You have heard them on radio, or perhaps a Podcast. You have seen them on local TV and on YouTube. You’ve read their words and seen their faces in news publications in print and online.<\/p>\n They shape discussions, share important news, and give the community a voice. Their presence resonates on Instagram, Facebook, and new and ever-evolving frontiers.<\/p>\n In this year’s Women Making History special edition, Worcester Magazine talks with women who have been shaping local and regional media.<\/p>\n This includes covering government, public safety, and issues that affect the day-to-day lives of the people. It also includes delving into music, arts and entertainment, or indepth conversations of views local and global, and sometimes, in multiple languages. Like women in every facet of work and life, many have pushed and still push against the headwinds of bias, including those based on gender, race, age, orientation, and even hair and clothes.<\/p>\n We asked all of them what they do and have done in media, and why it matters.<\/p>\n Many are seasoned veterans; some are pioneers in emerging forms of communication. They all have something to say, and they believe everyone does.<\/p>\n Position in media: <\/strong>DJ, radio host and podcast host<\/p>\n If you listened to WAAF before the rock station went off the air, or if you listen to 100FM The Pike these days, you\u2019re more than familiar with the voice of DJ and host Mistress Carrie, who has been a steady presence on Massachusetts airwaves since 1998.<\/p>\n \u201cOn the night show back then, in the mid to late ’90s, you could get away with bloody murder on the radio,\u201d Carrie said. \u201cI got to break a lot of new bands. I got to do a lot of things that the guys couldn’t do during the day.\u201d<\/p>\n Growing up in Northern Worcester County, all she wanted was to work in the music industry, a dream that led her to an internship at a recording studio around the corner from WAAF\u2019s Worcester studio. Soon, she was working on commercials at the radio station, and she eventually worked her way up to her own nighttime show.<\/p>\n \u201cBack then, radio stations wanted to have a woman on the air, but they also only wanted one of you. While being female opened the door for me in some respects, it very quickly closed behind me, and I think female musicians felt that too,\u201d Carrie said.<\/p>\n Women Making History: WAAF’s Mistress Carrie on decades in radio<\/p>\n For this year’s Women Making History issue, DJ and radio host Mistress Carrie discusses her years in broadcasting and the changes she’s seen.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/media-video><\/div>\n Carrie was afternoon drive host and had risen through the ranks to become assistant program director by the time WAAF signed off in 2020.<\/p>\n As she looked for work, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and shut down jobs everywhere, and she decided it was time to set up a home studio of her own and just keep going \u2014 this time with a podcast, still going strong today, that features interviews with big-name rock and metal musicians.<\/p>\n \u201cAll the bands I had done favors with over the years, I said, ‘You always said if I needed anything, you’d be there for me. Well, I need something.’ Nobody said no,\u201d Carrie said. \u201cThe podcast gives me the opportunity to have the fans and the listeners get to know the bands the way I know them \u2014 the conversations we would have in the dressing room after the show, the conversations in the radio stations during commercials.\u201d<\/p>\n Like so many others during lockdown, Carrie also began broadcasting live through Instagram and Facebook to keep in touch with longtime listeners, dubbing the series \u201cCocktails in the War Room\u201d and hosting for 80 nights in a row.<\/p>\n \u201cCocktails\u201d has continued weekly since then, discussing everything from caregiving for elderly relatives to life milestones, and listeners in the comment section have formed genuine bonds.<\/p>\n \u201cThe war room has become this support group, and it’s all by strangers on the internet, but these friendships have developed and now these people meet up at concerts together,\u201d Carrie said.<\/p>\n You can still hear Carrie on traditional radio if you turn your dial to 100.1 FM, where she landed after the end of WAAF and now works with several old broadcaster friends.<\/p>\n \u201cWe’re all local and that’s what makes radio really cool and special. You get to be around people that all have the same story, the upbringing of growing up in this area and loving music,\u201d Carrie said.<\/p>\n In nearly 30 years, Carrie said, she has seen a lot of change in the music industry, much of which she credits to the generation of women who came before her.<\/p>\n \u201cI talk to a lot of bands now where there’s a female bassist or a female drummer, or the band is all female, and those things are becoming less and less the exception and more and more the rule,\u201d Carrie said. \u201cI think the hand got forced because we just wouldn’t take no for an answer and we just did a really good job.\u201d (MT)<\/p>\n Position in media:<\/strong>\u00a0Owner, Positively Suzanne;\u00a0YouTube channel, motivational speaker; event organizer and host; contributing columnist, Worcester Magazine\u00a0<\/p>\n Suzanne Graham Anderson began posting\u00a0encouraging\u00a0words on social media, and realized something: her ability to\u00a0inspire, motivate, and share different views through engaging a dialogue.\u00a0<\/p>\n She\u2019s\u00a0a frequent guest and speaker at many community events, including panels, forums and celebrations illuminating leadership, including for women, and people of color.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Suzanne Graham Anderson, owner and CEO of Positively Suzanne<\/p>\n Suzanne Graham Anderson, owner of Positively Suzanne, is part of Worcester Magazine’s Women Making History, focusing on news and entertainment media.