The year 1940 saw a number of significant events in radio broadcasting history.

Events

• 5 January: FM radio is demonstrated for the FCC for the first time.
• 26 May: Fireside chat: On National Defense
• 18 June: General Charles de Gaulle, de facto leader of the Free French Forces in World War II, uses the airwaves of the BBC to make his 18th of June Appeal to the French people for resistance to the Nazi German occupation of France.
• 15 October: Seven staff are killed when an attempt to eject a delayed-action German bomb from Broadcasting House in London fails.^[1]
• 29 December: Fireside chat: On National Security

Debuts

• 28 January: Beat the Band debuts on NBC Red.
• 5 February: Amanda of Honeymoon Hill debuts on NBC Red.
• 11 February: The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street debuts on NBC Blue.
• 12 February: The Adventures of Superman (1940 1951) debuts on WOR.
• 18 March: Light of the World debuts on NBC Red.
• 23 March: Truth or Consequences debuts on CBS.
• 29 April: The Bell Telephone Hour debuts on NBC Red.

Closings

Births

• 7 May: Legendary Radio personality Jim Connors
• 5 June: David Brudnoy (died 2004), popular talk radio host in Boston, Massachusetts from 1976 to 2004.

Deaths

References

de:Rundfunkjahr 1940 sv:Radio ret 1940