During the time that radio programs were the dominant medium in the United States, some programs advertised "souvenirs" of the various shows, which were sometimes called radio premiums. The first of these were generally cast photographs and the like, but eventually, these evolved into novelties that many children collected.
By the 1930s, a wide range of novelties appeared as premiums, most obtained by sending the sponsor's agency a proof of purchase, such as a boxtop or jar's inner seal, and frequently a small amount of cash, such as a dime. One amusing address was for Chief Lone Wolf who was strangely on the 14th floor of the Wrigley Building in Chicago.
Many "one size fits all" accessories were multifunctional, having a feature beyond just being jewelry. Quite a few had "secret compartments," and others had built-in siren whistles. Some rings were composed in whole or in part of luminous materials. A premium from Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy program, offered in 1940, was a ring called the Dragon's Eye Ring, with images of crocodiles supporting a greenish "stone" made of Tenite. The molds for the ring were later used for two other premiums, one for Buck Rogers in the Twenty-Fifth Century, issued in 1947. The new ring was called the Buck Rogers Ring of Saturn, and had a red "stone" rather than the green one in the original. About the same time, a third ring, but with a black stone, was issued by Carey Salt for their sponsorship of The Shadow (another sponsor, Blue Coal, offered an entirely different luminous-plastic ring). Some rings had a hidden mirror for a "look behind" feature. Programs that offered such Look-Around rings included Tom Mix Ralston Straight Shooters,Captain Midnight, and The Lone Ranger. Other rings had spinners, photo viewers, ballpoint pens, magnifiers, signal blinkers, flashlights, etc.
Besides rings, there were many pocket items, including sundial "watches," compass-and-magnifiers, pedometers, truth detectors, and signaling devices. Premiums demanding many boxtops included cowboy outfits, a set of cooking equipment for camping, and special badges such as "Chief Inspector", "General", etc.
Capt. Midnight Decoder Badge
A genre of cryptological radio premiums included "secret decoder rings", "decoder pins," or "decoder badges", mostly based on cipher disks. Brand sponsor Ovaltine issued decoders for Little Orphan Annie and Captain Midnight: secret messages were broadcast at the close of an episode, each invariably a preview of the forthcoming episode. Secret messages could be deciphered with one of the decoder premiums, as notably spoofed in the 1983 comedy A Christmas Story.
During World War II, restrictions were placed on manufacturing materials, notably copper and brass. As a result, virtually all premiums manufactured during the war were made of "noncritical" materials, such as wood, paper (including cardboard and card stock), and cloth. Some items made of luminous material were made into items to help in blackouts. At least one show offered a "Plane Spotter" premium, showing silhouettes of various types of allied and enemy aircraft, like those used by Office of Civilian Defense personnel.
Radio premiums got more multifunctional over the years, and by 1950, some of them had as many as four separate features. The Sky King radio program had several of the most innovative premiums. But by that time, the radio shows were phasing out because of the increasing influence of television.
Further reading
Hake's Price Guide to Character Toys Ted Hake (New York: Avon Books ISBN0-380-80076-4
Tomart's Price Guide to Radio Premium and Cereal Box Collectibles Tom Tumbusch (Dayton, OH: Tomart Publications ISBN0-87069-635-1
Jim Harmon, The Great Radio Heroes (MacFarland, 2001).
Trivia
In September 2006, Bill McMahon offered a presentation entitled "Old Time Radio Premiums" explaining in detail why premiums were offered and constructed. The presentation was among the events held at the annual Mid atlantic nostalgia convention in Aberdeen, Maryland.
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The Golden Age of Radio, also known as the old-time radio (OTR) era, was an era of radio in the United States where it was the dominant electronic home entertainment medium. It began with the birth of commercial radio broadcasting in the early 1920s and lasted through the 1950s, when television gradually superseded radio as the medium of choice for scripted programming, variety and dramatic shows.
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Captain Midnight is an American adventure franchise first broadcast as a radio serial from 1938 to 1949. The character's popularity throughout the 1940s and into the mid-1950s extended to serial films (1942), a television show (1954–1956), a syndicated newspaper strip, and a comic book title (1942–1948).
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The Code-O-Graph is a field cipher device and identifier from the Captain Midnight radio serial. In the story line they were used by agents of the Secret Squadron, a paramilitary organization headed by Captain Midnight. In addition to their use as devices in the radio program, they were offered as radio premiums for listeners. As radio premiums, listeners sent in an Ovaltine proof of purchase with their names and addresses.
A boxtop, in the context of being a proof of purchase, is understood to be the upper portion of a product box, detached, and mailed as part of a claim for a radio premium or other advertising offer. Betty Crocker was a leader in the mailin box top space beginning in 1929. Their coupon catalog allowed loyal customers to mail in either money or coupons to purchase items in the catalog. During the 1930s through 1960s, cereal boxtops were usually the most common proofs of purchase used to claim such premiums.
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Sky King was an American radio and television series. Its lead character was Arizona rancher and aircraft pilot Schuyler "Sky" King.
Adam Hats Corporation was an American manufacturer and retailer of hats. It was founded in 1924 by Elias Lustig and expanded until it eventually operated between 87 and 97 retail stores across the United States. Adam Hats were also distributed to authorized Adam Hat agents. These agents were department stores which were not owned nor operated by Adam Hats.
Little Orphan Annie is an American radio drama series based on the popularity of the comic strip Little Orphan Annie. It debuted on Chicago's WGN in 1930, then moved to the NBC radio network Blue Network on April 6, 1931. It aired until April 26, 1942.
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