╚PARA └PAR@ ` ╨TEXT ` ┬McBride, Mary Margaret1899╨1976journalist and broadcasterBorn on November 16, 1899, in Paris, Missouri, Mary Margaret McBride moved frequently from farm to farm with her family. Her schooling was similarly episodic until 1906, when she entered William Woods College (then actually a preparatory school). In 1916 she entered the University of Missouri, from which she graduated with a journalism degree in 1919. After a year as a reporter for the Cleveland Press she was publicity director for the Interchurch World Movement for several months and then a reporter for the New York Evening Mail until 1924. She then turned to freelance magazine writing. Her work appeared in Saturday Evening Post, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, and other magazines, and she also published several books, including Jazz, with Paul Whiteman, 1926, Charm, with Alexander Williams, 1927, Paris Is a Woman╒s Town, with Helen Josephy, 1929, London Is a Man╒s Town, with Josephy, 1930, The Story of Dwight Morrow, 1930, New York Is Everybody╒s Town, with Josephy, 1931, and Beer and Skittles╤A Friendly Modern Guide to Germany, with Josephy, 1932. In 1934 McBride auditioned successfully for a daily program of advice for women on radio station WOR in New York City. Using the name ╥Martha Deane╙ and exploiting her homey Missouri drawl, she projected a grandmotherly kindness and wit that proved highly popular. She continued with the program until 1940. Meanwhile she also edited the woman╒s page of the Newspaper Enterprise Association syndicate in 1934╨1935 and in 1937 began a weekly radio program under her own name on the CBS network. In 1941 she moved from CBS to NBC, where her weekly 45-minute program of ad lib commentary and interviews drew an audience in the millions. From 1950 to 1954 she broadcast daily over the ABC network, and in the latter year she returned to NBC, where she remained until 1960. From 1960 she was heard in a syndicated program of the New York Herald Tribune Radio operation. Celebrities from politics, entertainment, and the arts appeared on her program, while her own brand of frank, folksy, down-to-earth comment made her a peerless saleswoman. While advertisers clamored for her services, she stoutly refused to push any product that she had not personally tried and liked. ╥Mary Margaret,╙ as she was known to her listeners, also refused to advertise tobacco or alcohol. During 1953╨1956 McBride conducted a syndicated newspaper column for the Associated Press. Among her other books were Here╒s Martha Deane, 1936, How Dear to My Heart, an autobiography, 1940, America for Me, 1941, Tune in for Elizabeth, a book for girls, 1945, Harvest of American Cooking, 1957, A Long Way from Missouri, 1959, Out of the Air, autobiography, 1960, and The Growing Up of Mary Elizabeth, for girls, 1966. In her last years she conducted a thrice weekly show from her own living room for a radio station in Kingston, New York. She died in West Shokun, New York, on April 7, 1976. ╬styl ` 0 ! ¬ 5¬ ! 5¬ = !I ┼ !I ╘ !I B !I W !I ¬ !I ┐ !I ┴ !I ═ !I ╧ !I α !I ' !I + !I G !I L !I m !I ä !I á !I ╢ !I ╠ !I µ !I φ !I
