff and William Paley, developed the networks, exploiting the commercial potential of the medium. Men are also remembered for their talent on air: "boy genius" Orson Welles, newscasters Murrow and Kaltenborn, Murray the K, and the "boss jocks" of the Top 40 era. Where were women in this scheme? Why, they were at home listening, of course.