Martin Stone first proposed producing the program in 1940, but it radio executives found the concept "too highbrow"; the program was first conceived of by Stone and "Albany newspaper man" Richard Lewis. It first made air in December 1940, on an Albany station, before moving to Schenectady, and then to New York City. (It was on the AM radio station WHN in New York City, by 1942.) Stone produced the program remotely during much of this era, as he was serving as general counsel for the Lend-Lease Administration and in the Navy, during the Second World War.