Ruth Lyons- Biography

Ruth Lyons is a pioneer of daytime television discussion shows in the United States. She is best known for her appearances on the radio and television shows Your Sunday Matinee and The 50/50 Club. She, like Arthur Godfrey and others of the day, accidentally developed the daytime TV talk show and went on to build a television empire.

Ruth Lyons’s Net Worth & Salary

She also had a net worth of being between $1 million to $5 million, according to trendcelebsnow.

Ruth Lyons’s Birth, Parents, Siblings & Education

Ruth Lyons was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on October 4, 1905. Ruth Evelyn Reeves is her full name, and she was born under the sign of Libra. Her nationality was American.

Her mother, also, was a musician. Ruth’s family was a close-knit group of people who lived in the same area as her. Similarly, the Reeves family was devout, with many of their activities taking place at the local Presbyterian church.

The women in their family had a strong faith and a strong desire to help wherever they were needed. Ruth’s grandmother, Reeves, had a significant impact on her. Her grandma started her domestic chores early in the morning and then went out into the neighborhood to perform good deeds.

She was a well-read woman who was not hesitant to express her strong thoughts. Furthermore, her mother constantly encouraged her daughter to give it her all in all she did. Books and reading, as well as music, were as essential to their survival as food, clothing, and shelter.

She made her first public appearance in a kindergarten play. She became interested in performing when she was twelve years old, and she began writing and producing her own songs.

She was also involved in Red Cross fund-raising operations as a young child during World War I. She even collaborated with her minister to provide entertainment for local hospital patients.

Furthermore, there was a flurry of activities when she first arrived at East High School, and during her tenure there, there was a flurry of activities. She was also the yearbook editor. She wrote and composed a school musical and played piano for the Dance Club.

As well as being the president of the Kalidasa Club. She also composed the school musical during her freshman year at the University of Cincinnati. She became a member of the Delta Delta Delta sorority and was in charge of the college yearbook’s humor section.

Ruth’s parents, on the other hand, wanted her to finish college and become a teacher. But she was well aware of the financial strain her family was experiencing as a result of her college tuition.

In addition, she dropped out of college. And she started studying piano at the Cincinnati College of Music to devote more time to her music. Ruth also worked as a sheet music salesperson.

Facts of Ruth Lyons

Ruth Lyons’s Professional Career

Since she was a high school student, Ruth Lyons had been interested in radio. Her radio career began in 1925 with a one-off appearance on WMH as an accompanist for a singer. And, starting in 1925, a regular gig as a pianist on WSAI.

In the year 1928, she also started working full-time at WKRC. Working as a pianist/organist for radio shows and as the station’s music librarian.

Lyons’ first broadcast was inadvertent as she pushed into service one morning. It was when the station’s only female show host called in ill.

Likewise, she needed only a couple of minutes to feel comfortable and familiar with how things handled behind the microphone and took over as host. Moreover, the sponsor enjoyed the way Lyons handled the program. So, they hired her to replace the host who was ill.

When Ruth began her broadcasting career, she believed her audience is intelligent. And they had more interests than the ones addressed by traditional women’s programs. So she focused on issues other than cooking and household suggestions.

Her fame soared during the Great Flood of 1937, comforting listeners and begging for funds for the victims. She even begged her listeners to help flood victims with food, clothing, and money.

Likewise, the Red Cross got $56,000 as a result of Lyons’ radio appeals. And largely because of her efforts during this period of need, WKRC’s program director appointed Ruth.

Likewise, while at WKRC, she conducted a weekly radio show called Your Sunday Matinee. She was an amateur songwriter and wrote a new song for each Sunday presentation of the show. Also, Bandleader Paul Whiteman was a guest on the show in the year 1938.

And Ruth’s songwriting ability impressed him. So, he also offered to buy some of her original compositions with one stipulation: the music would need to be published under his name. However, she gently declined.

In the year 1942, WKRC lost Ruth Lyons to Crosley Broadcasting over a ten-dollar raise. Likewise, when Ruth was approached by Crosley Broadcasting, the wage she was promised was ten dollars more than she was making at WKRC.

Then she visited with station owner Hulbert “Hub” Taft. Taft told her he could not match the price provided by Crosley therefore, Lyons then signed with Crosley at first coming to work at WSAI and taking 14 sponsors with her.

Likewise, Taft, the chairman of Taft Broadcasting, later complained that the ten-dollar hike had cost his company millions in advertising. Moreover, the Lyons radio and television programs produced more than a million dollars in ad income annually for Crosley.

When Lyons’ husband became ill with scarlet fever in the year 1943, the couple was confined to their house. So, Crosley believed having Ruth on the air to be vital enough to install lines and equipment at their home, so she could broadcast from there until the quarantine was ended.

Moreover, Frazier Thomas and she at WLW Radio’s “Morning Matinee” in the year 1948, taken from a station-issued promotional calendar.

She was the host of Woman’s Hour at WKRC and she also became the host of Petticoat Partyline. It was a program with a similar format, at WSAI.

Likewise, during her time at WKRC, she had never followed a script for her broadcasts. WSAI maintained a strong policy regarding developing and following to a script for its radio broadcasts.

