The Studebaker Champions (The Studebaker Champions Hour)

The radio program originally launched in 1929 as a promotional broadcast for the Studebaker Automobile Company and initially starred Jean Goldkette's orchestra. After Goldkette's orchestra disbanded in 1931, the show was resurrected in 1934. The show's format blended upscale, "sweet" hotel-style dance music with conversational, interview-style advertising.

The bandleader, Richard Himber, was a violinist with a background in vaudeville (having previously worked with Sophie Tucker and Rudy Vallee). He took over the baton for the show in 1934. His ensemble was variously billed as the Studebaker Champion Orchestra, the Ritz-Carlton Orchestra, or the Essex House Orchestra. Himber was also a well-known magician and illusionist, often injecting humor and parodies into his sets.

Episodes featured Stuart Allen, a frequent resident vocalist for Himber during the mid-to-late 1930s, alongside the choral group "The Rhythmic Sixteen."

The broadcasts served as dedicated marketing for the Studebaker Champion, a model introduced in 1939 to aggressively compete in the low-price market against the "Big Three" (Ford, Chevrolet, and Plymouth). The ads emphasized the car's fuel economy, price, and build quality with "father-to-son" manufacturing reliability to differentiate itself from the assembly-line anonymity of its larger competitors.