Newscasters (Female) - The first female newscaster on a network news program was the talented Barbara Walters. She signed a $5 million/5 year contract with ABC television as the news evening anchorwoman on April 22, 1976. She co-hosted THE ABC EVENING NEWS with Harry Reasoner from 1976-78. In recent years she hosted a variety of BARBARA WALTERS' SPECIALS interviewing prominent politicians and celebrities and also co-hosted the ABC magazine of the air program 20/20 with Hugh Downs beginning in 1981. Barbara Walters began in the 1950s on the NBC network morning TODAY program where was one of the "Today Girls" who were bits of fluff that pointed at weather maps. Comedian Gilda Radner later parodied Walters on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE in skits featuring a lisping journalist called Ba Ba Wawa.