News, soap operas, and sports were staples of adult entertainment. Weekend programs (usually comedy, game shows or variety reviews) featuring show personalities were much beloved.

The news

News and commentary was available on radio almost from the beginning of broadcasting. Commentator H. V. Kaltenborn was broadcasting in the 1920s. The radio gossip column was created in 1932 by Walter Winchell, who adopted the press format for a Sunday night broadcast that eventually regularly reached 20 million listeners. However, his vilification of individuals and frequent fueds eventually alienated much of his audience.

Press associations such as the Associated Press (AP) and United Press (UP) provided information to both newspapers, radio networks and individual stations. Following the 1932 presidential election, however, newspapers pressured the associations to cease offering their services to the radio broadcasting industry. Audiences had responded all too well to being able to receive up-to-the-minute election returns over the radio and newspapers were suffering for it.

In response, networks developed their own news services. CBS organized the Columbia News Service with bureaus in several major cities. By the mid-1930s, CBS produced three daily news programs for its affiliates, including a 15-minute program at 11 pm. Newspapers, in return, refused to mention CBS programming in their radio listings. An NBC editor reviewed newspapers for story ideas, following up with phone calls to involved parties to gather additional details.

Finally the Press-Radio Bureau was established with the charter to produce radio news acceptable to newspapers. The PRB set limits on the length and number of radio news programs that could be broadcast (five minutes each, scheduled not to precede the release of the morning or evening newspaper). It also dictated that the end of each news program end with the phrase: "For further details, consult your local newspaper." The PRB lasted only a short time, as radio had become too powerful to be hampered in such a fashion.

WWII brought news radio into its own. Although coverage of disasters such as the Hindenburg crash had illuminated the ability of radio to provide on the scene coverage of breaking news, it was Edward R. Murrow's reporting from Europe, beginning in 1938, and his live reporting of the 1940 Battle of Britain that established newscasting as a primary role for radio. For the first time, Americans experienced the horrors of war with first-hand immediacy. In virtually every home, radios were tuned to get the latest news from the front. Murrow (left) trained a generation of prominent newscasters such as Walter Cronkite, Winston Burdett, Richard C. Hotellet, Eric Severeid, William L. Shirer, Howard K. Smityh and others, and his influence extended far into the television era.

When Japanese planes bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, radio instantly carried the news across the nation. And when President Roosevelt declared war the following day, an estimated 80% of Americans heard his address on radio.

"Tune in tomorrow" - The daytime serial

More popularly known as "soap opera", these daytime serial stories were aimed at housewives, who often listened while doing laundry or other chores. Typical was "Our Gal Sunday" (based on a 1904 Broadway play of the same name,)the story of an orphan girl named Sunday from the little mining town of Silver Creek, Colorado, who in young womanhood married England's richest, most handsome lord, Lord Henry Brinthrope -- the story that asks the question, "Can this girl from a mining town in the West find happiness as the wife of a wealthy and titled Englishman?"

Other popular soap operas included "Against the Storm", "The Guiding Light", "Hilltop House", "Just Plain Bill", "Life Can be Beautiful", "Ma Perkins", "The Romance of Helen Trent", "Mary Noble, Backstage Wife", and "Young Widder Brown".

Soap opera characters experienced emotional depths and heights far beyond the experience of most listeners, providing escapism and entertainment in 15-minute segments. Anne Hummert, who has been called "Queen of the soap opera writers" observed that "Worry, for women, is entertainment." Hummert and her husband, Frank, had more than 30 serials on the air at one time. Other prolific soap opera creators include Elaine Carrington and Irma Philips. Many of the radio soap operas successfully moved on to television in the 1950s.

The longevity record for a single soap opera role goes to Virginia Payne, who played the part of "Oxydol's own Ma Perkins" for 7,065 broadcasts over 27 years.

Writer James Thurber once compared soap opera to sandwiches: "Between thick slices of advertising, spread twelve minutes of dialogue, add predicament, villainy and female suffering...Throw in a dash of nobility, sprinkle with tears, season with organ music, cover with a rich announcer sauce, and serve five times a week."

The sporting line

Sports programs were important from the beginning. In 1921 a World Series game was "broadcast" for the first time when a reporter at the game relayed information to a studio announcer, who recreated the play-by-play action for his listeners. Ronald Reagan began his show business career as a sports announcer, using his dramatic abilities to enliven reports and make them more exciting for listeners.

Sports events have always been opportunities for radio broadcasts and remain so to this day. An early example is a 1921 boxing match between Jack Dempsey and Georges Carpentier, which drew a listening audience 300,000. Baseball, football, boxing, racing and other athletic activities all have provided memorable broadcast moments.

The beloved programs

In August of 1922, WGY (Schenectedy, NY) began broadcasts of live plays freaturing the "WGY Players" (right) from their own studios. This show was the first to employ sound effects to make it more realistic. Audiences loved the plays, and within a year, stations in New York and Washington were receiving the broadcasts over the lines of Western Union.

In the second half of the 1920s the radio networks came into existence. Radios were now easier to use and offerred improved reception. An increasing number of programs were being sponsored by large companies. These combined factors created pressure to raise the level of programming and forcing greater attention to scripting and acting. Dramatic series appeared about 1933, with "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes," "The Shadow," and "Rin-Tin-Tin" among the most popular. Perhaps the most inflential radio drama was the Orson Welles adaptation of H. G. Wells' science-fiction story "The War of the Worlds." Broadcast on October 30, 1938 and intended as a Halloween joke, it created panic in many areas with its convincing account of an alien landing at Grover's Mills, New Jersy.

In 1926 Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll created a daily 15-minute long comedy sketch based on the hard time living of two black characters, Amos and Andy. Amos 'n' Andy made its NBC debut in 1929, sponsored by Pepsodent. Despite the fact that its creators were white, the show became wildly popular, eventually attracting an audience estimated at 40 million listeners. President Calvin Coolidge was said to excuse himself from state dinners to listen to the show. And George Bernard Shaw observed: "There are three things I'll never forget about America: The Rocky Mountains, Niagara Falls, and Amos 'n' Andy. By today's standards, the show depicted and reinforced racial sterotypes and would be considered offensive by many, but during the depression years the problems of the black protaganists were equated with the problems of any American trying to make it through tough times.

The most popular adult programs of the 1930s were the comedy/variety shows. Popular comedians of the Depression era included Fred Allen, Jack Benny (left, with show cast), George Burns and Gracie Allen, Jane and Goodman Ace, and Ed Wynn. The comedians adopted a light tone, offering respite from economic problems at home and rising political tensions in Europe. The networks did not produce these popular, sponsored programs themselves. They leades facilities to advertising agencies who in turn hired the performers.

The radio programs created during the first years of the networks established a pattern that persisted for decades. They relied heavily on music and variety entertainment, and were named for their sponsors. On Monday evenings, people listened to the A&P Gypsies; on Tuesdays, it was the "Eveready Hour;" on Wednesdays the Ipana Troubadors; and on Thursday the "Maxwell House Coffee Hour."

	This page last updated: February 19, 2003 Original content: Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2003 Museum of American Heritage Trademarks are the property of their owners