Ann Wagner Harper was the first female vocalist on television in Indiana and the first female disc jockey in Indiana. She was a talented vocalist, who hosted several singing shows and television shows. She later became chair of the Radio and TV Department and manager of WAJC at Butler University.
Wagner was born in 1924 in Louisville, Kentucky and grew up in Vincennes, Indiana. She attended high school at Saint Rose Academy, where she took voice lessons for four years.
She began her career in broadcasting in 1944 at the University of Louisville as a vocalist at WHAS radio. Wagner won a full ride scholarship to the University of Louisville after winning a vocal contest, where she majored in music as she worked at WHAS.
However, Wagner moved back to Vincennes a year later after she decided she wanted to focus on studying radio. In 1946, she began her career at Vincennes’ station WAOV. At WAOV, she served as a secretary, programmed music and hosted a singing show, “Silver Lining Time.”
After working at WAOV, Wagner was hired by Indianapolis radio station WIBC, where she sang on “PM Party” with Sid Collins as her announcer. She also hosted her own 15-minute singing show “Annie’s Almanac.”
She moved over to WFBM radio in 1947 as an announcer. When WFBM launched Indiana’s first television station, WFBM Channel 6, in 1949, Wagner immediately got involved in the video effort. Wagner became the first female vocalist on television in Indiana and in 1950, the first female disc jockey in Indiana with her program “Make Mine Music” and the morning show “Party Line.”
Wagner retired from radio and television to go back to school. She graduated from Butler University in 1963 and completed her Masters in 1968, while teaching speech and coaching debate teams at Lawrence Central High School.
At the same time, Wagner worked with broadcaster Jim Phillippe at Butler, where she was the Chair of the Radio and Television Department and managed the university’s radio station, WJAC, until 1988.
In 1985, she was inducted into the Indiana Broadcast Hall of Fame. Wagner died October 13, 2016, at the age of 92.
