The fictional Buck Rogers was a veteran of WW I, who according to Amazing Tales magazine found himself accidentally transported exactly 500 years into the future. The Buck Rogers radio series became enormously popular, helping to define American conceptions of future technology and space travel.

On this day, November 7, in 1932, Buck Rogers made his radio debut, in a program that was first called The World in 2432, later to be renamed Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.

Buck Rogers was the first science fiction show on the radio, and that was not the only pioneering concept it brought. His co-pilot was a woman, Wilma Deering — at a time when the only women on planes were pretty stewardesses, the idea of a woman piloting anything was very forward. Buck and Wilma, helped along by the genius scientist Dr. Huer, fought the bad guys for fifteen minutes a day every Monday through Thursday (the schedule changed somewhat) until 1940, and then again from 1946 to 47. Their run continued in a shortlived television show (37 episodes), which was enough to implant them in the minds of lifelong fans.