Radio Soap Operas

By: Laura Onofrio

The first radio soaps drew quite heavily on forms of fictional entertainment, which had been quite popular with women. Radio soap operas were an adaptation of the domestic novel, an 18th century English sentimental novel which, like soap operas, were stories about ordinary people and the daily events of their lives and dealt with the issues of personal relationships (Cantor: 1983: 20). The daytime drama entered the 40s with firmly established tenets of writing. "Within this genre characterization was simple, straightforward and easily recognizable; characters found themselves in predicaments that were easily identifiable by their listeners; and settings were easily imaginable for audience members who were not very familiar with the environment beyond their home (Matelski: 1988:4)." Soap opera land reflected its primary listening audience as the action in soaps was centered on the issues that men and women in the 'real' world were challenged with. Soaps were used as a vehicle for moral discussions (Matelski: 1988:4).

Historians have noted that three diverse types of serials were broadcast on the radio throughout the daytime hours. 'The Woman Alone' class was the most common class on radio serials; however, this class was not transferred onto television soap operas. The other two classes of radio soap operas, 'The Problems of Marriage' and 'The Family Saga', were not as dominant on radio soaps but have prevailed over the years and throughout the transfer from radio to television (Cantor: 1983:20). Radio daytime dramas were at the height of their popularity in the early 1940s. At that time the housewife audience could find a serial beginning every quarter hour between the hours of 10 AM and 6 PM on several national radio networks (Cantor: 1983:20). As the female audience grew so did the number of programs. The history of the daytime serial is representative of the history of network broadcasting in the United States as the 1930s and 1940s were the most successful years of radio broadcasting and radio soap operas. The success of both radio broadcasting and radio daytime dramas began to diminish in the 1950s with the introduction of the television, a new visual medium (Cantor: 1983:32).