[5] Workman went to WRVA in Richmond, Virginia, in 1940,[6] having the five-days-a-week Sunshine Sue & Her Rangers program[7] that began as a local show and later was carried by approximately 40 other stations via the Mutual Broadcasting System.
[10] Off the air, she oversaw the Old Dominion Barn Dance's financial affairs and hired talent in her role as the head of Southland Shows, Inc.
[10] The scope of the company grew beyond the Barn Dance as it brought to Richmond Gene Autry, Tex Ritter, and other stars in addition to touring shows that included Annie Get Your Gun, Hollywood on Ice, and Oklahoma!
SSI—primarily Workman—selected entertainers, "signed them to exclusive contracts, polished their acts, directed them, and sold them as a package to the WRVA barn-dance show.
To accommodate the Old Dominion Barn Dance, WRVA rented the 1,300-seat Lyric Theatre in Richmond, with the highest tickets selling for 95 cents.
In a newspaper story distributed by United Press in 1953, she said:There's a lot of conflict and confusion in the world these days, as anyone can testify.
Our kind of music is so simple, soothing, reassuring and direct that people just naturally seem to need it to give them peace of mind.