Folsom began her television career circa 1953, as a children's show host. Her first show was Glendora and her Picture Party on channel 19 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. It was sponsored and ran for 15 minutes per week. She was then hired at WMUR-TV in Manchester NH, where she began her program, SS Glendora, in 1956.[1] She was the skipper of the mythical Fun and Games ship, the SS Glendora.
Cable TV public access
In 1971, after being away from television for a decade, Folsom entered cable TV public access with A Chat with Glendora. This aired on Lackawanna Cable TV in Buffalo. This was followed by Maine Cable Television, Bangor. Then came Valley Cablevison, covering the Connecticut valley region. The last one was Colonial Cablevison near Glens Falls, NY.
These cable companies hired Glendora as their public access TV packager. She owned the video equipment, did the videotaping and then returned to the "head-end," ran a coaxial cable from her video equipment to the public access TV module, and cable-cast on to the cable TV viewer. Folsom remained on cable and public access television throughout the 1980s and 1990s. In 1987, she appeared as a guest on Late Night with David Letterman. By the 1990s, she was living in White Plains NY, according to the New York Times, which noted that she was the host of a weekly talk show on local public access there ("L.I. Cable" 44).
In 1994, she sued and won when a Long Island NY cable system removed her program in a way she felt violated Federal, State and municipal law that no cable operator can exercise editorial control over Public Access TV. The court ruled "plaintiff has a statutory right to be on TV and must be returned to TV" ("L.I. Cable" 44).
On October 13, 2018, Folsom was inducted into the Hall of Fame American International College Springfield Massachusetts.[2]
As of June 2023, Glendora has been in public access 53 years, done 14,225 TV shows and is on 72 TV stations from Boston to San Diego.