Radio: Her Nibs

"You can't build a show around a female singer, honey," says Georgia Gibbs. "Look at the way they axed Ginny and Dinah." But next week torchy Songstress Gibbs contradicts herself by stepping into a show, the first that has been tailored to her tiny (5 ft. 1 in.), alluringly tough measure. Georgia is the summer replacement for Eddie Cantor (NBC, Thurs. 10:30 p.m., E.D.T.).

Despite the "honeys" that sugar-coat her talk, Georgia is no Southern belle. She began life as Fredda Gibson in Massachusetts, and sang her first notes in a Worcester, Mass, orphanage. At 15, she drifted to Boston, divided her...