promotions to writing news copy to news broadcasting. This progression confirmed that hard work and talent would be rewarded, reinforced values of equality and diversity, and provided female viewers with reassurance of seeing a friendly, supportive workplace, and a character that struggled to be assertive and to overcome shyness, succeeding in gaining the respect of her coworkers. Even insecure, shy and chauvinistic newsman Les learns to accept assistance in his job from a woman as he learns to respect Bailey's ability and also respect Bailey as a person. Bailey Quarters is contrasted not only with the other principal female character, receptionist Jennifer Marlowe, but also with the male characters. In contrast to Jennifer, Bailey seeks recognition in a "man's" field of journalism for her work in that field. Jennifer and Bailey offer, in a blonde-brunette dyad typical of sitcoms of the era, contrasting portrayals of female sexuality from opposite ends of the spectrum. In Bailey, male viewers saw a real woman who they could possibly actually have met and developed a relationship with, while Jennifer Marlowe was an idealized woman who did not really exist in the common experience of most male viewers. Bailey demonstrated that a woman could be smart and nerdy, but also exceptionally beautiful (Jan Smithers was a teen and fashion model in real life, including an iconic appearance on the cover of Newsweek in March 1966 representing the mid-60s, pre-hippie youth of America). The methodology with which the contrasts, differences and values between the traditional female character traits of Jennifer Marlowe and the more modern, liberal, feminist character traits of Bailey Quarters were drawn and explored made WKRP in Cincinnati a uniquely insightful and interesting production, with the character of Bailey Quarters becoming an everywoman feminist icon of the 1970s, expressing a less radical, and more realistic, feminism that many women viewers of the program could relate to. Bailey Quarters was one of the first media examples of the popular naming convention of use of a surname as a first name. References Television characters introduced in 1978 WKRP in Cincinnati characters Fictional reporters Fictional radio personalities Fictional characters from Cincinnati Fictional characters from Chicago