During the Golden Age of Radio, when a scheduled program was unavailable or delayed or when a program ran overtime or undertime leaving space to fill until the next scheduled program. Radio stations would have musicians (and orchestras or bands in the case of networks and larger stations) on hand to perform live musical interludes. The long-running show Make Believe Ballroom began as a way to fill up time with recorded music to fill up gaps during WNEW‘s coverage of the Lindbergh kidnapping trial in 1935.

In the early days of television, most output was live. The hours of broadcast were limited, and so a test card was commonly broadcast at other times. When a breakdown happened during a live broadcast, a standard recording filled in. On the BBC, a film of a potter’s wheel was often used for this purpose, filmed at the Compton Potters’ Arts Guild.^[1] Similar short films, such as a kitten playing, were also used as interludes or interstitial programs to fill gaps in TV schedules. In the United States, these have their roots in the old Saturday afternoon horror movies hosted on independent stations.^[2] The fishcam is a particularly widespread form of filler in this tradition.

During the Golden Age of Radio, when a scheduled program was unavailable or delayed or when a program ran overtime or undertime leaving space to fill until the next scheduled program. Radio stations would have musicians (and orchestras or bands in the case of networks and larger stations) on hand to perform live musical interludes. The long-running show Make Believe Ballroom began as a way to fill up time with recorded music to fill up gaps during WNEW‘s coverage of the Lindbergh kidnapping trial in 1935.

In the early days of television, most output was live. The hours of broadcast were limited, and so a test card was commonly broadcast at other times. When a breakdown happened during a live broadcast, a standard recording filled in. On the BBC, a film of a potter’s wheel was often used for this purpose, filmed at the Compton Potters’ Arts Guild.^[1] Similar short films, such as a kitten playing, were also used as interludes or interstitial programs to fill gaps in TV schedules. In the United States, these have their roots in the old Saturday afternoon horror movies hosted on independent stations.^[2] The fishcam is a particularly widespread form of filler in this tradition.