NBC University of The Air presented several educational programs between 1942 and 1948. The subject matter and themes ranged from politics and philosophy, to music appreciation and history. The programming from NBC University of The Air was deemed so instructive that it was incorporated into the curricula of many high schools, colleges and universities throughout the U.S. and Canada during the period. Indeed, Columbia University of New York collaborated extensively with NBC in developing several of NBC University of The Air productions throughout the era.

By far the most interesting and instructive of the NBC University of The Air canon was the We Came This Way series of docudramas tracing the development of the American culture, values, legal system, and ideals from the earliest framework for these aspects of modern society throughout modern civilization. The series was inaugurated, appropriately enough, with the history of the signing of the Magna Carta, one of modern civilization's most significant universal ideals of a modern legal system. The Magna Carta became the basis for most of the common law employed throughout the civilized world. Such legal concepts as the rights of the accused and the principle of habeas corpus or "you have the body." It established the rights of anyone held for an alleged crime or infraction to have every aspect of their detention or charges to be recorded and defined for any possible challenges to those actions. Other common laws reasserted by the Magna Carta were in regards to the conveyance of property or land, principles of fair trade and taxation, and provisions for establishing a bond of marriage between a man and woman.

The series continued to trace these earliest principles of a democratic civilization throughout the many significant events and developments from the Middle Ages to the present, that continued to define, inform and shape modern American democracy. Indeed We Came This Way stands the test of time to this day. The genius of the thirty-four programs was their underlying arguments on both sides of every democratic ideal presented throughout the series. Those arguments remain as timeless today as they were seventy years ago.