Back in the Shadows: A Radio What If

Television has reruns, thanks in part to Lucille Ball, who insisted "I Love Lucy" be shot on film. Radio never had, though recording did exist, & it was certainly possible to preserve programs.

So, what if somebody (Sarnoff?) had decided to save money by recording programs for rebroadcast? How credible was it? How would that have changed radio? How would it change the rest of the world?

phx1138 said:

Television has reruns, thanks in part to Lucille Ball, who insisted "I Love Lucy" be shot on film. Radio never had, though recording did exist, & it was certainly possible to preserve programs.

So, what if somebody (Sarnoff?) had decided to save money by recording programs for rebroadcast? How credible was it? How would that have changed radio? How would it change the rest of the world?

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There was the BBC Transcription Services that created recordings of BBC programmes for rebroadcast around the world. They have a much better record than the BBC itself of retaining copies of the programmes they produced.

Cheers,
Nigel.

NCW8 said:

There was the BBC Transcription Services that created recordings of BBC programmes for rebroadcast around the world. They have a much better record than the BBC itself of retaining copies of the programmes they produced.

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By appearances, the idea never caught on on this side of the Pond, & the likes of "The Shadow", "The Green Hornet", & "The Lone Ranger" (to name just the best-known) weren't recorded (AFAIK).

I really do wonder what happens if they were. Radio in syndication? Earlier development of magnetic tape? Audio Cassette Recorders, akin to VCRs? (A lawsuit over them--& a ban?)

This is another of those transatlantic differences--the BBC stopped wiping popular radio programmes in the mid-1950s, ironically much earlier than they did television shows (well it makes sense, the medium already existed for people to buy home sound recordings but not home video recordings).

I think the problem is that most of the great successful shows of the American golden age of radio are continuous stories, either adventure serials or soap operas, which do not fit well with the idea of a single episode being heard randomly. Either as a repeat, or selling individual self-contained episodes on LPs or later cassette tapes. I believe the industry in the UK was mainly supported by them selling comedy shows with self-contained episodes such as The Goon Show and Round the Horne. There was also some crossover appeal with a lot of comedy radio shows recording novelty singles or albums and releasing them on LP. So you probably need a smash-hit US radio comedy show and some copycats to get the idea going.

Thande said:

I think the problem is that most of the great successful shows of the American golden age of radio are continuous stories, either adventure serials or soap operas, which do not fit well with the idea of a single episode being heard randomly. Either as a repeat, or selling individual self-contained episodes on LPs or later cassette tapes. I believe the industry in the UK was mainly supported by them selling comedy shows with self-contained episodes such as The Goon Show and Round the Horne. There was also some crossover appeal with a lot of comedy radio shows recording novelty singles or albums and releasing them on LP. So you probably need a smash-hit US radio comedy show and some copycats to get the idea going.

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The Marx Brothers show Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel is one possibility for such a show. It's amazing that Groucho and Chico used to travel every week by train from California to New York to broadcast this show. After seven episodes they started broadcasting from a sound stage in Los Angeles instead.

Now the show actually got reasonable ratings - better than The Shadow - but didn't perform as well as other shows which aired later in the evening. For this reason the sponsor, Standard Oil, didn't commission a second season.

So suppose it got broadcast later in the evening, after 9 p.m. A later timeslot might also help reduce the criticism about some of the risque content. It does well enough that a second season gets produced. Learning from the difficulties of producing a show for New York using actors based in California, the station takes the novel step of recording the shows in advance of broadcast. This also helps reduce costs as more than one show can be recorded in a single session. Given the success of this innovation and seeing extra revenue being earned by selling LPs of the shows, other comedies follow suit.

Cheers,
Nigel.

NCW8 said:

The Marx Brothers show Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel is one possibility for such a show. It's amazing that Groucho and Chico used to travel every week by train from California to New York to broadcast this show. After seven episodes they started broadcasting from a sound stage in Los Angeles instead.

Now the show actually got reasonable ratings - better than The Shadow - but didn't perform as well as other shows which aired later in the evening. For this reason the sponsor, Standard Oil, didn't commission a second season.

So suppose it got broadcast later in the evening, after 9 p.m. A later timeslot might also help reduce the criticism about some of the risque content. It does well enough that a second season gets produced. Learning from the difficulties of producing a show for New York using actors based in California, the station takes the novel step of recording the shows in advance of broadcast. This also helps reduce costs as more than one show can be recorded in a single session. Given the success of this innovation and seeing extra revenue being earned by selling LPs of the shows, other comedies follow suit.

Cheers,
Nigel.

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Oh, good one. And the Marx Bros have a lot of popularity outside the US, too, so there is the potential to sell that show overseas if it had been more successful.

Thande said:

I think the problem is that most of the great successful shows of the American golden age of radio are continuous stories, either adventure serials or soap operas, which do not fit well with the idea of a single episode being heard randomly.

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My impression is just the opposite. "The Shadow", "The Lone Ranger", & "The Green Hornet", at a minimum, were AFAIK episodic. "The Whistler" certainly was. I'm pretty sure the comedy shows could safely have been repeated, too.

Neither am I suggesting they just be randomly repeated. I'm thinking of seasonal repeats, just like U.S./Canadian TV has now, preferably in the original sequence, so any "serial" aspects don't get lost.

I do think the bigger change is actually in the advertising... Buying 15- or 30-sec spots, rather than sponsoring the whole program, means the individual advertiser spends a lot less--& has a lot less influence on content. (This was what crippled the early quiz shows on TV.)

BTW, that's another form that wouldn't be hurt by repeats...tho AFAIK, radio quiz shows weren't too common until well into the '40s.

Something else to consider: the repeats would be cheaper, so it'd be possible to sell individual spots in them at cost smaller sponsors could afford... Plus, the fact the show might be repeated would actually discourage "major sponsors" paying for the whole program in the first place... This would appear to change the radio (& later TV) landscape pretty substantially.

NCW8 said:

The Marx Brothers show Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel is one possibility for such a show. It's amazing that Groucho and Chico used to travel every week by train from California to New York to broadcast this show. After seven episodes they started broadcasting from a sound stage in Los Angeles instead.

Now the show actually got reasonable ratings - better than The Shadow - but didn't perform as well as other shows which aired later in the evening. For this reason the sponsor, Standard Oil, didn't commission a second season.

So suppose it got broadcast later in the evening, after 9 p.m. A later timeslot might also help reduce the criticism about some of the risque content. It does well enough that a second season gets produced. Learning from the difficulties of producing a show for New York using actors based in California, the station takes the novel step of recording the shows in advance of broadcast. This also helps reduce costs as more than one show can be recorded in a single session. Given the success of this innovation and seeing extra revenue being earned by selling LPs of the shows, other comedies follow suit.

Click to expand...

That's an aspect I hadn't even dreamed of.

One thing having repeats has done in TV OTL is give networks the option to make fewer new ones. The number is about half what it was in the '50s... Same thing could happen in radio...

It could also lead to networks looking cheap(er) for using repeats, rather than new programming...