War of the Worlds

Radiolab

WNYC Studios

Natural Sciences, History, Documentary, Science, Society & Culture

4.6 • 44.5K Ratings

🗓️ 30 October 2018

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It's been 80 years to the day since Orson Welles' infamous radio drama "The War of the Worlds" echoed far and wide over the airwaves. So we want to bring you back to our very first live hour, where we take a deep dive into what was one of the most controversial moments in broadcasting history. "The War of the Worlds," a radio play about Martians invading New Jersey, caused panic when it originally aired, and it's continued to fool people since--from Santiago, Chile to Buffalo, New York to a particularly disastrous evening in Quito, Ecuador. Support Radiolab today at Radiolab.org/donate.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm Robert Crulwich. Radio Lab is supported by the Netflix film,
0:04.0	They'll Love Me When I'm Dead.
0:05.8	This is a movie that chronicles the last years of Orson Wells' life.
0:09.0	He's the genius behind Citizen Kane.
0:11.0	It's wildly entertaining, full of nuance and depth.
0:13.9	They'll love me when I'm dead, directed by Morgan Neville, only on Netflix, November 2nd.
0:21.2	Wait, you're listening.
0:22.4	Okay.
0:23.7	All right.
0:24.9	Okay.
0:26.3	All right.
0:27.7	You're listening to Radio Lab.
0:30.7	Radio Lab.
0:31.2	From WN.Y.
0:33.2	C.
0:34.1	See?
0:34.4	Yeah.
0:39.3	Hey, I'm Chad I boomrod. I'm Robert Crulwich.
0:41.3	This is Radio Lab.
0:42.3	And today we are, we're celebrating a multiple set of anniversaries because it was 80 years
0:48.3	ago, 80 years ago that Orson Wells and the Mercury Theatre decided to allow Martians to invade the state of New Jersey.
0:58.1	It's one of the most famous broadcasts in broadcast history because it freaked people out.
	...

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