Who knew why soap operas were so named?

Who knew that in order to maintain soap sales during the depression, Proctor and Gamble, Lever Brothers, Colgate Palmolive, and others began to sponsor daily 15 minute radio serials aimed at homemakers? These “soap operas” proliferated. By the start of WWII, there were 64 of theses “soaps” on the radio across the country. During the War, they advertised some products that would not even be available until the war’s end. In the late 1940’s and early 1950’s, I could be playing anywhere outside and hear the theme songs from the same program coming through the open windows most of the neighboring homes, punctuated by static created by the ladies’ electric irons. Source - Museum of Broadcast Communications Website and Ray Harding’s recollections.