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There were goddesses before there were gods. The converse is true in media, where women have been encroaching steadily upon a market historically cornered by men. If the trend continues … well, let’s not frighten the living bejesus out of the bearded ilk.
Anyhow, a few years ago, former Showtime and Lifetime queenpin, media pioneer, and crack tango terpsichorean Loreen Arbus, daughter of ABC-TV progenitor Leonard Goldenson and the first woman ever in the United States to spearhead programming for a national network (let alone two national networks!), teamed up with USA Networks founder Kay Koplovitz to co-birth She Made It: Women Creating Television and Radio in recognition – and celebration – of the relentless female incursion into traditionally male bastions, from producing to directing to writing to, yes, sportscasting. Oh boy.
Under the aegis of the Paley Center for Media, previously known as the Museum of Television & Radio, a brand-new platoon of fifty goal-getting amazons were inducted into the official pantheon of female media magnates, among them Salma Hayek, Candice Bergen, Andrea Mitchell, Martha Stewart, Rosie O’Donnell, Dr. Ruth Westheimer, Amy Goodman, and Paula Zahn. On account of her dynamic support of the achievements of women, minorities, and the disabled, Paley Center Trustee and She Made It originator Loreen Arbus had been initiated into the hall of fame of her own creation last year.
Of course, it's still a man’s world. Sort of.
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