Topsy Turvy Time
This 1926 children’s show included a regular feature in which the cast read excerpts from the Oz books. In addtion, Ruth Plumley Thompson, who wrote the Oz series after Baum’s death, wrote an incomplete short story, The Enchanted Tree of Oz, for Topsy Turvy Time and invited the audience to submit endings.
In 1929, NBC’s Children’s Hour also featured readings from the Oz books.
A Dramatic Adaptation
In 1927, WTAM planned to adapt a series of Oz plays published by Samuel French, but instead negotiated with Baum’s widow for the right to stage an original serial adaptation of The Wizard of Oz. After 12 weeks the sponsor dropped it.
Oz Meets Jell-O
In 1933, NBC Radio decided to adapt some of the Oz books into a radio serial. After the network persuaded Jell-O to sponsor the show, The Wizard of Oz hit the air, running Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 15 minutes a day.
The Jell-O Radio Stories
At the end of NBC's adaptation of the first Oz book, Dorothy loses one of her magic slippers, and so has to remain in Oz instead of going home. NBC then adapted the next five books: The Land of Oz, Ozma of Oz, Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, The Road to Oz and The Emerald City of Oz.
The radio versions were moderately faithful to the books. Over the course of the series, Dorothy helps defeat the all-woman army of General Jinjur, restores Princess Ozma to the throne of Oz and thwarts the sinister Nome King.
Product Placement
As the sponsor, Jell-O wanted lots of references to its product in the show, and NBC was happy to oblige them. For example, when the Nome King turns people into small ornaments with his sorcery, the narrator points out the real tragedy: Transformed characters can’t eat Jell-O!
A Popular Flop
NBC executives liked the show and so did the audience. After a year of broadcasting, however, Jell-O decided to put its money into sponsoring Jack Benny’s radio show instead. That proved a wise decision, as the show became a radio classic and a smash hit.
The Wizard of Oz wasn't as lucky. When no other sponsors stepped up to the plate, NBC replaced the show with Frank Merriwell, about the adventures of a clean-cut college student.
The Great Wishy Woz
Even now, Oz adaptations still turn up on radio. One of the more distinctive ones was broadcast in 2000, when the conservative group Focus on the Family adapted The Wizard of Oz for the series Adventures in Odyssey as the two-part episode, The Great Wishy Woz.
This was a Christian version in which the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman and Cowardly Lion (or reasonable fascimiles) never realize that they're completely wrong to think they can improve themselves without God's help. Dorothy, however, comes to understand that Jesus is the only one who can solve our problems.
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