Ruth Seymour

A secular Jew,[4] Seymour grew up in the Bronx, attending Sholem Aleichem Folk School[5] to learn Yiddish literature and language as a supplement to her public schooling.[6] During her years at City College of New York[7] she studied Yiddish with Jewish linguist Max Weinreich.[4]

Seymour's first venture into radio came at KPFK in Los Angeles from 1961 to 1964.[8] As that station's drama and literary critic, she produced award-winning series.[1] From 1971 to 1976,[8] she worked as program director there, and she did freelance work for the Pacifica Foundation while traveling in Europe.[1]

Seymour joined the staff of KCRW at Santa Monica College in 1977 as a consultant and was named manager a few months later. She retired from there in February 2009[9] after having helped the station "transcend its basement location to shape the culture in Los Angeles."[10] During her tenure, the station grew from being based in a playground at a middle school and having an old transmitter to covering much of southern California with its broadcasts. It also developed streaming services and podcasts.[9]

In 1979, two factors combined to enhance Seymour's efforts toward advancing KCRW's status. Soon after the station began using a new transmitter, National Public Radio launched Morning Edition. While the area's then-most-significant public radio station ran the two-hour program before 6 a.m., Seymour decided to run it three times each morning from 3 a.m. to 9 a.m. on KCRW. "That way nobody was going to have [the programs] when I didn't have them," she said.[1]

Seymour spearheaded fundraising efforts for not only KCRW, including a $1 million pledge drive in 1995,[1] but also for the network program Weekend All Things Considered in 1985 and for NPR in 1991.[11] She also was active in the effort to simplify podcasting of radio stations' programs. Without blanket licensing agreements, such as those that apply to over-the-air broadcasts and streaming of programs, a separate contract with each record label used in the podcast was required.[12]

In 1979, Seymour launched a program on KCRW that became a tradition, going strong a quarter-century later. Noting the lack of radio programming related to Hanukkah, she created and hosted Philosophers, Fiddlers and Fools, a program that included recordings of Yiddish folk music and songs from Yiddish music halls, a short story by a Yiddish author, and a memorial to the Holocaust. Initially surprised and disappointed because only two people called the station during the broadcast, Seymour thought that it was a failure — until it ended. Then calls kept the staff and their telephones busy for three hours. Thereafter, the show was broadcast annually.[4]

Seymour married—and divorced -- Jack Hirschman. They had two children. After the divorce, she changed her surname to Seymour to honor her paternal grandfather, who had been a rabbi.[7]

In 1999, the Workmen’s Circle gave Seymour its Yiddishkayt Award for her “service to Yiddish language and culture.”[6]