While most of her fans were women, among the many people who wrote to get her advice, 18% of the letters came from men. Throughout much of her radio career, Aitken was heard three times during the day; in 1950, an estimated 32 per cent of Canadians listening to the radio were tuned into her show whenever she was on the air; estimated to be up to three million listeners. She was so popular that she received 260,000 letters, 150 speeches during the course of a year and 22 secretaries to manage the workload. She also became an expert at getting interviews for her broadcasts; sometimes, she spoke with interesting local people who were in the news, but she also traveled overseas to get interviews with famous news-makers, including one with Benito Mussolini. In fact, when she first met him in 1927, she was said to have persuaded him to place an order for Canadian wheat. On radio, Kate Aitken primarily covered homemaking subjects such as cooking and etiquette. In TV's early years, she was a panelist on talk shows, including a 1952 program called Fighting Words. But sometimes, she did some documentary journalism, including a profile of Hungarian refugees in 1956. Also, in an era when research was difficult and time consuming, Aitken would find answers to difficult questions, explaining to one Saskatoon woman the procedures for moving herself and her assets to the USA to be with her American husband. When not covering homemaking, she also interviewed powerful world leaders: in addition to Mussolini, she spoke with Adolf Hitler, King George VI, Mackenzie King, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lester Pearson. By some estimates, she made more than 9,500 broadcasts during her radio career. She retired from broadcasting unexpectedly in 1957, even though her radio shows were still popular. But she did not slow her pace: she continued to work for UNICEF, and in 1958, she was named to the CBC's board of directors. One of her projects at the CBC was to conduct a survey of the audience's likes and dislikes. Beginning in the late 1950s, and continuing until 1962, she was a columnist for the Globe & Mail, offering her opinions about fashion, food, raising children, and current trends in society that affected the home. She also gave advice to homemakers about etiquette, such as a column on using the telephone: taking calls during dinner was always