Dr Ruth dead in New York

[Reese K Rickards]

She was 96. Did any local station ever carry her show. Did she give anyone advice?

[Bobbert]

Detroit Free Press (8/25/84):

WLBS [102.7] is embellishing its format with the controversial "Sexually Speaking" talk show, hosted by psycho-sexual therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer. The call-in show will air at 10 p.m., Sundays, beginning Sept. 2.

Detroit Free Press (11/17/85):

Her Sunday night radio program "Sexually Speaking," produced by WYNY-FM in New York, is heard in more than 45 cities via NBC Radio (in Detroit, on WNIC-FM from 10 p.m.-midnight).

[Feature/writer]

Unsure which if any local stations carried her program. But nine years ago a play based on her life was staged locally by Jewish Theatre Grand Rapids....
https://www.mlive.com/onthetown/2015/09 ... on_wi.html

[MWmetalhead]

Grand Rapids was very prudish in the 80s.

It is unlikely her Sunday night talk program was carried locally. Her program was only carried in about 45 markets, it appears. (Excellent finds, Bobbert!)

If one or more of the clear channel 50 kW AM signals carried it, perhaps it could've been heard locally via skywave reception.

[JeffMeyers]

Not local to Grand Rapids, but 95.3 FM in Whitehall, then called 'WRNF' did carry her program for some time. WRNF became WKBZ FM, then WGVS I believe....

[originalzzmfmjock]

I may be wrong but I think WLAV-FM may have aired her program on Sunday nights in the mid 80's. I was working the Sunday night shift at WGRD at that time and I seem to recall her program being on the air opposite my shift on GRD.

[MWmetalhead]

Interesting!

Might be the only host in radio history carried on both WNIC and WLAV.

[radiofann]

Might be worth a search on the internet, her old broadcasts might be on YouTube.
For example, There’s 40some Bruce Williams Talknet shows (3 hours each no commercials) from 80s-90-s on YouTube. Great time capsules.
He gave great advice then, without the use of Google or internet.

[Bobbert]

I'm sorry, I didn't see where this post originated. I live in the Detroit area, thought it was the Detroit thread.

I searched Newspapers.com for references to the radio show for all of Michigan. Other than the Detroit stations, I found it airing on WMMQ-FM in Lansing in 1986. But Newspapers.com doesn't have any Grand Rapids papers, so I don't know whether or not it aired there.

But there were plenty of ways to get access to Dr. Ruth's advice. Here is an excerpt from a syndicated television column from Tom Shales of the Washington Post that appeared in the Lansing State Journal on June 3, 1985:

Dr. Ruth Westheimer is here to help. She will not rest until all of us are straightened out. Or at least not until we have watched her TV program "Good Sex," now five times a week on the Lifetime cable network (at 10 p.m.); or heard her radio program, "Sexually Speaking," now on 45 U.S. stations; or bought her best-seller "Dr. Ruth's Guide to Good Sex," 100,000 copies in print.

She also had a newspaper column.

[80sTalkRadioFan]

Loved her Sunday night radio show. A little surprised WOOD didn't pick it up, as they carried other psychological-type hosts from NBC's "Talknet." Dr. Ruth was on a lot of adult ac stations and a few rock stations like WIOT in Toledo. There was a great Hulu documentary about her a few years ago. Very much worth watching if you can find it.

[FormerNews5Dude]

I'll bet she's dead in every major city.

[MWmetalhead]

After listening to about 15 minutes of one of her 97 WYNY shows on YouTube, I can see why WOOD Radio passed on carrying her syndicated call-in show.

The subject material would've been far too graphic & controversial for that radio station!

[Jay2ThePee]

I'll bet she's dead in every major city.