By 1940 radio had become a mass medium. Almost eighty percent of the households in the U.S. owned a radio. Before the war began only seven percent of radio airtime was devoted to news. By the end of the war twenty-five percent of the airtime was news, and audiences had been transported to the battlefront via live and recorded reports.

At the beginning of the War, Big Bands dominated popular music. Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman led some of the more famous bands. Eventually, many of the singers with the Big Bands struck out on their own. Bing Crosby's smooth voice made him one of the most popular singers, vying with Frank Sinatra. Dinah Shore, Kate Smith and Perry Como also led the hit parade. Be-Bop and Rhythm and Blues grew out of the big band era toward the end of the decade, although these were distinctly black sounds epitomized by Charlie Parker, Dizzie Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Billy Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Woody Herman.

Radio was the lifeline for Americans in the 1940's, providing news, music and entertainment, much like television today.  Programming included soap operas, quiz shows, children's hours, mystery stories, fine drama, and sports. The government also relied heavily on radio for propaganda. Like the movies, radio faded in popularity as television became more prominent. Many of the most popular radio shows and show hosts continued on in television, including Red Skelton, Abbott and Costello, Jack Benny, Bob Hope, and Truth or Consequences.

The American Federation of Musicians (AFM) imposed a recording ban beginning July 31, 1942 that lasted two years. The union only allowed bands to record V-discs for our troops during this period. Everyone resented the recording ban, and finally the powerful head of the AFM, James C. Petrillo, was persuaded to end the ban.

One new fad of the forties was a new way to dance. The new dance was called the Jitterbug. This new dance was unusual because dancers performed different kinds of moves and flips, which fell outside the more popular systematic dances of the day. The long-playing (LP) record also changed the way people listened to music. Standard records were 10 inches wide, played at 78 rpm, and contained 4 minutes of music per side. When movies first began to "talk" in the mid 1920's, it became necessary to find a longer recording format that could be synchronized with an 11-minute reel of film. A slower recording speed of 33 1/3 rpm was adopted for this purpose, and it became known as the "professional speed.” Until tape recorders became available in 1947, radio stations and record companies used this speed for their transcriptions and wax master recordings.


Literature

In the early part of the decade, the first inexpensive paperback book was published. Book clubs were very popular and book sales went from one million to over twelve million volumes a year. Some of the books that are associated with this time:

Norman Mailer's The Naked and the Dead, 1948
Irving Shaw's Young Lions, 1948
Dr.Spock's The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care, 1946
William Saroyan's The Human Comedy, 1943

Movies

The movies made in the WWII era were not expected to be considered "good" or high quality by the general public. However, several movies from the decade became classics and remain as all-time favorites and some of these productions have been named among the Top ten movies ever made. There were many genres of movies created during the World War II era, and because of low budgets, directors and writers were challenged to be highly creative. The result of this creativity was movies like Citizen Kane and Maltese Falcon in 1941, Casablanca in 1942, Shadow of Doubt in 1943, and Double Indemnity in 1944.

Many of these movies have remained popular including Dumbo which was made in 1941, and Sullivan's Travels.

Sports leagues resorted to signing players who did not fit the model of a traditional athlete because so many professional players had been drafted into the War. In order to fill team rosters, many teams signed players who were missing limbs or had serious diseases. World War II era players ranged in age from 15 to 40. Many teams suffered because of the limited number of physically exceptional players available. On the other hand, a few exceptional athletes like Ted Williams and Jackie Robinson emerged after the war.

Inventions of the Era

Other technological advances of the period include: long-playing records, water heaters, the bikini, jet engines, helicopters, and the first computer invented for military uses.

Many new items gained popularity due to social changes in wartime. Among these were Tupperware, frozen dinners, aluminum foil, diners and Seventeen magazine.