TERRY AND THE PIRATES

Terry and the Pirates was a comic strip created in 1934 by Milton Caniff and was the inspiration for the popular serialized radio drama of the same name. Storylines of action, high adventure and foreign intrigue, kept listeners enthralled for a dozen years.

The central characters were Terry Lee and Terry's friend and mentor Pat Ryan. Terry's far east entourage included Flip Corkin, Terry's flight instructor; Hotshot Charlie, Terry's best friend in the Army Air Corps; and Connie the Chinese man hired as a guide. And to keep things interesting - the beautiful Elita and Burma, who can throw their curves as well as punches. Throughout the Orient they encounter plenty of bad guys - most notably the pirates run by the beautiful Dragon Lady. For years the pirates have been the scourge of the orient, but in the 1940s things change a bit and Terry and his pals are plunged into the war effort to defend the Asian mainland against offshore invaders!

NBC's Red network was the late afternoon series home when it began airing on November 1, 1937. It was switched to NBC Blue on September 26, 1938 and continued until March 22, 1939. After a two year hiatus, interestingly it returned shortly before the Pearl Harbor attack and was heard in the mid-west on the Chicago Tribune's WGN five days a week from October 16, 1941 to May 29, 1942. 

During the WWII years the series increased in popularity taking off and flying high on ABC Blue, where it aired for 15 minutes each weekday afternoon beginning February 1, 1943. In the post-WWII period following 1945, with "cold-war" villains outside the theater of operations and no "hot-war" villains for Terry and his gang to fight, ratings began to drop. The final episode aired on June 30, 1948.