Noteworthy Women

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The Noteworthy Women radio series is a 10-program radio series designed to celebrate Women’s History Month. The first four programs were syndicated in 1995 by the WFMT Fine Arts Network to 196 national markets, reaching an Aribtron-estimated audience of 74,330,000 listeners.

In March 1996, two new programs were syndicated by WFMT. Those programs reached 141 national markets and reached an Arbitron-estimated audience of 65,400,000. One of these programs, “Mexican Women Composers” was also produced in Spanish and syndicated by Radio Bilingue in California and Puerto Rico, Radio Esperanza in the Midwest, and Radio UNAM in Mexico. This program reached an Arbitron-estimated audience of 2,000,000.

In 1997, a final set of four programs was completed. CNN covered the production of one of the programs – “Spider Saloff Sings Gershwin” – which was featured on the regular “All About Women” segment that reports on innovative projects and businesses undertaken by women all across the nation. The report was broadcast three times in early June, and was picked up by several stations elsewhere.

The programs were:

Composing Women – with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Shulamit Ran and historian Dr. Susan McClary
Women in the shadows – featuring composers Fanny Mendelssohn and Clara Schumann with scholar De. Nancy Reich
Mrs. H.H.A. Beach – focusing on this famous American composer and her biographer, Dr. Adrienne Fried Block
African American Women Composers – with blues artist KoKo Taylor, scholar Dr. Helen Walker-Hill, and composer Regina Harris Baiocchi
Mexican Women Composers – taped on location in Mexico City and at the Guanajuato Festival Cervantino (additional Spanish version)
Chinese-American Women Composers – with composers Chen Yi and Bun-Ching Lam discussing their experiences of the Cultural Revolution
Kronos in America – featuring violinist David Harrington (Kronos), Abraham Loft (scholar and violinist) with composers Julia Wolfe, Lois V. Vierk, Bunita Marcus, Eleanor Hovda, and Wendy Carlos
The Musical Bridge: China and the U.S.–based on a live concert at Northwestern University, with composers Chen Yi and Bun-Ching Lam
Spider Saloff Sings Gershwin–based on a live concert at the Chicago Cultural Center with jazz artist Spider Saloff, and with an interview of Frankie Gershwin Godowsky, George and Ira Gershwin’s sister.