Friday, November 7, 2003
Ohio moments
White-gloved ladies loved Ruth Lyons' show
On Nov. 7, 1988, Ruth Lyons - Ohio's First Lady of Broadcasting, who was known to fans as "Mother" - died at her home in Anderson Township at age 83.
In 1946 Lyons launched the Fifty Club radio show in Cincinnati, which morphed into the Fifty-Fifty Club when simulcast on WLWT-TV and WLW-AM from 1949 until 1967. Broadcast throughout Ohio, it was the highest-rated daytime television program in the country in the late 1950s and early 1960s - drawing 7 million viewers. The waiting list for tickets was three to five years.
Packed into 90 minutes were music, humor, guests and endorsements, as well as advice and commentaries from Lyons. At Lyon's behest, women in the audience always wore white gloves. Born Ruth Reeves in Cincinnati's East End in 1905, Lyons was so influential that when she once happened to mention the brand of perfume she used, it sold out in Cincinnati, Columbus and Dayton in three days.
Rebecca Goodman
E-mail rgoodman@enquirer.com or call (513) 768-8361.
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