Audience+Response

Radio in general allowed listeners to develop intimate relationships with the voices and characters of their favorite shows. Listeners of all shows became invested in the programs thereby creating “ethereal radio communities” (Lenthall 67). These ethereal radio communities created relationships between performers or characters and listeners. Listeners drew upon these characters for advice and support, and many characters became role models for their listeners (Lenthall 73). For women, it was the soap opera heroine.

Not only did these characters fill a social gap in these women’s lives, but they combated loneliness and isolation by providing an imaginary community in which the listener could participate. The storylines of these soaps provided a spring board for discussion and even active change in the listeners’ real lives. Research of audience behavior suggested that “serial listeners frequently discussed their stories with friends and relatives, fiercely debating the morality—and realism-of characters and their actions” (Hilmes 163). Soap operas provided a common program that women could listen to thereby building a common culture specifically for women. Within this radio community the female listener could build real life bonds through the discussion of the programs with friends all the while exploring issues central to women.

Furthermore, many radio listeners wrote letters to their favorite shows or characters. In fact, networks encouraged listeners to write letters as a way to gauge the programs popularity. Daytime serial listeners often wrote to their favorite characters as if they were real people, some even sent gifts or advice on what they should do in the current plot situation (Hilmes 163). These listeners were often dismissed by critics as being deluded or neurotic; but more often than not, the authors of these letters grasped the differences between fantasy and reality and were much savvier than critics suggest. Many fan letters emphasized real-life suffering as a reason for appreciating the program (Loviglio 94). Still other letters contained specific requests for plot direction or advice on how the writers should deal with a particular situation. The producers of the daytime serial dramas paid considerable attention to the letters written by fans. Producers used these letters as “indicators of characters’ or stars’ popularity, as gauges of public opinion over controversial plot developments, as support for inclusion or exclusion of material” (Hilmes 163). Moreover, some listeners wrote letters threatening to discontinue purchasing the products advertised during the program. Procter & Gamble received threats from listeners who stated they would stop “buying Kleenex if //The Story of Mary Marlin// did not take a particular turn or if the company pulled its sponsorship” (Loviglio 95). Another listener wrote, “‘The day Sally marries Joe [I] will stop listening to the program and using Kleenex’” (Hilmes 178). Still another threatened, “‘If Elizabeth is allowed to spoil the Mary-Peter romance, [I] will never use [the] product again’” (Hilmes 178). Through this it is clear that many listeners had a clear understanding of the dynamics of the radio industry and knew how to lobby to make their values dominate the plot (Hilmes 178).

While critics of the soap opera genre categorized the listener as unstable and irrational, many soap fans understood that their favorite programs were drawing large audiences of not only women, but children, and unemployed men. These listeners were acutely aware of the audience response to daytime serial dramas so much so that a woman writing to President Roosevelt in 1933 after his first Fireside Chat “suggest that he broadcast ‘at the beginning of a weekday coast to coast program such as…//Myrt and Marge//…when the whole country is turned on for their program…I believe this will ensure a greater audience’” (Loviglio 94). This listener clearly understood that large audiences of Americans tuned into serial dramas nationwide underscoring the importance and prevalence of this genre of programming.

Soap opera fans were not merely passive listeners, and instead of writers, producers and sponsors determining the content of the soap opera, listeners took an active role in determining the plot lines aimed at their wants by writing to producers and sponsors.


 * The Success of Soap Operas **