Customer Reviews

The War Of The Worlds. 1938 Radio Broadcast

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I had never heard the full radio broadcast untill purchasing this CD, but it is VERY easy to see how this could have scared the Bee-jeebers out of America on Halloween, 1938. Get this CD and listen to it every Halloween (as I now plan to) and you'll see how interseting old time radio was. Especially when you consider the horror that was just beginning to build in Germany at the same time as the broadcast.

About the work: 21st century listeners will recognize much of the recording as scripted, but it is not so surprising that some people took it seriously in 1938; seventy years ago, people had not yet become familiar with the many varieties of broadcast "trickery" that have since become commonplace. Some of the "reporting" will sound a little stiff (and thus suspicious) to a contemporary listener, but it's important to note that in the early days of broadcasting, the tone of news reporting was much more formal than it is now, and that patrician north-eastern accents like that of Welles were predominant, so the program probably did not sound as different from a real newscast as today's listeners might think. About this recording: There are several available for purchase, and this one could be better in a couple of ways. At one point, it skips ahead for about 30 seconds and then jumps back and plays through normally. The tracks are not named helpfully. The bonus material is not related to the "W of the W" broadcast, and includes a couple of partially duplicated tracks. The script that is mentioned as being included did not come with my CD.