Radio
As Dr. Brothers’ popularity rose, her radio career blossomed. In the early 1960s, she had a five minute spot on ABC Radio. This transitioned into her radio program titled Call Dr. Brothers. The hour-long program was broadcast on NBC five days a week. In addition, she regularly wrote segments for NBC’s Monitor and Emphasis. Though the majority of her appearances were on television shows and in cameos, Dr. Brothers routinely contributed to various local and national radio programs throughout her career. In 1984 she recorded a series of lectures for California Hospital Medical Center as part of the Tel-Med Program, in which people could call in for free and listen to recorded advice on topics from alcoholism and addiction to relationship issues.
Knight. Original drawing of Brothers at NBC Studio, circa 1965.
ABC Reports radio news publicity mailer, undated.
Brothers advertisement for Call Dr. Brothers, WMCA, circa 1966.
Dr. Joyce Brothers Show ABC radio mailer, 1965.
Blurb for Call Dr. Brothers, circa 1960-1962.
WMCA. Segment from Call Dr. Brothers, “Son not listening,” circa 1966.
Dial Dr. Brothers publicity pamphlet for Tel-Med, circa 1983-1984.
Call Dr. Brothers publicity postcard for WNBC Radio 660, circa 1965.
WMCA. Segment from Call Dr. Brothers, “Talking too much,” circa 1966-1969.
WMCA Dial Log 57 advertisement, circa 1970.
Draft of introductory text for Call Dr. Brothers, circa 1965.
Monitor publicity pamphlet, circa 1967.
TV Radio Mirror, circa June 1967.
WMCA. Segment from Call Dr. Brothers, “Can you improve your memory?”, circa 1966-1969.
WNBC Radio 66 advertisement for “Call Dr. Brothers,” circa 1965.
Ottenheimer Publishers. "Dr. Joyce Brothers discusses Love-Marriage-Sex" audio recording, 1959.
This production was Dr. Brothers’ first marketed audio program outside of radio appearances.
Fred Ferretti. "Brothers dissuades would-be suicide," New York Times, January 5, 1971.
Content warning: contains mention of suicide and self-harm.
ProQuest access (Cornell users) | NYTimes access (non-Cornell users)
One of Dr. Brothers’ most frequently cited cases involved an on-air call from a woman who had taken 15 sleeping pills and planned to take more when the call ended. Dr. Brothers stayed on the air with her for over 90 minutes—and on the call off-air for three hours—while police worked to locate the whereabouts of the woman and provide medical care.