NewsVault: Jane Riley's "Bay Area Woman" With Guest Janis Cooke Newman
Jane Riley spent 30 years at KCBS Radio. She was hired in 1971 for a secretarial job and spent many years as the administrative assistant to the station’s vice president and general manager. For 25 years, Riley produced and hosted a program she created, “Bay Area Woman”. She figured she interviewed 2,000 women from all walks of life. She finally retired at age 79.
Riley told the San Francisco Chronicle in 2011, “When I first started, women weren’t allowed to be on the air, and by the time I left the newsroom was practically filled with women,” Riley said. “I wasn’t afraid to push. I hope I helped a little bit” in breaking that glass ceiling.
Jane Riley died in 2014 at age 89.
In this episode, Jane interviews Janis Cooke Newman, author of "The Russian Word for Snow: A True Story of Adoption" (published in 2001)