20 Great Years of Radio, Part 6: 1943

1. Suspense (CBS): This year the show picked up their first sponsor, Roma Wines and saw an increase in the number of high-profile guest stars, such as Cary Grant in The Black Curtain. This was also the year of Sorry Wrong Number with Agnes Moorehead, which would become the show's most frequently-repeated episode. But there was so much more in this year which showed what William Spier and his talented writers and performers could accomplish; the highlights include: The Diary of Sophronia Winters, The White Rose Murders and The After Dinner Story.
2. The Jack Benny Program (NBC): This show struggled a little for the first time as without Phil Harris it lost a lot of verve. Strangely enough, the show's shot in the arm came when Jack himself missed five episodes. First George Burns and Gracie Allen, then Orson Welles stepped in to cover for Jack, during which time Phil Harris returned. It became one of the program's wartime highlights and demonstrated just how strong Benny's writers and performers were, that they could keep the show running without Jack himself!
3. Lights Out (CBS): Another great year of Arch Oboler's horror stories, some of them satires on his own show, such as Murder in the Script Department and The Author and the Thing. My personal favourite is The Spider, but there are plenty of other great outings including The Fast One, The Projective Mr. Drogan and Litle Old Lady. But after this year, Oboler was basically done with Lights Out.
4. Information Please (NBC): Another great year for this series as Fred Allen appeared as a guest panelist and, although he was a little shakey at first, became one of their best guests and would return many more times. There was also another phenomenal appearance by Boris Karloff alongside Jan Struther in which Karloff was answering remotely; rather than ring a bell when he had an answer, he would emit his Frankenstein Monster growl, which was hilarious!
5. The Weird Circle (NBC): This little oddity took public domain stories of the supernatural (and related themes) and adapted them - sometimes really going against the original text. Still, many of these stories weren't being adapted anywhere else on radio and so it did a lot to introduce me to authors I hadn't read before. The most terriying of these episodes is A Terrible Night. But there are many other worthy episodes such as: What Was It?, William Wilson and The Man Without a Country.
6. Screen Guild Theatre (CBS): Another fine year for the Guild, whose best adaptation was a fun recap of Holiday Inn which mostly just repeated the film's songs. Other highlights were: Suspicition, Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon.
7. Inner Sanctum Mysteries (Blue/CBS): At this point, Inner Sanctum was really growing in strength. Highlights from this year include The Black Seagull and The Horla.
8. The Whistler (CBS): This series underwent subtle changes this year as the twist endings were dramatized, instead of being narrated. This small change was a huge improvement to the program and became what the show was known for.
9. Lux Radio Theater (CBS): A decent year for Lux, my favourite episode being This Gun for Hire.
10. The Shadow (Mutual): This was the year where Bret Morrison took over as the Shadow. I don't find him as good as Welles or Johnstone and the writing at this stage has became far too staid, but there were still good episodes such as The Gibbering Things.