20 Great Years of Radio, Part 2: 1939

1. The Jack Benny Program (NBC): This is one of my favourite years of Jack Benny, and not just because it's the year where Dennis Day replaced Kenny Baker. There are so many compelling episodes, particularly the melancholy New Year's episode where Jack can't get a date. But there were many more highlights, including satires of Jesse James, Gunga Din, Alexander Graham Bell and a gender-swapped version of The Women, plus a fun football two-parter, Murder on the Gridiron. To me, this is the best of Benny!
2. The Shadow of Fu Manchu (syndication): Certainly not a politically-correct series, but I found this show so compelling. It dramatized adventures from Sax Rohmer's original novels and serialized them into what was, for my money, radio's best adventure serial. These episodes, adapating the first novel, were the best of the lot.
3. The Shadow (Mutual): Bill Johnstone continued to do a fine job as the Shadow with some better-than-average episodes with great high concepts, including the sci-fi New Year's story The Man Who Murdered Time. Some other fantastic episodes were Phantom Fingerprints, Mansion of Madness and The Sandhog Murders.
4. The Campbell Playhouse (CBS): This was the Playhouse's best year as they produced their finest version of A Christmas Carol with Lionel Barrymore in what is one of the best adaptations of that story, period. But some other great episodes included The Green Goddess, The Glass Key and The Magnificent Ambersons.
5. The Columbia Workshop (CBS): Another good year for the Workshop which included the sobering drama Nine Prisoners and an under-appreciated crime story, Law Beaters.
6. Arch Oboler's Plays (NBC): I don't find Plays to be anywhere near as strong as Lights Out, but Oboler turned out a number of tales which could have easily appeared on his other program, including Crazytown, Another World and Nobody Died. All great examples of radio horror.
7. Lux Radio Theater (CBS): This was a strong year for Lux with some good comedies like The Perfect Specimen, the crime story Angels with Dirty Faces, and deeply emotional dramas including Goodbye Mr. Chips and Wuthering Heights.
8. Information Please (Blue): This was a great year for Information Please as the series relied more upon guest panelists, the highlight being Gracie Allen who performed against type to demonstrate that she was not, in real life, a dumb blonde!
9. The Silver Theater (CBS): This is series seldom lauded these days but it had some great episodes including my favourite, The Villain Still Pursues Her, a satire of turn-of-the-century plays.
10. The Screen Guild Theater (CBS): The Guild could always be relied on for strong plays. Most of their programming in this year was music-based but they had a few fine dramas.