Media Historian · Author · Radio Pioneer
Donna L. Halper
Award-winning media historian, author of six books, and a radio programmer and consultant for more than four decades — the Boston DJ who discovered Rush and has spent a lifetime telling the story of American broadcasting.
Radio station WNEU, October 1968 — the first woman on the air in the station’s history.
- 6Books published
- 40+Years in broadcasting
- 28+Years as a consultant
- 2023Broadcasters Hall of Fame
About
A lifetime in American media
Dr. Halper is an award-winning professor of communication and media studies who taught for years at Lesley University and Emerson College. A widely quoted media historian, she has appeared on C-SPAN, CBS Sunday Morning, BBC-4, NPR and the History Channel, and her six books — including Invisible Stars: A Social History of Women in American Broadcasting — have reshaped how we remember radio’s forgotten pioneers. She earned her PhD in Communication from UMass Amherst in 2011, at age 64.
Explore
Where to begin
- The BooksSix volumes on radio, talk radio, and women in American broadcasting.Browse the shelf →
- The Story of RushHow a young Cleveland DJ’s phone call helped launch a rock legend.Hear the story →
- Published ResearchEssays on radio history — from Boston’s 1XE to refuting the KDKA myth.Read the work →
- Baseball ResearchThe “lady baseballists” and the pioneers of the Negro Leagues broadcasts.Explore →
- On the AirInterviews, guest lectures and talks — watch and listen.Tune in →
- In the NewsWhere the press turns for the history of American media.See coverage →
Cleveland, 1974
The DJ who discovered Rush
As a music director in the early 1970s, Donna Halper put a little-known Canadian band’s song “Working Man” on the air — and changed the course of rock history. Rush dedicated their first two albums to her, and she appears in the documentary Beyond the Lighted Stage.
