Shown here from 80 years ago are seventh-grade students at Emerson School, Maywood, Illinois, receiving some of their instruction from the radio strategically stationed on the teacher’s desk.

The picture is from the March 1938 issue of Rural Radio magazine, which contained an article describing the School Time program broadcast each school day at 1:00 on WLS in Chicago. The service began on February 8, 1937, and during its first year, it had been listened to regularly by 1200 schools in Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Michigan. The Cook County superintendent of schools reported that more than 40,000 students in that county alone were listening regularly.

The program was designed to bring into the classroom experiences and information that the students might not otherwise obtain. On Monday’s, for example, the program included a newscast. Since most radio news reports were aimed at older listeners, the WLS program added dialogue, drama, and interview to the news program to capture the interest of the younger listeners.

One niche served by the station was music education. Especially in smaller schools, very little musical training was available. Therefore, the Tuesday program was a musical tour of the globe with folk songs of all nations.

Wednesdays featured visits to industries of different kinds, and Thursdays focused on geography, with listeners meeting a foreign gues star from the country being studied.

Fridays had a different program each week, covering Good Manners, Recreation, an outdoor program, and a program focusing on children’s literature.