From this perspective, the television workplace operates as what Daphne Spain calls a “spatial institution,” in which “the properties of a social system express themselves through daily activities at the same time

a counteroffer: the freedom to “hire an all-woman staff, producer, director . . . everybody” and to program what she wanted. To her surprise, WBZ management immediately agreed to these terms,

Hamlin recalls coming into a room with eighteen men seated around a big table who assured her that she could retain her position as a cultural reporter for the station while she hosted the morning show because of the formulaic and simplistic nature of programming for women. “It’s easy,” they told Hamlin, since she would have “dodo birds for viewers” and the labor required by the program would involve only “a little make-up, a little hairdo, a chef you can cook with, and from time to time there will be a star coming through.” (intro 3)