20 Great Years of Radio Part 1: 1938

As I'm a big fan of old-time radio comedy and drama I thought it would be interesting to take a wider view of my favourite programs. But the programs that I like changed a bit over the years and shows which were strong at one time were weaker at another. So I'm going to run a series of 20 posts looking at the years 1938-1957 in radio and listing my 10 favourite series in each year. This means some programs will come up more than once but I think it will be interesting to discuss how they changed across 2 decades. Therefore...

1. The Mercury Theater on the Air (CBS): Even if their adaptation of The War of the Worlds were their only triumph this series would rank high. But there were so many fine episodes, from the horror of Dracula to the high adventure of Treasure Island. This was an exceptionally well-produced and well-acted series. Utter greatness! Some other great stories featured include: A Tale of Two Cities, the Thirty-Nine Steps, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Man Who Was Thursday, Hell on Ice and Heart of Darkness.
2. The Jack Benny Program (NBC): I'm a big Jack Benny fan so he'll be appearing near the top of the list for most of these 20 articles. In this period Jack had his best sponsor, Jell-o, and the quality of his scripts was at its peak with Ed Beloin and Bill Morrow and the feud with Fred Allen came up a few times. There was also a great Christmas shopping episode this year.
3. The Shadow (Mutual): Orson Welles and later Bill Johnstone helped make this the most exciting era of the Shadow series with plenty of unusual threats for the Shadow to battle and clever uses of the Shadow's power. There are so many great episodes, my favourites being: The Society of The Living Dead, The White Legion and The Power of the Mind.
4. Lights Out (NBC): We have only a few examples of Lights Out dated to this period but they're pretty strong scripts by Arch Oboler - The Dream, Cat Wife and It Happened. Lights Out is one of the best-written horror programs in the history of radio.
5. The Campbell Playhouse (CBS): Late in 1938 the Mercury's series changed its name. I don't find the Campbell Playhouse to be as great as the earlier show, but in this brief period they produced good adaptations of Rebecca and A Christmas Carol.
6. The Columbia Workshop (CBS): This program was experimental and groundbreaking but also uneven. Still, this was a strong year for the Workshop with great scripts like Seven Waves Away, Bury the Dead and Tranga Man Fine Gah.
7. Lux Radio Theater (CBS): This was CBS' most prestigious program for many years as, otherwise, NBC tended to clobber them in the ratings. Lux could always be counted on for high-quality film adaptations but my favourite program from this year is, of course, Jack Benny's appearance in Seven Keys to Baldpate.
8. Information Please (Blue): This series was just getting started at this stage but it remains very fun to listen to as panelists are quizzed by questions from their listeners. It's not so much the answers themselves that make this show fun, but the manner in which the panelists answer. It was the wittiest show on the air.
9. The Witch's Tale (Mutual): It seems appropriate that this series was fading at the time Lights Out was coming in. The Witch's Tale was frequently campy and relied too much on dialogue, not enough on sound effects. Still, I'm granting them a mention because of the place they hold in the history of horror radio.
10. Big Town (CBS): This was a decent enough series, which, at the time, featured Edward G. Robinson as the show's heroic newspaper publisher.