Women's Studies

Viv Sutherland, Women's Studies, via WBAI Folio 1975

Women’s Studies was a weekly radio program on WBAI-FM in New York City, produced and hosted by Viv Sutherland throughout the 1970s. On occasion, Sutherland was assisted by Stacy Ann Pober, a volunteer and later producer of Women’s Programming at WBAI from 1973-1978. The program’s title invoked the emerging academic discipline of women’s studies, and the show brought feminist scholarship, literature, art, activism, music and cultural analysis together onto the public airwaves. According to a WBAI Folio dated April 1981, the program appeared Wednesdays at 11:00am and was described as “News, culture, art, music and information of concern to women; produced by Viv Sutherland.”

Viv Sutherland 35 mm (April 10, 1978)

The program was deeply intertwined with the feminist literary renaissance of the era, featuring appearances by iconic figures like Adrienne Rich, Audre Lorde, and bell hooks. It provided a space where theoretical ideas and creative works could converge, fostering a multidisciplinary approach to feminist thought. Women's Studies sought to democratize feminist scholarship and bring feminist literature into public discourse, making complex ideas accessible to a broad audience and contributing to the broader cultural recognition of women’s contributions to literature and the humanities.

13th Moon: The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Dyke (1977)

Women's Studies: 13th Moon was a recurring segment on the program, named after the influential feminist literary magazine 13th Moon. The segment highlighted emerging and established voices who challenged prevailing norms and pressed listeners to rethink assumptions about gender, race, class, and sexuality. Under Sutherland’s guidance, episodes featured candid interviews, readings of poetry and prose, and lively conversations that showcased women’s intellectual and cultural contributions. By highlighting works that crossed the boundaries of genre, form, and discipline, Women's Studies: 13th Moon not only illuminated the breadth of feminist literature but also connected theory with lived experience, reinforcing the idea that feminist scholarship could and should resonate beyond the academy.

Viv Sutherland, via WBAI Folio 1970s (Private)

Women's Studies, via WBAI Folio 1970s

Viv Sutherland

A highly involved member of WBAI’s Women’s Department (circa 1974-1985), Viv Sutherland was a producer and host of numerous programs at WBAI, including Lesbian Studies, The Velvet Sledgehammer, and Women’s Studies. Women’s Studies, in particular, mixed feminist scholarship, literature and activism and incorporated readings and interviews with notable feminist thinkers and writers like Adrienne Rich, Audre Lorde, bell hooks. According to Sutherland, as quoted in a 1977 WBAI Folio: “I have a really complex political philosopy–I believe that every woman (or man) has the right to her own politics, and the concurrent right to conduct her life according to the way she sees fit…regardless of what I, or anyone else, thinks about the “rightness” of her choice. I think that this is the only way we’re going to take the second wave of the women’s movement to its logical and inevitable conclusion…because this is the only way to ensure that women are able to take actual control over their own lives. Once that happens, the rest of the struggle is much easier to deal with. That’s what Women’s Studies has been about for the past three years. That’s what my life has been about for the past six.”

WBAI Folio "Producers, Women's Programming"

Stacy Ann Pober

According to a collection of folios from the 1970s, Stacy Ann Pober was first listed as a General Volunteer at WBAI and then became a Producer of Women’s Programming from 1973-1978.