This is a snippet from Breaking Walls Episode 98: Christmas Week 1947 with Radio's Biggest Stars

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President Truman spent only two Christmas’ at the White House during his tenure. The first was in 1947. It preceded the extensive renovations the Presidential Mansion would undergo during Truman’s second term.

On Christmas Eve, at 5PM eastern time, live from The White House, all four networks broadcast the annual Christmas Tree ceremony. President Truman and his daughter Margaret lit the main tree on the South Grounds before heading back inside to celebrate the Holiday. The President spent his Christmas Morning visiting with patients at the Naval Medical Center and the Walter Reed Hospital.

The General Mills sponsored Lone Ranger from WXYZ in Detroit first began airing on January 31st, 1933. The next year it became one of the cornerstone programs which led to the formation of the Mutual Broadcasting System. The show moved to the Blue Network in 1942 and would remain on the network after it became ABC.

In the fall of 1947, after 15 years in the same Monday-Wednesday-Friday time slots, The Lone Ranger nearly doubled its previous season’s rating. It was the only program airing multiple times per-week to crack the season’s top fifty, climbing all the way to 35th with a rating of 16.4.

It would remain the number one multiple run program for the next three seasons. On Christmas Eve, 1947 at 7:30PM Eastern Time while families gathered around the table, kids everywhere snuck away to hear The Lone Ranger’s broadcast of “The Mission Bells.”