Old Radio

August 14, 1933: Radio Soap opera ‘ Ma Perkins ’ was transmitted for the first time on WLW. The show remained solely on NBC air waves initially, before moving to CBS as well. Virginia Payne started playing Perkins at the age of 23 and continued to do so for 27 years (7,065 episodes) without missing a single episode.  Ma Perkins  operated a lumberyard in Rushville Center. The other characters were Perkin’s children--Fay, Evey and John.  Additionally, Shuffle Shober was Perkins' friend. Ma Perkins   also known as Oxydol's Own Ma Perkins was a radio soap opera which was broadcast from 1933 to 1949 on NBC and on CBS from 1942 to 1960. The show was heard simultaneously on both networks from 1942 until 1949. In the early broadcast the show was sponsored by Oxydol but in 1956 Oxydol dropped its sponsorship. The program continued with various sponsors until 1960. The series was scripted by Robert Hardy Andrews with Orvin Tovrov and produced by Frank and Anne Hummert .  Ma Perkin