Davida Rothberg was elected to the Lambs in 1990. She was recruited by Beth Holland, the New York president of AFTRA. At that time, Davida was a working mom and talk show host, working for a video head-shot business that took her to Silvercup Studios.
Davida started her career at the age of 16, when she won a contest and was one of the earliest female disc jockeys in the country. She landed an after-school job learning the news business and co-hosted a Saturday morning rock-and-roll show for teens. The station sent her on a news tour called “A Teen in Washington”, where she interviewed some of the top politicians and newspersons.
She continued her love for radio talk shows and also for the theater. She left her Indiana roots after graduation from high school, moving to New York, where she attended AMDA and learned from theater greats acting, singing and dancing, which never became her primary career. Early in her New York career, she worked for Metromedia’s Channel 5, with children’s TV and commercials. She also was trained as a Romper Room Lady and landed a job working for Merv Griffin Productions.
Although she did manage to have small parts in soap operas, her real love was broadcasting, both on radio and television. She created and hosted a half-hour radio talk show called “Not for Mothers Only” twice weekly for WVOX Radio in Westchester, from 1975 to 1979. Her first guest was Scarsdale resident and opera star Roberta Peters. From 1979 to 1983, she host-produced weekly talk radio programs called “Voice of the Community” and “A Family in Change” for WNBC Radio in New York, and “Put Yourself in Our Place” and “Youth Line” for WYNY, NBC’s FM station.
During a long and varied career, Davida also produced and hosted syndicated beauty television talk programs for a national chain of beauty salons; led the American press corps for a Friendship Force trip to Denmark in 1977 with Lillian Carter, the president’s mother; and was a contributing writer for Westchester Magazine and Gannett Newspapers.
Davida has long served as a member of the Lambs Council, and as co-chair of the Entertainment Committee. She has hosted the virtual “Low Jinx” via Zoom since the advent of Covid. In December 2018, she was a proud recipient, along with our music director Woody Regan, of the Shepherd’s Award, in recognition of many years of dedication and service to the Lambs.