Where it all began: The Origins of Daytime Dramas

By: Laura Onofrio

The origins of soap operas go back to the early days of radio broadcasting in America where detergent manufacturers and makers of other household products helped promote an experimental form of daytime entertainment programming which would build a large and loyal audience of housewife consumers. Most advertising sponsorships came from companies like Colgate Palmolive Peet and Procter and Gamble who sold household products and aimed to target the housewife audience. Cereals, toothpaste, drug products, home remedies and food product companies were the other sponsors of the daytime drama throughout its duration on the radio (Hobson: 2003:8). "Radio programming changed radically between the late-1920s and the mid-1930s as daytime dramas, which later became known as soap operas, began replacing the mundane daytime shows which provided women with recipes and household hints (Cantor: 1983:36)." Daytime dramas began as early as 1930 and were considered risky because network executives thought that audiences would not like the open-ended storylines of soap operas that were not resolved at the end of every episode (Matelski: 1988:1).

Programmers experimented with an open-ended evening comedy, Amos n' Andy. It was an immediate success and proved that serials could be a successful form of radio entertainment (Matelski: 1988:1). Programmers were still hesitant to move the serial form to daytime because of the perceived unattractive daytime listening population of housewives. Despite their uncertainty, networks experimented with daytime serials by airing several 15 minute episodes. Networks offered sponsors a discounted price to induce their support of this new genre. Like their primetime counterparts, daytime serials were an immediate success and the housewife proved herself as an attractive audience for the sponsors who quickly realized that women held a lot of control over the household economy; hence, had significant consumer power (Matelski: 1988:1).