[BC] Female engineers

[Donna Halper]

At 07:26 PM 5/9/2008, you wrote:
>Don't forget about Margaret Bryant, who worked for Westinghouse and 
>ABC, then left the business to become a pet photographer.

And let's go waaaaay back.  Some of the earliest ham radio operators 
were female-- Hiram Percy Maxim's administrative assistant, Cecil 
Powell (I believe she said it "sah-SEEL") not only learned all of the 
technology and became the first woman in Connecticut to get a ham 
radio license in 1915 but she taught classes so that other women 
could master the necessary skills and pass the exam to get their 
licenses.  One of the women in her class was Mrs Maxim herself.  And 
my cultural hero, the late great Eunice Randall, the first woman 
announcer in Massachusetts, was also an engineer who did tower 
maintenance and fixed equipment at 1XE/WGI from 1919 to 
1924.  Additionally, she was an expert at doing technical 
drawings.  Unfortunately, most of the engineering colleges refused to 
admit women back then, so the ones who wanted to learn the technical 
side of broadcasting usually apprenticed with a male engineer, often 
a husband or brother, but sometimes a boss or co-worker who had 
enlightened attitudes about giving women a chance to learn.