Published September 30, 2026 at 1:56 PM EDT

For more than 70 years WLWT-TV has launched the annual Ruth Lyons Children’s Fund drive on Oct. 4, Lyons' birthday.

This year Channel 5 celebrates what would have been Lyons’ 121st birthday by airing the Emmy-winning 2011 documentary, Ruth Lyons: First Lady of Television, at 12:30 p.m. Sunday.

From 1949 until her retirement in 1967, Lyons’ 90-minute noon live weekday 50-50 Club talk-variety show was Must See TV. All the great entertainers who came to town were on her show: Bob Hope, Sammy Davis Jr., Duke Ellington, Doris Day, Jerry Lewis, Lena Horne, Liberace, Sarah Vaughan, Johnny Mathis, Doc Severinsen, Van Cliburn, Dick Clark, Annette Funicello, Andy Williams, Mel Torme, Count Basie, Oscar Peterson, Roy Rogers, Cab Calloway, Sam Cooke, Dizzy Gillespie, Bob Newhart and Peter, Paul and Mary.

Lyons, who died in 1988 at age 83, was the first woman to host a national daytime talk show in the U.S. when NBC picked up her show on Oct. 1, 1951, for a year. WLWT-TV's 50-50 Club was the nation’s highest-rated daytime show for a dozen years (1952-64), according to historian Mark Magistrelli, who wrote and produced the two-hour film with director-editor David Ashbrock.

Ruth Lyons: First Lady of Television

Jazz great Dizzy Gillespie was one of the many guests on Lyons' live noon show.

Lyons’ fans waited at least three years — or longer — to attend her show, simulcast on sister Crosley/AVCO TV stations in Dayton, Columbus and Indianapolis, and heard on 50,000-watt WLW-AM in kitchens and cars throughout the Midwest.

After her retirement, sidekick Bob Braun hosted the show (renamed the Bob Braun Show) for another 17 years, until it was canceled in 1984.

Courtesy WLWT-TV

Lyons first raised $1,002 in 1939, while hosting shows on WKRC-AM, to buy toys for Children’s Hospital patients. She took the fund with her to WLW in 1942. Channel 5’s signature charity has raised more than $22 million in 86 years, including $375,000 last year.

“We haven’t aired the documentary in several years, so it’s a great opportunity for longtime viewers to revisit some wonderful memories — and for a new generation to discover the remarkable woman who became a true Cincinnati television legend,” says Lisa K. Snell, Channel 5’s Ruth Lyons’ Children’s Fund coordinator.

The Ruth Lyons Children’s Fund “works year-round at participating Tri-State area hospitals bringing smiles to the faces and joy to the hearts of hospitalized children. Contributions are also welcome year-round,” according to Channel 5’s media release. More information can be found on the station’s Ruth Lyons Children’s Fund page.

Read more:

• Phil Donahue never forgot his Dayton roots
• 'American Pickers' coming to Tri-State again in October
• WCET-TV celebrates Dr. O’dell Owens’ life and legacy