Donna Halper
Encyclopedia
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
and radio consultant. She is author of the first booklength study devoted to the history of women in American broadcasting, Invisible Stars: A Social History of Women in American Broadcasting. In late 2008, she completed her fourth book, Icons of Talk: The Media Mouths that Changed America, a history of talk shows; that year, she also had a chapter published in a new book by Michael C. Keith
Michael C. Keith
Michael C. Keith is an American media historian. He has served as a member of the Boston College communications faculty since 1993 and is the author of some two-dozen books on media. He is one of the country's foremost authorities on the social impact and role of radio in American culture...
called Radio Cultures: The Sound Medium in American Life. In 2010, she had an essay about the impact of McCarthyism
McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s and characterized by...
on broadcasting published in a new encyclopedia, Perspectives in American Social History: Cold War and McCarthy Era. And in 2011, she completed a new book for Arcadia Publishing
Arcadia Publishing
Arcadia Publishing is an American publisher of local history.-History:It was founded in Dover, New Hampshire in 1993 by United Kingdom-based Tempus Publishing, but became independent in 2004....
, Boston Radio 1920-2010. http://www.arcadiapublishing.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=9780738574103&Store_Code=arcadia&search=Halper&offset=0&filter_cat=&PowerSearch_Begin_Only=&sort=name.asc&range_low=&range_high=
Halper attended Northeastern University, where she received B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
, M.A.
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
, and M.Ed.
Master of Education
The Master of Education is a postgraduate academic master's degree awarded by universities in a large number of countries. This degree in education often includes the following majors: curriculum and instruction, counseling, and administration. It is often conferred for educators advancing in...
degrees. In 1968 she became the first woman announcer at Northeastern's campus radio station, WNEU (now WRBB). Halper went on to a career that included twelve years on the air, in Cleveland
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, and Boston. She also was a music director, who gave a number of new bands their start. While working at WMMS
WMMS
WMMS — branded 100.7 WMMS: The Buzzard — is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, widely recognized as one of the most influential rock stations in America throughout much of the history of FM broadcasting...
in Cleveland, Halper discovered the rock band Rush
Rush (band)
Rush is a Canadian rock band formed in August 1968, in the Willowdale neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario. The band is composed of bassist, keyboardist, and lead vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and drummer and lyricist Neil Peart...
. Halper was also pivotal in getting them signed to a record contract; as a result, the band dedicated their first two albums to her. An article about her longstanding friendship with the band was published by her hometown newspaper, The Patriot Ledger
The Patriot Ledger
The Patriot Ledger is a daily afternoon newspaper published in Quincy, Massachusetts and serving the South Shore. Its circulation is 55,000 on weekdays and 63,000 for its Weekend edition which is published on Saturday mornings....
, in July, 2008. Halper is also seen in the new documentary about Rush, Beyond the Lighted Stage. On June 25, 2010, she was a speaker when Rush received a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame.
In 1980, Halper became a radio consultant, one of the few women to do so. She has consulted for radio stations all over the United States, eastern Canada and Puerto Rico, hiring and training staff, doing market research, choosing the right format, etc. She works with both college and commercial stations, in markets of all sizes.
In the late 1980s, Halper also began teaching college courses about broadcasting, media criticism and media history. She continued to teach part-time at Emerson College
Emerson College
Emerson College is a private coeducational university located in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a "school of oratory," Emerson is "the only comprehensive college or university in America dedicated exclusively to communication and the arts in a liberal arts...
, in the journalism department and the Institute of Liberal Arts until the summer of 2008, when she accepted a position as Assistant Professor of Communication at Lesley University
Lesley University
Lesley University is a private, coeducational university in Boston, Massachusetts and Cambridge, Massachusetts.The university is a member of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, National Association of Schools of Art and Design, and New England Collegiate Conference.-History:The...
in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
. In 1987–88, Donna taught a couple of courses at Franklin Pierce University in Rindge, New Hampshire
Rindge, New Hampshire
Rindge is a town in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 6,014 at the 2010 census. Rindge is home to Franklin Pierce University, the Cathedral of the Pines, and part of Annett State Forest.-Native American inhabitants:...
on radio programming. She has also taught at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where in 2002, she decided to pursue a Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in Communication. In May 2011, she earned her Ph.D. from UMass Amherst, urging her fans and friends to further their education if possible, as she is proof that education can be received at any age. Additionally, she has taught media-related courses at the University of Massachusetts Boston
University of Massachusetts Boston
The University of Massachusetts Boston, also known as UMass Boston, is an urban public research university and the second largest campus in the five-campus University of Massachusetts system. The university is located on on Harbor Point in the City of Boston, Massachusetts, United States...
.
While acknowledging that she does not always agree with him, Halper is a fan of Joseph Farah
Joseph Farah
-External links:* Official website* *...
, the founder of WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily is an American web site that publishes news and associated content from a U.S. conservative perspective. It was founded in May 1997 by Joseph Farah with the stated intent of "exposing wrongdoing, corruption and abuse of power" and is headquartered in Washington, D.C.-History:In...
.com, and "makes the site required reading for her students at Lesley University."
Halper has won or been nominated for several awards for her teaching.
A well-respected media and social historian, Halper has written a number of essays for encyclopedias and magazines. She does frequent speaking engagements about the history of broadcasting, bringing with her a collection of rare memorabilia. She has also been a guest expert on NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
, PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
, the History Channel, and on local television stations like WCVB-TV
WCVB-TV
WCVB-TV, channel 5, is a television station located in Boston, Massachusetts, owned by Hearst Television and affiliated with the ABC Television Network. WCVB-TV's studios and transmitter are co-located in Needham, Massachusetts. WCVB is also one of six Boston television stations seen in Canada by...
and NECN, commenting on media history.
Her expertise is in women and minorities in media history, as well as individual entrepreneurs whose contributions to broadcasting have been overlooked. Among the forgotten broadcast pioneers whose careers she has researched are John Shepard 3rd, Eunice Randall, and Big Brother Bob Emery. (Mulvoy, 2) She is currently working on a pictorial history of Boston radio and television. Some of her other essays can be found on The Archives @ BostonRadio.org, where she is a contributing editor.
In her spare time, she collects rare magazines and artifacts about media history, as well as stamps and old postcards. Halper has been a Big Sister
Big Brothers Big Sisters of America
Big Brothers Big Sisters of America is a 501 non-profit organization whose mission is to help children reach their potential through professionally supported, one-to-one relationships with mentors that try to have a measurable impact on youth....
and a mentor, and for the past 25 years has been the advocate for an adult with autism
Autism
Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. These signs all begin before a child is three years old. Autism affects information processing in the brain by altering how nerve cells and their...
.