Wilcke the Librarian

Audrey Wilcke was the first woman employed at WHIO-AM in Dayton, OH. She started in 1940. She was born in Toledo, OH and lived to be 95 years old and thus in 2012 was able to tell you about her famous interview with Eleanor Rosevelt in back in 1941. 

Wilcke grew up in Dayton, OH and had a idyllic childhood complete with Girl Scout camp, and student theatrical productions. She graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1939 with a degree in English. She quite radio shortly after marrying the Rev. Hugh Bean Evans. She went on to get a masters degree from the University of Cincinnati. She worked as librarian until her retirement.

As the station's first female radio personality, she hosted women's programs like "Women: The Magazine of the Air," "Women at Home," "Women About Town" and "Wishmaker House." She also co-hosted the "Good Morning Show" and "Interviewing the Mrs." She only worked at WHIO for about two years. Her radio career was brief but for a 24-year-old Wesleyan graduate, you can't beat interviewing the presidents wife, a crusader for women's rights. The library must have seemed tame by comparison.