<\/p>\n Special to Worcester Magazine\/USA TODAY Network<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/media-video><\/div>\n “When the brand started out, it was an opportunity to share encouraging words on social media, and things like that,\u201d said Anderson. A blog and newsletter evolved; a print magazine arose, but printing costs became untenable.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBut I always wanted to continue to have a\u00a0voice, and\u00a0speak. There are women who identify with me, and what I have to say,\u201d said Graham. \u201cI started a podcast a few years ago, and then I started the show, \u2018Sipping Tea with Suzanne.'” Positively Positively Suzanne\u00a0is based at the Positive Vibes studio,\u00a0located\u00a0in the Ivy Corset Building, once the home of a corset factory owned by a female entrepreneur, Mary H. Bowne.\u00a0<\/p>\n Reflecting on the nature of journalism, Anderson said, \u201cI have an innate curiosity to gain knowledge you might not know. I\u00a0truly believe\u00a0a journalist\u00a0has to\u00a0be unbiased.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Anderson said,\u00a0\u201cWhile\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0not a traditional journalist,\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0mindful of the space\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0in. Because for me, again, the core of what I do, is someone who seeks different perspectives. Journalists seek the truth.\u00a0I also think I\u00a0have a responsibility as someone in the journalism space to ensure that\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0inclusive.\u00a0We are in a cruel world. I really want to combat that, even if you\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0agree with my point of view.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n We asked the participants in this year\u2019s Women Making History series why what they do matters. Anderson said, \u201cSo, it matters to me for a lot of reasons.\u00a0First and foremost, at my core,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0who I am … it matters to me because I want to give people a voice, whether\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0women, whether\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0people who look like me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Her enterprise has also become a way to talk with and listen to people with varied life\u00a0experiences,\u00a0and views. \u201cI can\u00a0interiew\u00a0people who love coffee and\u00a0bacon, two things I\u2019ve never had,\u201d said Anderson. \u201cAs a journalist, you have your integrity, and stand on what you\u00a0truly believe\u00a0in. As a journalist,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0not your job to solve problems.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0your mission to share the facts, so people can partake of these resources.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n With a background in the fashion and retail industry,\u00a0Anderson \u00a0integrates\u00a0fashion and style into her\u00a0work, but\u00a0emphasizes the importance of authenticity and self-expression. \u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0not these shows that pick apart women, and their clothing, and their bodies. We discuss fashion without discussing body size.\u201d Anderson\u00a0observed\u00a0that cruel comments and insults have a way of proliferating, including in the immediacy of the digital world. Anderson\u00a0seeks\u00a0to counter that by uplifting\u00a0people, and said,\u00a0\u201cI think it is critical right now.\u201d\u00a0(MS)<\/p>\n Position in media<\/strong>: Former Telegram & Gazette columnist<\/p>\n \u201cSome people want to become a columnist so they can give people their opinions and share their ideas and thoughts and feelings,” said former Telegram & Gazette columnist Dianne Williamson. “I became a columnist because I didn’t want to cover any more meetings of the Zoning Board of Appeals.”<\/p>\n Some 25 years of writing three columns a week, after a decade spent as a crime reporter, gave Williamson a singular perspective on Worcester.<\/p>\n Every week, she had to turn in three columns, no matter what, and every week, she set out \u201cto tell stories, maybe push some buttons now and then \u2014 make people think, make them laugh, make them cry.\u201d<\/p>\n Writing a column gave Williamson the freedom to choose which stories she wanted to cover, allowing her to draw attention to happenings that otherwise were going unnoticed.<\/p>\n Looking back, Williamson took particular pride in investigating the wrongful arrest of a young Vietnamese immigrant for a murder he didn\u2019t commit. After her story ran, the boy went free.<\/p>\n Another memory that sticks out is covering the Catholic clergy abuse scandal in Worcester County, along with the rest of the T&G\u2019s staff at the time, before The Boston Globe\u2019s Spotlight team made it a nationwide story.<\/p>\n \u201cWe got a tremendous amount of pushback from Catholics, from local clergy, from my mother. My mother would beg me not to write about it anymore because she went to church every week,\u201d Williamson said. \u201cA couple of my editors at the time were Catholic, and I knew they weren’t happy with these stories, but they ran them anyway, which was a good thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n Williamson started out as an office assistant in the T&G newsroom while studying at Worcester State University, then worked her way up to the crime beat. There were drawbacks to being a young woman in that particular job at that particular time, as she recalled having to fend off advances from police officers while she worked.<\/p>\n When she began writing columns, in her recollection, things changed.<\/p>\n \u201cI think I was treated a little differently when I became a columnist. I think I got a tad more respect, whether it was earned or not, just because I had my little mugshot,\u201d Williamson said. \u201cI had my little picture at the top of the page, and for some reason people thought that was a little more impressive than being a reporter.\u201d<\/p>\n Over her quarter century as a columnist, she saw sweeping changes in media as a whole, many of them driven by the internet and the advent of social media.