One of the earliest and most beloved radio serials, Ma Perkins aired for over 25 years—not because of a big network push, but thanks to a box of laundry soap. In fact, the show’s sponsor, Oxydol, helped coin a term we still use today: “soap opera,” named less for the melodrama and more for the marketing.
It started in the 1930s, when radio was the reigning medium of the American home. Advertising executives at Procter & Gamble saw an opportunity in daytime radio to reach their most prized demographic: homemakers. So, they began producing serialized audio dramas aimed squarely at women, threading domestic storylines with frequent plugs for Oxydol, a laundry soap. The result? A new kind of program that was part drama, part commercial. And thus, the “soap” in soap opera was born.
The “opera” part wasn’t exactly operatic—it was a tongue-in-cheek reference to the shows’ dramatic flair. Plots leaned hard into emotion: love triangles, family feuds, amnesia, miraculous recoveries, and villains returning from the dead. Sponsors like Colgate-Palmolive and Lever Brothers quickly joined the sudsy bandwagon, funding similar shows across both radio and—eventually—television. When Guiding Light transitioned from radio to TV in 1952, it became the prototype for decades of afternoon drama.
Though the heyday of daytime soaps has faded, their legacy is everywhere—from prestige TV series to serialized podcasts. The format they pioneered - character-driven, emotionally charged, and addictive - still dominates storytelling today. So next time you’re hooked on a cliffhanger, thank the bar of soap that started it all.
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