In this exclusive audio interview Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™ talks with Kent Ian Paterson a producer at KUNM-FM in Albuquerque, New Mexico about her early years as a Progressive Rock DJ that kicked off her broadcasting career. Paterson contacted Robinson in August about a history he was compiling at KUNM to celebrate the station’s 54th anniversary. Once it was confirmed she was the same person that worked at KUNM back in the early 1970s the conversations began. When asked how she originally came to the University of New Mexico in 1969 and became involved with KUNM Robinson stated, “I went to UNM because they listed available courses in Radio & TV but when I got there I found out that those classes wouldn’t be offered for a few years. So I answered an ad on KUNM-FM looking for 'chicks to sharpen pencils'. When I applied they suggested I get my FCC license so I did. When I returned with my license they gave me a weekly shift on Thursdays from 1A to 3A. At the time UNM women had a 12 Midnight curfew and men did not. So the ACLU got involved and the curfew was lifted. I guess that was my first experience in the fight for equality.” It was the beginning of the Women’s Movement who adopted Charlotte as a role model because of the ACLU curfew resolve. Paterson added, “You and the other women who were at KUNM 50 years ago were trailblazers. Women became much more prominent at KUNM after the mid 1970s. The station's first female manager served from 1974 to 1976.” We then talked about how Robinson’s KUNM experience led her to her stellar career in broadcasting breaking the glass ceiling for women at WCVB-TV in Boston and then on to ABC, NBC and CBS TV Networks in New York, NY.
Charlotte Robinson launched OUTTAKE MEDIA LLC in 2007 and OUTTAKE VOICES™ in 2008 with over 500 podcast episodes that include Alan Ball, Ricky Martin, Senator Tammy Baldwin, Rep Barney Frank, Kyra Sedgwick, Kathleen Turner, John Waters, Dustin Lance Black, Tab Hunter, Sharon Gless, Loni Anderson and comedian Margaret Cho to name a few. Ms. Robinson was honored by the Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition with the 2018-2019 MBCC Appreciation Award for providing a voice for hundreds of LGBTQ+ organizations and allies including MBCC. Currently Charlotte has partnered with Nicole Conn Films Global and serves on the Board of Women in Film and Video New England. Kent Ian Paterson is an independent journalist who covers issues in the U.S./Mexico border region. He was a 2017 fellow in the Journalist in Aging Fellowship Program sponsored by the Gerontological Society of America and New America Media. For More Info: kunm.org
