Barbara Walters retires from The View and on-air work today, capping a six-decade, ceiling-busting career in broadcast journalism. When Walters first joined NBC in the early 1960s, she was relegated to lighter news segments as a regular "Today Girl," a role she ridiculed as "tea pourer." But within a year she became a reporter-at-large, and in 1963 a co-host of the Today Show (although she wouldn't officially be given the historic title of first female co-host of the program until 1974).
In the decades that followed Walters would secure prestigious interviews, win numerous awards, and build a brand as host that put a premium on listening. That Walters is so easily, if respectfully, mocked in spoofs and Saturday Night Live skits only confirms her influence in the male-dominated broadcast industry. She has inspired countless female journalists (including this one, who highly recommends reading her memoir Audition) and will continue to do so long after her final show.
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