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Summer Replacment Shows during the Golden Age of Radio

By Old Time Radio
Summer Replacement radio shows allowed big name radio stars to have a break while up and coming stars got a break into show business.

As radio's influence grew in the 1930s and 1940s, big name and big money radio ruled the airwaves. Many radio programs centered around a special radio star such as Jack Benny, Fred Allen, Dinah Shore, Red Skeleton, Bob Hope, and George Burns and Gracie Allen. As these stars fame and influence grew, they requested special privileges and most insisted on summer hiatus from their radio gigs.

Many radio stars like Bob Hope and Bing Crosby were also film stars and were able to leverage time away from their radio programs to make films. Hope and Crosby created the films from the "Road to...(Singapore, Rio, Hong Kong, etc) series while on break from their respective radio shows. However, Some radio stars like married couple Jim and Marian Jordan, who portrayed Fibber McGee and Molly on radio from 1935 until 1959, took a real break and used the summer break to spend time with their children.

Networks struggled trying to fill airtimes and retain loyal audiences because in the Golden Age of Radio there were no reruns. Radio shows were heard once and fresh material was used in every show week to week and day to day. Transcription technology was limited and Recording radio shows was expensive. Summer Replacement series were created to hold audiences while the radio stars were on vacation.

In most cases Summer Replacement radio shows were low budget and sometimes so bad the sponsors even pulled funding mid season, making producers scramble for more cash.  Some Summer replacement shows were also dropped from the schedule when the original series returned never to be heard again.

However, some shows won over audiences and became radio hits of their own. Radio shows like Aldrich Family, Boston Blackie, The Doris Day Show, Escape, Our Miss Brooks, Philip Marlowe, and Sam Spade were all summer replacement shows that won over audiences, producers, and advertisers to become a part regularly scheduled program.

Despite the small budget, newly rising stars were eager to win a regular spot on the radio. For this reason, many of the summer replacement shows were high quality. The now infamous Orson Welles production War of the Worlds was created after Mercury Theater was picked up by the network and added to the schedule.

The summer replacement season is one of the most magical parts from the history of old time radio.  Because the end of the summer replacement season, radio careers were made and lost but there was still a chance for a new show and a new rising star the next summer.
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