10 May: NBC, Inc. v. United States is decided, allowing the Federal Communications Commission broad power to regulate the operations of broadcast networks, which results in National Broadcasting Company being forced to sell off their secondary NBC Blue Network. Gradually, any and all references to "NBC" will be removed from all Blue Network programming or promotions, and "NBC Red" will become known just as NBC Radio.
13 May: In the Netherlands, an ordinance issued by the German occupiers requires the surrender to the authorities of all radio sets.
4 November: Abbott and Costello resume their NBC Radioprogramme after a six-month hiatus for health reasons, Lou Costello having battled a severe case of rheumatic fever. While rehearsing, Costello learns that his youngest son accidentally drowned in the family pool, just two days before his first birthday. The show goes on as scheduled, with no one in the audience having any knowledge of what has happened until the end, when Costello abruptly rushes from the stage in tears. Partner Bud Abbott delivers the tragic news live over the entire network to the shocked audience.[3]
14 November: Soldatensender Calais, a British black propaganda station, begins broadcasting to German troops in Western Europe from a studio at Milton Bryan in Bedfordshire through the powerful medium wave Aspidistra transmitter in southern England, purporting to be an official German military station.[2]
3 December: Edward R. Murrow delivers his classic "Orchestrated Hell" broadcast over CBS describing a Royal Air Force nighttime bombing raid on Berlin.
^Cox, Jim (2008). This Day in Network Radio: A Daily Calendar of Births, Debuts, Cancellations and Other Events in Broadcasting History. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN978-0-7864-3848-8.