Barbara Walters - Audition: A Memoir

I’m 217 pages into the memoir that Barbara Walters wrote in 2009. I was listening to her speak about sex on a clip I came across of her on the Howard Stern show a few weeks ago. Up until that point, I knew little about Barbara. If asked what I thought about her, I would’ve probably responded by saying “I’m not familiar with her beyond the moments I would catch her on 60 Minutes after NFL games on Sunday evenings as a kid”. And, why would I be familiar with her? It’s not like I had any real interest in the news as a kid. I was more concerned with the score of the football game or what I was going to wear to school the next day. Little did I know, Barbara was the first ever female on the Today show starting in the 1960’s. A show that I was so familiar with from my childhood. I can barely remember a morning where I’d walk into my parents room as they were getting ready for work and Good Morning America wouldn’t be playing (Today eventually became GMA). Of course, if it weren’t for Barbara, eventually another female likely would have come along and broken down the unwritten rules that women weren’t to be televised on serious news programs. But, that isn’t the point. The point is Barbara was the one who did it. Through work, dedication, and a relentless pursuit of her goals, she became the first female anchor on a nationally syndicated news broadcast. Through unfair treatment, at times, she prevailed. Throughout the course of this book, I’ve found myself trying to figure out what it is that makes Barbara so special. It can’t be narrowed down to one particular characteristic, of course. It’s a combination of her sensible demeanor, her gentleness, her professionalism, and her reluctance to let someone, especially a man, tell her she can’t do something. Barbara Walters is a treasure to behold. Americans are lucky to have had her for all of these years.