Bertha Brainard (June 16, 1890 – June 11, 1946), known to her friends as Betty, was a pioneering

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

executive responsible for setting trends in network broadcasting.Paley Center for Media: "She Made It": Bertha Brainard
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Life and career

She was born and raised in

South Orange, New Jersey South Orange is a historic suburban Village (New Jersey), village located in Essex County, New Jersey. It was formally known as the Township of South Orange Village from October 1978 until April 25, 2024. As of the 2020 United States census, ...

, the daughter of Henry Brainard (a former

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

and publisher) and his wife Ada. After graduating high school, she attended a teacher's college in nearby Montclair, but subsequently decided she did not want to teach. During the war, she drove an ambulance for the Red Cross, and with some encouragement from her brother, she decided to try to find work in the new medium of

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

. She became a theater critic, and began hosting a program called ''Broadcasting Broadway'' for WJZ in Newark beginning in March 1922. By 1923, she became the station's assistant program director, helping to select the live performers and later doing critiques of the station's announcers. By October 1926, she had moved up to program manager. After she became head of programming for NBC in 1928, the network's first woman executive, she began pushing for singer-bandleader

Rudy Vallée Hubert Prior Vallée (July 28, 1901 – July 3, 1986), known professionally as Rudy Vallée, was an American singer, saxophonist, bandleader, actor, and entertainer. He was the first male singer to rise from local radio broadcasts in New York Ci ...

to host a variety series by explaining that only a woman could understand the appeal of Vallée's voice.Rudel, Anthony. ''Hello, Everybody: The Dawn of American Radio''. Harcourt, 2008. Rudyvallee

The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour ''The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour'' (also known as ''The Rudy Vallée Show'', ''The Fleischmann Yeast Hour'', and ''The Fleischmann Hour'') was a pioneering musical variety radio program broadcast on NBC from 1929 to 1936, when it became ''The Ro ...

'' (aka ''The Rudy Vallée Show'', aka ''The Fleischmann Yeast Hour'', aka ''The Fleischmann Hour'') was then launched as a musical variety radio program on NBC from 1929 to 1936, when it became ''The Royal Gelatin Hour'', continuing until 1939. Beginning October 24, 1929, the show quickly became a top-rated program, second only to ''

Amos 'n' Andy ''Amos 'n' Andy'' was an American radio sitcom about black characters, initially set in Chicago then later in the Harlem section of New York City. While the show had a brief life on 1950s television with black actors, the 1928 to 1960 radio sho ...

''. Host Vallée appeared along with regulars Ole Olsen and

Chic Johnson Harold Ogden "Chic" Johnson (March 15, 1891 – February 26, 1962) was the barrel-chested half of the American comedy team of Olsen and Johnson, known for his attitud Background Johnson was born of Swedish descent in Chicago to John M. and Mat ...

(1932), followed by Tom Howard and George Shelton (1935). On this show, the American listening audience heard many future stars for the first time, as it introduced such talents as

Milton Berle Milton Berle (born Mendel Berlinger; ; July 12, 1908 – March 27, 2002) was an American actor and comedian. His career as an entertainer spanned over eight decades, first in silent films and on stage as a child actor, then in radio, movies and ...

Burns and Allen Burns and Allen were an American comedy duo consisting of George Burns and his wife, Gracie Allen. They worked together as a successful comedy team that entertained vaudeville, film, radio, and television audiences for over forty years. The ...

Alice Faye Alice Faye (born Alice Jeanne Leppert; May 5, 1915 – May 9, 1998) was an American actress and singer. A musical star of 20th Century-Fox in the 1930s and 1940s, Faye starred in such films as '' On the Avenue'' (1937) and ''Alexander's Ragtime ...

, the

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and

Kate Smith Kathryn Elizabeth Smith (May 1, 1907 – June 17, 1986) was an American contralto. Referred to as The First Lady of Radio, Smith became well known for her renditions of "God Bless America" and "When the Moon Comes over the Mountain". She began ...

Gloria Swanson Gloria Mae Josephine Swanson (March 27, 1899April 4, 1983) was an American actress. She first achieved fame acting in dozens of silent films in the 1920s and was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, most famously for h ...

made her radio debut. Other guests included

Ray Bolger Raymond Wallace Bolger (; January 10, 1904 – January 15, 1987) was an American actor, dancer, singer, vaudevillian, and stage performer (particularly musical theater) who started his movie career in the silent-film era. Bolger was a major B ...

Fannie Brice Fania Borach (October 29, 1891 – May 29, 1951), known professionally as Fanny Brice or Fannie Brice, was an American comedian, illustrated song model, singer, and actress who made many stage, radio, and film appearances. She is known as the c ...

Ilka Chase Ilka Chase (April 8, 1905 – February 15, 1978) was an American actress, radio host, and novelist whose career spanned stage, film, and television. Born into a well-known New York family, she made her stage debut as a child and later became a ...

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and

Bert Lahr Irving Lahrheim (August 13, 1895 – December 4, 1967), known professionally as Bert Lahr, was an American stage and screen actor and comedian. He was best known for his role as the Cowardly Lion, as well as his counterpart Kansas farmworker "Z ...

Radio comedy

Brainard also introduced satire to radio by commissioning Raymond Knight to create a comedy show. Knight was writing continuity and commercials for NBC in 1929, when Brainard asked him to devise "something cuckoo" for the Blue Network. He responded with the zany ''

The Cuckoo Hour ''The Cuckoo Hour '', also known as ''The KUKU Hour'' and ''The Raymond Knight Cuckoo Hour'', is an American musical variety radio series created by radio comedian Raymond Knight. It aired on the NBC Blue Network January 1, 1930 – March 9, 19 ...

'' (aka ''The KUKU Hour'') as a showcase for his wacky humor, performing as Ambrose J. Weems. Brainard remained an NBC executive until 1946 when she married advertising executive Curt Peterson, with whom she had worked over the years. Her retirement and marriage were brief, as she died of a heart attack, in

Huntington, New York Huntington is one of ten Administrative divisions of New York#Town, towns in Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County, New York (state), New York, United States. The town's population was 204,127 at the time of the 2020 census, making it the 11 ...

, later that year.

Life and career

Radio comedy

References

Further reading