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Elvis Duran and the Morning Show ON DEMAND

The Backstory: America’s Biggest False Alarm Causes Mass Hysteria in L.A.

Elvis Duran and the Morning Show ON DEMAND

Elvis Duran Podcast Network and iHeartPodcasts

Society & Culture, Music History, Comedy, Entertainment News, Music, News

4.71.2K Ratings

🗓️ 13 June 2025

⏱️ 16 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Usually when an alarm goes off . . we take a minute to consider the possibilities so we don’t over react. But what if it comes on the heels on a world altering disaster? Can an entire city have PTSD? That’s what L.A. faced just 2 months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Okay, we've all dealt with false alarms, right? Maybe a fire alarm is pulled in school or your car or house alarm goes off for no reason. But what happens when a whole city faces a false alarm that has the entire population in a panic? It's Los Angeles, early 1942. I'm Patty Steele. What led to citywide hysteria? That's next on the backstory.

0:26.9

This is an I-Heart podcast. Camp Shane, one of America's longest running weight loss camps for kids, promised extraordinary results.

0:39.9

But there were some dark truths behind Camp Shane's facade of happy, transformed children.

0:45.5

Nothing about that camp was right. It was really actually like a horror movie.

0:50.5

Enter Camp Shame, an eight-part series examining the rise and fall of Camp Shane

0:55.3

and the culture that fueled its decades-long success.

0:58.8

You can listen to all episodes of Camp Shame one week early and totally ad-free on IHeart True Crime Plus.

1:05.4

So don't wait. Head to Apple Podcasts and subscribe today.

1:11.6

From IHeart Podcast, before social media, before cable news, there was Alan Berg.

1:17.7

He was the first and the original shock.

1:21.0

That scratchy, irreverent kind of way of talking to people and telling them that you're

1:25.7

an idiot and I'm going to hang up on you.

1:27.5

This is Live Wire, the loud life and shocking murder of Allen Berg.

1:31.8

And he pointed to the Denver phone book and said, well, there are probably 2 million suspects.

1:36.8

Listen on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

1:42.1

I'm Jake Hanrahan, journalist and documentary filmmaker.

1:45.7

Away Days is my new project,

1:47.8

reporting on countercultures on the fringes of society all across the world.

1:53.4

Live from the underground, you'll discover no rules fighting,

1:56.6

Japanese street racing,

1:58.4

Brazilian favela life, and much more.

2:01.4

All real, completely uncensored.

...

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