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The World\'s Great Novels

Experience distance learning 1940s style with The World\'s Great Novel presented by the NBC University of the Air.

The World\'s Great Novels, produce by the NBC University of the Air,  worked with the University of Louisville, the University of Tulsa and Washington State University to present serialized adaptions of classic novels over two to six episodes. Listeners could enroll in correspondence courses and earn college credit for listening to the books. For a quarter, students could purchase a companion study guide, The Handbook of the World\'s Great Novels.

The show was broadcast out of Chicago from 1944 to 1948 on WMAQ and other NBC stations with a group of actors from Chicago.  In 1948 the show changed names to NBC University Theater, moved to Hollywood and changed the format from 30-minute shows to one hour shows. This version of the show aired from 1948 to 1951.

Guest commentators appeared on some shows providing commentary about the book currently being reuded novelists, magazine editors, and academics.The universities also provided messages during the broadcast to let listeners know that they can earn college credit for listening to and reading the classics.