Chicago Theater of the Air was a weekly American radio program that featured hour-long operettas. It first ran locally in May 1940 on WGN radio in Chicago and then nationally as an unsponsored show on the Mutual Broadcasting System from October 5, 1940, to September 11, 1954. Beginning January 12, 1949, many of the people involved in Chicago Theater of the Air also put on Comedy Playhouse, "a fast-paced half hour show featuring top Broadway comedy hits" on Mutual.