[[quoteright:228:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Bud_Collyer_1962_2177.JPG]]
[[caption-width-right:228:Disguised as Bud Collyer, mild-mannered game show host.]]

->''Look! Up in the sky!''
->''It's a bird!''
->''It's a plane!''
->''It's Superman!''
-->-- OpeningNarration

Technically comprised of five different radio series which ran consecutively from 1940-1951, all produced by Robert J. Maxwell. Most of the episodes starred [[BeatTheClock Clayton 'Bud']] [[ToTellTheTruth Collyer]] as {{Franchise/Superman}}, Joan Alexander as LoisLane, Julian Noa as Perry White and Jackie Kelk as JimmyOlsen. Aired for the majority of its run on the Mutual Broadcasting System.

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!! This show provides examples of:
* BeamMeUpScotty: The phrase, "Able to leap tall buildings at a single bound," was often misremembered as, "Able to leap tall buildings '''in''' a single bound." Notably, when the phrase was used in an episode of ''Series/WheelOfFortune'', two of the contestants tried to guess the phrase while the letters "A", "I", "N", and "T" had not been uncovered, while the third declined to guess. Neither of the two guesses were right.
* CanonForeigner
** Jimmy Olsen, who later [[CanonImmigrant immigrated]].
** [[RetCanon Kryptonite]]. ''Not'' created to give Collyer a vacation, despite [[CommonKnowledge the myth]].
** Inspector Henderson, who followed in Jimmy's footsteps and became a CanonImmigrant as well.
** The names "Daily Planet" (for Clark's newspaper) and "Perry White" (for its editor), which quickly made their way to the pages of the comic.
* CatchPhrase
** [[UpUpAndAway "Up, up and away!"]]
** "This looks like a job... ''for Superman!''"
** "Great Caesar's ghost!"
* ClarkKenting: Bud Collyer shifted vocal registers to differentiate between Clark and Superman.
* CounterEarth: Krypton is said to be this.
* CowboysAndIndians: Legend has it that this trope was ingeniously invoked to discredit the UsefulNotes/KuKluxKlan. A journalist who'd infiltrated the KKK gave details of secret meetings, passwords, titles etc. to the show's writers to use in a Supes vs. the KKK storyline. Soon enough, there were kids running around neighborhoods all over America dressed in pillowcases, being beaten up by their friend with the Superman pyjamas. The truth of all this is uncertain but there ''was'' such a storyline on the show.
* CrossOver: {{Franchise/Batman}} and {{Comicbook/Robin}} appear in many episodes.
* EvilSoundsDeep: Inverted. Collyer's Superman voice was deeper than his voice for Clark.
* ExpandedUniverse
* ForGreatJustice: As stated in the OpeningNarration.
* IntrepidReporter: Everyone who worked for the ''Daily Planet''.
* TheKlan: Thinly disguised as The Clan of the Fiery Cross.
* OpeningNarration: It varied over the years, but the most familiar version (since it was heavily borrowed from in subsequent adaptations) starts with the page quote and continues:
--> Yes, it's Superman! Strange visitor from the planet Krypton, who came to Earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. Superman, who can leap tall buildings in a single bound, race a speeding bullet to its target, bend steel in his bare hands! And who, disguised as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, fights a never-ending battle for truth and justice!
* RealitySubtext: Stories would occasionally completely shift focus to Batman and Robin in order to give Collyer a little time off.
* TakeCareOfTheKids: In this version of TheDCU, Robin's father asked Bruce Wayne to take care of his son.
* ThoseWackyNazis
* WorldWarII: ''All'' of the characters were active participants in the war effort.