Some time around 1947, radio stations introduce quiz programs involving listener participation. Eventually the early form of postcard response gives way to real-time phone-in participation and the combination of immediacy, excitement and impromptu fun are an instant hit. On the first edition of "Telephone Quiz" on Radio Tokyo in 1954, the announcement of the station's phone number is met with an overwhelming flood of calls that blows the fuses on the selector at the exchange switchboard. Subsequent programs muddle through by using fans to cool the equipment during programs, or by limiting responses to numbers ending in certain digits. The persistence of these first beginnings in the era of equipment shortages nevertheless plant deep roots which continue on radio programming today.

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