KXEL@80–1943

The Year Was 1943–Iowa native Glenn Miller and his orchestra scored their final #1 hit, “That Old Black Magic”…other popular songs included “In the Blue of Evening” by the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra with Frank Sinatra, “You’ll Never Know” by Dick Haymes, and the Mills Brothers singing “Paper Doll”…on the big screen, Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney starred in “Girl Crazy,” while Iowa native Priscilla Lane starred opposite Cary Grant in “Arsenic and Old Lace”…the teens from Riverdale came to radio for the first time in the “Archie Andrews” show (which aired on KXEL from the Blue Network), while the top-rated program on the air was “The Pepsodent Show Starring Bob Hope”…in the news, the U.S. began wartime rationing of food and other supplies, and Benito Mussolini was toppled from power, leading Italy to surrender and join the Allies.