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Kate Aitken: The jetsetter

For busy housewives in postwar Canada, Kate Aitken's singsong voice was a welcome diversion from their everyday duties. Three days a week, Mrs. A and a rotating cast of male sidekicks shared advice on cooking, child care and fashion and offered a perspective on the broader world of women and politics. Only eight Kate Aitken programs from 1948 to 1950 survive, but they allow a glimpse into an era when "women's programming" was its own category at CBC and the ads were just part of the conversation.

For the people of British Columbia, margarine is still a forbidden food in 1949. But it's no menace to butter, according to Kate Aitken. In Vancouver on the cusp of an 18-day trip around the world, Mrs. A talks about the city and local issues with co-host Ross Mortimer. Then it's on to a preview of the trip. Mrs. A says she's doing it because she's determined to know more about the women of the world and how they face its problems.
• A 1950 article about Kate Aitken for Maclean's magazine was titled "The Busiest Woman in the World." It described Aitken's relentless pace: she was women's editor of the Montreal Weekly Standard, director of women's activities for the Canadian National Exhibition, broadcaster of two different radio shows, a food consultant and cookbook author. She also gave about 150 speeches and travelled 240,000 kilometres yearly. 

• Aitken had a staff of 21 secretaries to answer the 5,000 letters she received every week. 
Medium: Radio
Program: Kate Aitken
Broadcast Date: Jan. 17, 1949
Host: Kate Aitken, Ross Mortimer
Duration: 13:15
Program recorded in progress.
Photo: CBC Still Photo Collection

Last updated: January 25, 2012

Page consulted on March 20, 2013

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