One of the most memorable radio broadcasts occurred on October 30, 1938 before most of us were even born. At the Mercury Theatre in New York, Orson Welles (pictured at left) directed a radio play called, “War of the Worlds” that was being broadcast from coast-to-coast. The science fiction story was written by H.G. Wells (no relation) about Martians landing in New Jersey and taking over the world. This broadcast produced such amazing sound effects and acting that it caused hysteria across the country, even though, the audience was told before and during the broadcast that it was not real. The next day, The New York Times headline read, “Radio Listeners in Panic, Taking War Drama as Fact.” Thousands of people in panic fled from their homes, police stations were bombarded with phone calls, reports of early births and miscarriages, and possibly some deaths but were never confirmed. The radio broadcast had everyone believing that the Eastern United States had been invaded by aliens from the planet Mars. The reason this broadcast had fooled so many people was because most people had been listening to the “Chase and Sanborn Hour”. The show stopped for a musical section so people changed the station and heard “The War of the Worlds” already in progress. Hours later after people realized it was not real, most were outraged and some even sued. Orson Welles adapted this story for radio to get more people to listen to the show, basically to improve ratings. Plus, we have to understand this was before the television era; people listened to the radio for music, plays, and news for their entertainment. People were accustomed to believing everything they heard on the radio without question. Unfortunately, they learned a cruel lesson that you should not believe everything you hear.
http://history1900s.about.com/od/1930s/a/warofworlds_2.htm and
http://radio.about.com/od/historicalradioshows/a/WarOfTheWorlds.htm
http://history1900s.about.com/od/1930s/a/warofworlds_2.htm and
http://radio.about.com/od/historicalradioshows/a/WarOfTheWorlds.htm
I’ve heard about the “War of the Worlds” radio broadcast and thought the post was interesting. I can see why people were panicking. Communication across America was very limited. Radio stations had to try and do anything they could to get people’s attention. The “War of the Worlds” obviously got people’s attention. People will believe anything they hear. After it was all said and done, people should have learned not to take everything they hear as fact. Suing because of the radio broadcast is ridiculous, but I can understand the panic. Back then, people may have been gullible because of the lack of technology. I think if “War of the Worlds” was broadcasted on television, less people would have believed it.
ReplyDeletePosted by Robert – The Fab Four
This article shows the shift in societies forms of entertainment. This was an entertaining article that leaves many of us scratching our heads as to why people could listen to this and believe it. As the writer of this blog post points out, people from the 1930’s primarily used the radio as their main source of entertainment and news. A similar situation of today’s time would be people from today believing that America didn’t land on the moon, the Loch Ness monster is real, or that the government has mind control devices. If you are not familiar with a situation then anything can seem plausible. The entertainment of today has changed but the people who use it have not.
ReplyDeleteI find this blog very interesting and I also had did an entry on the War of the Worlds broadcast. It really seems crazy that so many people had believed that this stuff was going on at the time, but what could of added to the dilemma of it, is that United States was not to long ago getting over World War I. During the broadcasts, the fear of hearing that things were going to be bombed or tier gas would be used, frightened the hell out of people. It's just crazy how something like War of the Worlds caused such a nationwide panic.
ReplyDeleteGreat post!
ReplyDeleteOrson Wells inadvertantly showed how mass communication can be used as a tool for good and evil. While Orson Wells meant no harm with the airing of War of the Worlds it became apparent why disclaimers would be needed after commercial breaks during such radio programming.
Those who did not turn on the radio at the beginning of the program had no idea the show was just that, a show.
The radio entertained the masses and set the stage for the television. The radio allowed families to spend some quality time together listening to quite a few shows that made the transition to television when it was introduced.
Imagine how much more humans would accomplish throughout a day without these mass forms of communication. No radio, no television, no computers we'd likely fill our time doing more produtive things that benefit society as a whole.