<\/p>\n \u201cThe internet made our jobs a lot easier. It opened up the world, and it made a lot of people become ‘citizen journalists’ who had blogs and podcasts. That opened up a lot more voices than there used to be, which is a good thing, except sometimes too many untrained voices are just noise,\u201d Williamson said.<\/p>\n Another change? Corporate ownership. Williamson said during her columnist years, \u201cnewspapers changed hands from local ownership to the money-making chains that cared little about local journalism. That started the death rattle.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPeople should still be reading local news because journalists and newspapers are the watchdog, and a dead watchdog is a bad thing,\u201d she said. (MT)<\/p>\n Position in media: <\/strong>Former head of training, WCUW\u00a0Radio\u00a091.3 FM<\/p>\n \u201cI liked the Friday- and Saturday-night shows,\u201d said Stephanie Twine-Haig, in a phone conversation\u00a0regarding\u00a0her time as a volunteer and\u00a0later\u00a0head of training for WCUW Radio.\u00a0When she started with the station, around 2000, those nights were\u00a0largely dominated\u00a0by hip-hop, culminating in DJ Chuck\u00a0Chillin\u2019s\u00a0\u201cThe Love Session,\u201d an R&B and soul show that is often still the last live voice on the Worcester airwaves deep into a Saturday night.\u00a0<\/p>\n That show and others were magnets for local kids looking for a career\u00a0in\u00a0radio, or more often, looking to have their\u00a0songs played on the air. Twine-Haig said that one of the reasons she accepted a\u00a0larger role at the station was to look out for those shows. \u201cEverybody else complained about them,\u201d she said, but she could see how vitally important a lifeline those shows were for neighborhood kids.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n I never had kids of my own, said Twine-Haig, \u201cso\u00a0intersecting with those kids was a lot of fun. Listening to their thought processes, not just their situation.\u201d\u00a0The affection was reciprocated.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of them would get into a little bit of trouble,\u201d she said, \u201cand\u00a0have to\u00a0do community service. When they found out they could do community service with me, they never\u00a0missed a day,\u201d adding that she had them do fun stuff, like learning how to\u00a0operate\u00a0radio equipment, but also hard stuff, like\u00a0cleaning the studio. She\u00a0says\u00a0she still hears from a lot of those kids to this day.\u00a0<\/p>\n For Twine-Haig, \u201ccommunity\u201d was always the most important part of \u201ccommunity radio,\u201d saying that \u201csome communities put blood, sweat and tears\u201d into the station. But working with kids was always her favorite part of the job, even if they could be a handful, especially if they wanted to use their airtime to promote their house party gigs.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt was hard to explain to the kids … that you\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0self-promote,” although they could get advertising on their shows.\u00a0She said she had to explain\u00a0the difference between commercial and community radio. They thought\u00a0radio\u00a0was something that was\u00a0free.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe used to have fundraisers from the hip-hop kids,\u201d she said. \u201cWe made a lot of money, but police had to be there.\u201d She said she was lucky because she was\u00a0usually able\u00a0to get a particular police officer who \u201cwas really good with kids,\u201d she says. \u201cHe made the kids see that not all the\u00a0cops were looking to grab them by the scruff of the neck.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Twine-Haig\u00a0was forced into early retirement\u00a0through disability\u00a0in 2008\u00a0after kidney failure. Although\u00a0she\u2019s\u00a0no longer active in radio, she said\u00a0she\u2019s\u00a0proud of the work she did there.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think working with the teenage kids, helping keep them off the street, out of jails\u00a0and helping\u00a0them\u00a0get through\u00a0high school\u201d was her proudest accomplishment\u00a0at the station,\u00a0saying, \u201cIt\u2019s never too late to get and education.\u201d\u00a0(VDI)<\/p>\n Position in media: <\/strong>Production manager and “Morning Vibe Time” host, WICN 90.5 FM<\/p>\n As someone with an extensive background as a blues performer, Michelle Willson<\/a> is able to impart great knowledge and context to all the jazz, rhythm and blues and other music she plays as “Morning Vibe Time” <\/a>host from 6 to 9 a.m. Mondays to Fridays on radio station WICN<\/a> 90.5 FM in Worcester.<\/p>\n Willson has what she calls her “Vibe Tribe” of loyal listeners.<\/p>\n “With AI people can say whatever they want. You kind of need a tour guide to help you figure it out,” Willson said. “I love telling people the history of the music \u2013 ‘Here’s why it’s important.'”<\/p>\n A young listener thanked Willson for one segment recently. “‘I’m so glad you told me. I didn’t know who Aretha Franklin was,'” the person said. “‘Now I’m playing it for all my friends.'” Willson was enthused. “I said, ‘Yes. Yes.'”<\/p>\n Known as Michelle “Evil Gal” Willson for her great stage presence, powerful renditions and critically acclaimed albums as a singer (“‘Evil Gal” comes from Dinah Washington’s song “Evil Gal Blues”), she said there was a time as a performer after 9\/11 when “I was lost.”<\/p>\nMistress Carrie<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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<\/div>\n<\/div>\nSuzanne\u00a0Graham Anderson\u00a0<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nDianne Williamson<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Stephanie Twine-Haig<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Michelle Willson<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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