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R. Dianne Bartlow, Former ‘2 on the Town’ Producer, Dies at 67
R. Dianne Bartlow, a director, writer, producer and educator who worked on the KCBS-TV program 2 on the Town and received three regional Emmy Awards, died Sept. 8 in Los Angeles. She was 67.

R. Dianne Bartlow, Former ‘2 on the Town’ Producer, Dies at 67

R. Dianne BartlowCourtesy of Yazmin Monet Watkins-Vieux

R. Dianne Bartlow, a director, writer, producer and educator who worked on the KCBS-TV program 2 on the Town and received three regional Emmys during her career, died Sept. 8 in Los Angeles of cancer, her family announced. She was 67.

After spending more than a decade in broadcast journalism, Bartlow worked as a freelance producer and was an active member of the DGA’s African American and Women’s steering committees.

Bartlow contributed to the 1990 documentary Wings Over Jordan, We Remember, which chronicled the World War II-era Black a cappella gospel choir Wings of Jordan and featured comments from Esther Rolle and Lou Rawls. The doc is archived in the Peabody Awards Collection at the University of Georgia.

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At the time of her death, Bartlow was a professor at California State University Northridge. She started there in 2002 and chaired the school’s Gender and Women’s Studies Department from 2013-16.

Rosalie Dianne Bartlow began her career in television in 1979 at KCBS. She worked her way up to producer-director-writer and received her first Emmy nom for her work on the 1985 special Capitol Records: The Inside Track.

At the Los Angeles station, Bartlow produced and supervised lifestyle, entertainment, travel and public affairs programming for shows including the long-running 2 on the Town, which took her to Singapore, Canada, Hawaii, Alaska and Africa.

She was honored at the NAACP Image Awards for her work on the KCBS special Meeting the Challenge: Inside Black Hollywood, which featured Spike Lee, Brock Peters and Tim Reid, among others.

She won her first Emmy in 1993 for Pioneer Women, a piece executive produced by actress Marsha Mason; her second in 1997 for A Community of Caring; and her third in 2015 for directing a segment about the Bread and Roses Café for the CityTV program Santa Monica Cares.

She wrote articles for publications including Ms. Magazine and contributed chapters to the 2011 book The 21st Century Motherhood Movement.

Bartlow earned a double Bachelor of Arts degree and her master’s from California State University Long Beach in 1977 and 1980, respectively, and a Ph.D. in communication from the University of California San Diego in 2000.

Survivors include her daughters, Yazmin Monet Watkins-Vieux and Jade Watkins Sprague, and their husbands, David Vieux and Timothy Sprague; grandchildren Miles and Lily; and siblings Darryl and Fundisha.