However, Ruth created scripts for her shows and read from them for a week before returning to her approach of spontaneous talk.

Likewise, weeks and months went by without any concerns. When she was called to the manager’s office and asked to bring a copy of her show script with her, she anticipated losing her job.

But when she joined the office, she claimed she never write and read from a program script for some time.

However, the station manager claimed he was satisfied with what she had been doing and that the objective of the meeting was to offer her an opportunity to work at WLW. And, Lyons also did not like reading advertising material and preferred to give commercials in her own terms.

At WLW, Ruth was the host of Consumer’s Foundation, a show where participants tested things marketed on radio and reviewed their experiences with them.

And, she was joined with Frazier Thomas, on another radio show called Collect Calls From Lowenthal. When Consumer’s Foundation morphed into Your Morning Matinee, a morning radio show with music and entertainment targeting female listeners, Thomas became Ruth’s co-host on the program.

Then, once WLW parent company Crosley Broadcasting purchased New York City radio station WINS in the year 1946, the program was also carried over the station for two years.

She and Thomas co-hosted the show until he resigned to form his own media production enterprise. Likewise, she stayed as the host of the program until 1951 when she was urged by her doctor to cut back her job.

The 50/50 Club originated on WLW Radio as “The 50 Club”. And, fifty women were invited to a daily, one-hour meal which was streamed live.

The program was her idea and it began on the air on February 5, 1946. And, even though she was reluctant about appearing on television, the show had its television debut on WLWT in May 1949. However, she did not appreciate the blazing lights and the cameras which appeared to be everywhere.

But after seeing herself on video, Ruth understood she needed to thin down to look good on television. So, along with the weight loss, she established her own set of rules for her television show. And, since her programs were impromptu, those working with her learned to expect practically anything and to make any required adjustments.

Then, the program was afterwards aired on WLW AM. Ruth also became the program director of the television station in September 1949. Likewise, she was the lone woman on the Crosley Board of Directors.

Moreover, the event was a significant avenue for marketers and potential sponsors had a one-year waiting time before there were openings for their ads to be able to be booked.

And, the mentions of a product name on the program meant stores would fast be sold out of the item.

Ruth Lyons’s Height, Weight & Body Measurement

Ruth Lyons’ body measurements, such as height, weight, breast size, waist size, and hip size, are currently unavailable.

She was, however, a stunning woman, both in terms of personality and appearance. She has blonde hair and green eyes as well.

Ruth Lyons’s Relationship Status

Ruth Lyons’ family moved five times during her school years. They moved to Tusculum Avenue in Cincinnati shortly after her high school graduation, where the Lyons family also lived.

Johnny Lyons, likewise, was charming and attractive, and was known as “Tusculum Avenue’s heart-throb.”

Ruth and Johnny started dating shortly after the Reeves family moved into the area. They married in the year 1932, following an eight-year engagement.

The insurance company where Johnny worked closed its Cincinnati office after the couple had been married for two years. He was then promoted to insurance underwriter and given the opportunity to relocate to the Cleveland office of the company.

He also expected his wife to leave WKRC and relocate to Cleveland. Ruth, on the other hand, was adamant about keeping her radio job. She also believed she owed her parents commitments, which would compel her to remain in Cincinnati. As a result, Jane returned to her parents’ house while Johnny relocated to Cleveland for his new work.

Furthermore, the couple maintained their marriage for a few years by visiting each other on weekends, but they finally drifted apart. Ruth went on to become a well-known radio personality in Cincinnati, while Johnny went on to New York and Chicago.

In April 1939, she also filed for divorce. However, she did not do so until after her mother’s death in 1938, claiming that her mother “did not consider divorced ladies acceptable.” Furthermore, her spouse had relocated to Milwaukee and did not object to the divorce.

She met Herman Newman, a Unitarian pastor, after her divorce in 1942. They first met at a charity concert. Herman went on to become an English professor at the University of Cincinnati. He kept a separate identity from the show and his wife’s notoriety.

Crosley then approached Ruth with an offer for a ten-dollar raise shortly after their discussion, and Newman recommended she to take it. On October 3, 1942, the pair married.

She, also, gave birth to a stillborn daughter in 1944. Then, as Ruth’s doctor indicated, they adopted a newborn girl who was born two days earlier at the hospital.

Ruth Lyons0’s Social Media

Ruth Lyns didn’t have any accounts on social media. No social accounts were well-known or even in use at the time. As a result, she didn’t use it either.

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Quick Facts of Ruth  Lyons

• Ruth Lyons is an American pioneer of daytime television talk shows.
• Then, in the year 1951, NBC contracted with Crosley to carry a half-hour of The 50 Club on the NBC television network for three years, beginning on October 1, 1951.
• She bristled under the structured advertising, network time cues, and loss of show control.
• Also, the show was the top-rated daytime television program in the US from 1952 to 1964 and the first program in the Cincinnati market to be broadcast in color in the year 1957.
• She took an extended leave from her television program beginning in February 1966 due to her daughter’s illness and subsequent death.
• Ruth wanted to raise money for the Christmas fund in her daughter’s memory and decided to take things a day at a time.