Radio was the minor leagues for television

As you may know, I am doing an incredible amount of research these days.  This is no shock but I found that radio was like the minor leagues for television (and sometimes film.)

Most every successful or semi-successful radio show in the 1940's eventually became a television show; many even became major motion pictures.

Most every star on radio made the bump to either tv or films or both.  And fill-in players made a heck of a good living in the 1950's-1960's being in all 3 mediums.

I was just writing about Frank Lovejoy. Lovejoy had his own radio series, did lots of tv and made many films. He probably made a tidy little fortune for himself in radio alone.

And bit players did the same thing. For instance, someone like Irene Ryan did a lot of parts on radio, did some bit parts on tv and bingo, gets to star in a television show (and a darn good one, The Beverly Hillbillies) and then became a millionaire - or close to it.