"Band Waggon" was the first weekly BBC comedy series to be broadcast on the same day of the week and at the same time of day. Previous comedy shows had been aired on an ad hoc basis; but here, for the first time, was a series which would be on the air at the same time each week, and this helped to build a big audience for each week’s broadcast.
The series starred popular stage comedian Arthur Askey. He was its "resident comic", in that he appeared in every broadcast, rather than featuring a different comedian each week, as had been the usual practice up until then. Askey, however, suggested the term be taken literally, and that in the sketches he should pretend he was literally resident at the BBC, living in a (fictitious) apartment on the roof of Broadcasting House in London. This gimmick caught the public’s imagination, and "Band Waggon" quickly became the BBC’s most popular pre-war radio comedy.