Maria Helen Alvarez

Alvarez had many interests, including broadcasting, horse racing, oil, politics, and commercial real estate. She was a delegate to the 1964 Republican convention in San Francisco. In the 1980s, she acquired Imperial Airlines.

In 1957, Alvarez sued her business partners for $10 million in a civil suit. She accused them of conspiring to defraud her. It was allegedly San Diego's "largest lawsuit" in a federal court. A year later the matter was settled out of court.

In 1950, it was Maria Helen Alvarez who brought TV to Tulsa, Oklahoma, creating the foundation on which KOTV currently stands. In the 1940s, people were not familiar with the concept of television. Alvarez, who had seven years prior experience in radio, pioneered TV, encouraging George Cameron to "take a chance on TV." She was just 27 years old at the time. She totally revolutionized the station headquarters, turning it from a converted tractor shop to "the nation's largest TV broadcast center at the time." With her design, the studio had 22-feet high ceilings and doors wide enough to enable the entrance of "parade floats and elephants."

Alvarez was married three times. Her first husband was Joseph Alvarez whom she married in the 1940s. Her second husband was John Hill with whom she built the Tulsa Station in the 1960s. Finally, in the 1970s, she married C. Arnholt Smith. Her third union was perceived by many as controversial, since Smith had been convicted of grand theft and tax evasion in connection with the collapse of his U.S. National Bank. Alvarez had one child named Joseph Thomas Alvarez III.

Maria Helen Alvarez Smith began her career in broadcasting by doing odd jobs and secretarial tasks at a Tulsa radio station in the 1940s. One day, the regular newscaster was absent from her slot, so she volunteered to report the news. Before long, her superiors recognized her potential and she was regularly reading stories for the station, many of which focused on the emerging television industry.

Maria Helen Alvarez (July 4, 1921 – January 2009) was the first female CEO in television and was one of the original financial backers of the Disneyland Hotel in California. She became a millionaire by the age of 29, and was a pioneer in the TV industry.

Alvarez was born Maria Helen Harman on July 4, 1921, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her parents were Orlin and Edna Mae Harman.