Rosa Bartell Evans

In a career that began at WHA radio in Madison in 1939, Evans devoted more than 50 years to the broadcast industry. A native of Milwaukee, her early career included work as a vocal soloist, songwriter and program producer for Madison’s WHA Radio along with a stint on Arthur Godfrey’s show on WTOP Radio in Washington, D.C. In 1947, she and other members of the Bartell-Evans family built WEXT Radio in Milwaukee, which later became WOKY in 1950. Also in the 1950s, Evan produced and wrote the “Playtime for Children” program which went on to win many regional awards and the National Billboard Magazine Award before becoming syndicated and sold to stations around the country. She became general manager of WOKY in 1961 and in 1964 was named President of Bartell Broadcasters, Inc., by then a nationwide media company with seven radio and television stations. When Bartell Broadcasting was dismantled in 1969, she began a second career as a founder and officer of the broadcast engineering firm of Evans and Associates. She was listed in Who’s Who in American Women four times over the course of two decades, and was named one of the country’s Two Thousand Women of Achievement in 1970.

Rosa Bartell Evans passed away on July 1, 2009.