She blazed a trail locally, and now her career comes full circle

Donna L. Halper spinning records on WNEU in 1968. (file 1968)

Sometimes history can give back. Forty years ago this month, Donna L. Halper was the first woman to go on air at Northeastern University's tiny WNEU, a campus-only AM station, spinning folk music records for a nightly show called "Full Circle." These days, as an assistant professor of communications at Lesley University, she has come full circle, both chronicling media history and inspiring another generation of students to break their own barriers. In January, her fourth book, "Icons of Talk: The Media Mouths That Made America," will be published by Greenwood Press.

"Talk show hosts are a major factor in people's lives," says Halper, a Dorchester native who has also served as a radio consultant, DJ, and programmer. "People like to talk. They like to feel they are being heard. Talk shows let people feel like they can participate."

She gives an example: "There are an awful lot of people who will never manage the Red Sox, but every time the Sox lose, people can call WEEI and talk about what they would have done differently."

For the book, Halper dived into the origins of the talk format. These days, of course, listeners call in from their homes, offices, or cars. Talk radio began even before the technology existed to put a live phone call on air. But since 1921, Halper explains, radio had the ability to do remote broadcasts. As early as 1935, a New York station was broadcasting "America's Town Meeting of the Air." Like many shows, this current-events panel was broadcast in front of a live studio audience.

The show, which was carried nationally, also invited listeners to central "listening posts," in essence, remote broadcast locations, where they could pose their questions and respond to the answers.

While the book takes a national perspective, Boston talk hosts such as Jerry Williams, David Brudnoy, and Larry Glick figure prominently. That's not just local prejudice, says Halper. "Radio talk has been a major format in this town," she says.

"Donna Halper is an experienced veteran of all radio formats," says Michael Harrison, editor of Talkers, a trade publication. Although Harrison has not yet to read the book, he is familiar with Halper's work. "She has a unique intelligence and an academic honesty about her that gives this book the potential to be valuable," he says.

Such history is part of her teaching work at Lesley, Halper says. "When I tell my students I was the first woman on a station, they're puzzled," says Halper, who is part of the university's plans to expand its communications program. "They've grown up with women on the radio and in television: Barbara Walters, Oprah. There's no historical perspective."

Halper, now 61, remembers a different time. "My cultural hero was Arnie Ginsburg," she says of the Boston DJ and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member. "This was an era with a lot of prejudice and he kept his name and he had a high, squeaky voice, and he was the most popular DJ in Boston. Hearing Arnie was such an inspiration. He proved you could be yourself and entertain people."

Spinning the dial
WBCN-FM (104.1) has named Anngelle Wood the new host of its long-running local music show, "Boston Emissions," which airs Sundays 10 p.m. to midnight. Wood will also be involved with the station's annual Rock 'n' Roll Rumble. . . . One of the world's most unusual wall calendars is back. The eighth-annual Tower Site 2009 Calendar, featuring a monthly photo of a broadcast transmitter site, is now available for $18. To order or for more information, go to www.fybush.com.