WOAI Radio Personality Mary Denman passes away @ 90

“It’s very sad,” Tom Masinter, senior vice president of the Alamo Theater Arts Council, said today of the death of his friend and colleague, Denman. “She was a great inspiration,” he added, recalling that Denman had raised more than $1 million for the restoration of the San Pedro Playhouse. On a more personal note, he said, “I loved playing piano for her during her stage bits.”

“Mary Denman June 22, 1922-May 8, 2013, you had a great run Mom….rest in peace!” was posted by her daughter, Daryl Ann Denman, on her Facebook page under a photo of her and Denman. (In a phone chat, her daughter said the date of her birth actually was June 28, 1922; the original post had a typo.)

A great run indeed; Denman was a true pioneer in the realm of women and broadcasting. She was about as tenacious locally as Barbara Walters was nationally in having her voice heard in a male-dominated world. In fact, in 1995, Denman was honored with the National Achievement Award from the American Women in Radio and Television.

She started her TV career in San Antonio as the host-producer of “Our Town,” a weekday interview program on KENS-TV. After eight years, she became the station’s first female co-anchor of a newscast.

Later, she moved to radio, where she thrived for many years in the ’80s. When WOAI radio started the first all-talk format, the station hired Mary to be the producer and co-host of “Morning Magazine” Monday through Friday.

After leaving radio some 12 years later, she and her husband formed their own ad agency, “Mary Denman, Inc.” They ran it together until his death in 1991.

Soon after, WOAI asked her to develop a program for seniors and “Prime Plus” was the result. For the next 13 years, the program was aired every Sunday morning first on WOAI-AM, then KENS-AM and finally on KLUP-AM until a major format change eliminated most of the local on-air hosts in 2004. She continued to do freelance voice work.

Her love for theater preceded her broadcasting career. On stage, she has played everything from chorus roles to leads. According to her bio, she and her husband were co-founders and board members of a short lived summer stock company. Her board service at San Pedro Playhouse spanned many years. She also chaired the capital campaign committee which renovated and restored the 70-plus year old Playhouse. In her work on the board of the Alamo Theater Arts Council, she emceed the Globe Awards gala for several years.

Denman was an absolute dynamo at everything she attempted, never letting the ups and downs of an entertainment and journalism career get her down.

In fact, I took to calling her “The Unsinkable Mary Denman” – a moniker she said she loved – in my columns about this remarkable woman.

She’ll be missed by too many people to count.

Jeannie Jakle
Photo: Courtesy Photo