Pegeen Fitzgerald

Pegeen Fitzgerald
Born Margaret Worall
November 24, 1904
Norcatur, Kansas
Died January 30, 1989 (1989-01-31) (aged 84)
New York City, New York
Nationality American
Alma mater College of St. Theresa
Occupation Radio talk show host
Spouse(s) Ed Fitzgerald (1930-1982, his death)

Pegeen Fitzgerald (November 24, 1904 - January 30, 1989)[1] was a radio personality perhaps best known for co-hosting (with her husband, Ed) The Fitzgeralds on radio in New York City.[2]

Early years

Born Margaret Worrall[3] in Norcatur, Kansas,[4] Fitzgerald was the eldest of seven children. Her father, Fred Calvin Worrall,[3] was a builder who would "bring folks over from all parts of Europe, sell them land and set up communities for them."[5] Her mother was Jane Sweeney Worrall.[3]

Fitzgerald attended the College of St. Theresa[6] in Winona, Minnesota, but she had to leave after two years to help support her family.[3] She was a newspaperwoman[7] and "a prominent department store executive in marketing and advertising" before she became a broadcaster.[8]

Radio

Ed and Pegeen Fitzgerald broadcast over WOR radio at breakfast from their home at 15 E. 36th St., New York City.

Fitzgerald's obituary in The New York Times said that she "pioneered the at-home radio format."[3] For 42 years, she and her husband, Ed, broadcast from their apartment near New York City's Central Park or, less frequently, from their weekend home -- first in Hay Island, Connecticut, and later in Kent, Connecticut. At its peak, their program had an audience of 2 million people.[3] John A. Gambling, a colleague of the couple at WOR, described listening to the Fitzgeralds' program as being "like you were eavesdropping on a conversation with a loving but not always an agreeing couple."[9]

She began working on the air for WOR November 21, 1939. Her program, Things That Interest Me focused on "fashion chatter and human interest."[7] In 1942, Fitzgerald hosted Pegeen Prefers on WOR.[10] The morning program was described in an ad for WOR as "a show deliberately planned to help women adapt their homes and habits to changing economic conditions" related to World War II.[11] The show included "weekly reviews of exceptional retail ads in metropolitan newspapers."[12] It began as a quarter-hour program broadcast three days a week. By November 1942, it had expanded to 25 minutes six times weekly.[13]

Later that year, on October 12, she began an afternoon program,[14] Strictly Personal.[13]

She and her husband, Ed, co-hosted Breakfast with the Fitzgeralds and The Fitzgeralds in New York, the latter of which was on ABC.[6] In New York City, their joint programs were heard initially on WOR, but on April 30, 1945, they moved to WJZ,[15] when those call letters were used by the station later known as WABC.[16] Two years later, WJZ added an evening version of their program, which was 15 minutes long and ran Monday-Friday.[17]

In 1955, Fitzgerald moved into the executive area of broadcasting, becoming manager of retail merchandising for WRCA and WRCA-TV in New York City.[8]

Television

The Fitzgeralds was on ABC-TV in the late 1940s and early 1950s.[18] A 1949 review of their program, seen on WJZ-TV, noted: "Theirs is the first regularly televised married duo session. Instead of the typical breakfast table setting, the Fitzgeralds move easily about a facsimile of their own living room."[19]

On September 22, 1952, the Fitzgeralds launched a syndicated 15-minute program that featured their "giving household hints [and integrating] commercials by national advertisers." The program was placed in local markets with sponsorship by stores that sold the products advertised. By early October, the program was seen in 12 markets.[20]

In the mid-1950s, Pegeen Fitzgerald was reporter-editor for Windows, an NBC-TV effort to promote local businesses via 5-minute programs on stations owned by the network. Fitzgerald hosted episodes for Gimbels and Bergdorf Goodman on WRCA-TV, displaying the stores' merchandise for viewers.[21]

Other professional activities

In 1955, Fitzgerald appeared in testimonial advertisements for Clairol. The ads appeared in Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, and The New Yorker.[22]

Personal life

She wed Ed Fitzgerald in 1930. They had been married 52 years when he died in 1982.[3]

Death

Fitzgerald died of breast cancer at her home in Manhattan, New York, January 30, 1989. She was survived by four sisters and a brother.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Cox, Jim (2007). Radio Speakers: Narrators, News Junkies, Sports Jockeys, Tattletales, Tipsters, Toastmasters and Coffee Klatch Couples Who Verbalized the Jargon of the Aural Ether from the 1920s to the 1980s--A Biographical Dictionary. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-6086-1. P. 98.
  2. ↑ DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-2834-2. P. 96.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Flint, Peter B. (January 31, 1989). "Pegeen Fitzgerald, 78, Radio Host Of Family-Style Talk Show, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
  4. ↑ "Pegeen Fitzgerald". Radio Television Mirror 35 (4): 80. March 1951. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  5. ↑ "Hay Island Holiday with the Fitzgeralds". Radio-TV Mirror 39 (1): 8. December 1952. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  6. 1 2 Alicoate, Jack, Ed. (1948). The 1948 Radio Annual. Radio Daily Corp. P. 817.
  7. 1 2 "From the Production Centres: In New York City". Variety. November 15, 1939. p. 28. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  8. 1 2 "(untitled photo caption)". Motion Picture Daily. August 8, 1955. p. 13. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  9. ↑ "Radio pioneer Pegeen Fitzgerald, 78, dies". Lakeland Ledger. February 1, 1989. p. 2A. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
  10. ↑ "Air Series Started By Gotham Hosiery". Broadcasting. July 27, 1942. p. 12. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  11. ↑ "Sponsors prefer "Pegeen Prefers"". Broadcasting. August 10, 1942. p. 1. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  12. ↑ "Better Buymanship". Broadcasting. April 20, 1942. p. 28. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  13. 1 2 "War Sales Lessons". Broadcasting. November 9, 1942. p. 45. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  14. ↑ "Studio Notes". Broadcasting. October 12, 1942. p. 41. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  15. ↑ "Fitzgeralds Move". Broadcasting. February 12, 1945. p. 18. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  16. ↑ "(untitled)". Sponsor. July 2, 1951. p. 51. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  17. ↑ "The Fitzgeralds". Variety. March 12, 1947. p. 50. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  18. ↑ Alicoate, Jack, Ed. (1952). The 1952 Radio Annual. Radio Daily Corp. P. 844.
  19. ↑ "p.s. See: Those Mr. and Mrs. Duos". Sponsor. January 3, 1949. p. 14. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  20. ↑ "Stores can sponsor TV show, pay only time costs". Sponsor. October 6, 1952. pp. 78–79. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  21. ↑ "New York, Washington See N'BC-TV's 'Window'". Broadcasting. February 20, 1956. p. 60. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  22. ↑ Herman, Pinky (July 27, 1955). "Television-Radio". Motion Picture Daily. p. 10. Retrieved 10 April 2016.

External links

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