20 Great Years of Radio, Part 5: 1942

1. The Jack Benny Program (NBC): A lot changed for Jack's series this year as he was forced to take Grape Nuts as his sponsor because of sugar rationing and Phil Harris left the show to join the Merchant Marines. Jack even gave away his beloved Maxwell car for scrap metal! Still, there were a lot of great episodes, my favourite being the adaptation of Tales of Manhattan. The 2-part Frightwig Murder Case with Humphrey Bogart was another great highlight!
2. Information Please (NBC): This was the year in which the show's sponsor, Lucky Strike, unleashed their most irritating ad campaign, "Lucky Strike Green Has Gone to War," which would cause the show to end its contract with the sponsor! But this was also the year in which Orson Welles appeared as guest panelist and spent practically the whole program criticizing the questions and showing off his superior intellect. Obviously, it's a highlight!
3. Suspense (CBS): In development since 1940, the series began this year under the eye of William Spier, who would oversee the show's best work. Unfortunately, at this stage author John Dickson Carr wielded the most influence and his work is very dated. Still, a few genius episodes slipped by, including The Hitchhiker, A Passage to Benares and Two Sharp Knives. The show's best years were in its near-future.
4. Lights Out (CBS): With his Plays series done, Oboler returned to Lights Out with what seems to be recreations of earlier scripts of his. But virtually everything this year was perfect radio horror with intense performances (such as in Come to the Bank), gruesome situations (Poltergiest, valse Triste) and that signature Oboler first-person perspective. Other great episodes included Revolt of the Worms, Knock at the Door and Meteor Man.
5. The Columbia Workshop (CBS): This year saw a great production of Norman Corwin's humourous The Plot to Overthrow Christmas and the ghost story Remodeled Brownstone by Lucille Fletcher.
6. Lux Radio Theater (CBS): Another great year of film adaptations, with Ronald Colman in A Tale of Two Cities being my personal favourite. There were also great adaptations of The Lady Eve and Ball of Fire.
7. The Shadow (Mutual): At this point the Shadow was becoming pretty rote but there were still decent outings like Altar of Death and The Lady in Black.
8. Inner Sanctum Mysteries (Blue): This series was still finding its footing and we don't have many examples from this year, but there are good episodes like Dead Recokoning and A Study for Murder.
9. The Whistler (CBS): This series began rather modestly and somewhat stilted as the program struggled to express its twist endings in a compelling fashion, but the show would quickly iron out its kinks.
10. George Burns & Gracie Allen (CBS): This was the year this program became a situation comedy instead of a Benny imitator and was much the better for it! It was with this format that the series would endure into the age of television and this era is the most fun to listen to.