Superman: Fire in the Sterling Building (March 4, 1940) / The Stabbing of June Anderson (March 6, 1940) / North Star Mining Company (March 8, 1940)

Classic Streams: Old Time Retro Radio

The Adventures of Superman radio serial, which aired from 1940 to 1951, featured the DC Comics character Superman.

Created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Superman first appeared in Action Comics #1 in 1938. The following year, the newspaper comic strip began and four audition radio programs were prepared to sell Superman as a radio series. Superman was first heard on the radio less than two years after the comic book appearance, with Bud Collyer in the title role. The juvenile adventure radio serial, sponsored by Kellogg's Pep, was a huge success during World War II and the post-war years, with many listeners following the quest for "truth and justice" in the daily radio broadcasts, the comic book stories and the newspaper comic strip. Airing in the late afternoon, the radio serial engaged its young after-school audience with its exciting and distinctive opening, which changed slightly as the series progressed.

In the first few episodes, Superman's home planet of Krypton is located on the far side of the sun, as opposed to a distant star system as it is in most stories. During the journey to Earth, baby Kal-El grows into an adult and emerges fully grown from his ship after it lands on Earth. He is never adopted by Jonathan and Martha Kent and immediately begins his superhero career. This was eventually retconned in later episodes to match the narrative of the comic books.

The syndicated series, titled simply Superman, first aired via pre-recorded transcription disks over 11 stations beginning on February 12, 1940, with an origin story, "The Baby from Krypton". The series aired in 15-minute episodes three times a week until May 9, 1941, with the conclusion of the "Nitrate Shipment" storyline. By that time, it had expanded to 63 stations.