|
Ethma Elaine Ewing Odum (June 23, 1931 – March 22, 2009) was a television host of her own ''The Ethma Odum Show'', a program geared to homemakers which was broadcast for more than twenty years during the 1960s and 1970s on KALB-TV, the NBC affiliate in her native Alexandria, Louisiana. KALB directly services ten parishes in Central Louisiana. ==Broadcasting career== Little is known of her upbringing but Ethma Ewing was the only daughter amid four sons of an Alexandria couple, Charles Earl Ewing, Sr., and the former Fannie Griffin. At the age of twenty-nine, she got onto the ground floor of the burgeoning television market and with her enthusiastic personality was soon hosting her own program for KALB, which opened in 1954 in downtown Alexandria. Odum joined KALB on October 9, 1960,〔 and she remained with the station for forty-two years, more than twenty of those as host of ''The Ethma Odum Show''.〔 Her live broadcast was geared toward the female audience and aired on weekdays, first at 3 p.m., then 12:30 p.m., and then at 11:30 a.m. At times political figures were her guests, such as the colorful mayor of Alexandria, John K. Snyder, the Louisiana Commissioner of Agriculture Dave L. Pearce, Lieutenant Governor Paul Hardy, or the U.S. Representatives Speedy Long, Gillis Long, and Cathy Long. She interviewed Louisiana Tech University President F. Jay Taylor, the football star Charlie Hennigan, and actors James Drury and Doug McClure, both stars of ''The Virginian''; Michael Landon of ''Little House on the Prairie'', and Fess Parker of ''Daniel Boone'', all guests through the Louisiana Pecan Festival in nearby Colfax in Grant Parish.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Ethma Odum Collection )〕 She focused too on non-profit organizations, such as the March of Dimes, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Salvation Army, and the Lions International Crippled Children's Camp in Leesville. She carried segments on the Louisiana National Guard and the roots of the Methodist Church in Central Louisiana. She often invited local singing groups to perform on the show. Her annual "Letters to Santa" program and her poignant reading of Charles Tazewell's ''The Littlest Angel'', were particularly popular. Various episodes had Odum milking a cow, visiting a shooting range, or interviewing a clown. She interviewed a local theater group presenting ''The King and I''.〔 Mainly, however, Odum geared the program to the homemaker. On closing each broadcast, she urged her viewers to obtain vital cancer screenings. Widely recognized from her lifetime of broadcasting, Odum retired from the station in 2002.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Ethma Ewing Odum, March 22, 2009 )〕 Odum also produced various "Special Report" programs for KALB nightly news.〔 Odum's broadcasting awards were voluminous: *''McCall's'' magazine, Women in Radio and TV Golden Mike Award *Southern Baptist Convention Radio and Television Commission in Fort Worth, Texas, the Abe Lincoln Award for Distinguished Broadcasters〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Abe Lincoln Awards )〕 *American Cancer Society, Cancer Awareness Award *Louisiana Medical Society, Excellence for Promoting Cholesterol Screening *Daughters of the American Revolution, Award of Excellence in 1992 and 2001 *YMCA, Spirit of Giving Award *Alexandria Bar Association, Liberty Bell Award *Louisiana Association of Educators, Award for Excellence *CENLA's Best, Inc., Black Heritage Award for Community Outreach.〔 Green Thumb, Inc., an organization which Odum had featured on one of her program, named her "Outstanding Older Worker for the State of Louisiana" in 2000, when at the age of sixty-nine she received national recognition with an appearance on CNN News and before the United States Senate as the guest of then Senator John Breaux of Louisiana. Odum said, "I believe that there's many people out there that could work if they would just find some niche for themselves."〔(【引用サイトリンク】title="What are the Benefits of Avoiding Retirement", October 4, 2000 )〕 U.S. President Richard M. Nixon, whom Odum once had as a guest on her program,〔 named her as one of fifty women in the United States to serve a three-year term on the "Difference Advisory Committee on Women in the Services", an oddly-named group which investigated the since burgeoning role of women in the military.〔 In 1972, Odum was named "Sustainer of the Year" by the Junior League, of which she was a long-term member. She was also affiliated with the Alexandria Garden Club and served as a past president of the foundation board of the since four-year Louisiana State University at Alexandria.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ethma Odum」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|