I watched Tuesday’s “American Experience” last night. It was about Orson Welles’ radio broadcast of “War of the Worlds”. It was pretty interesting. Even with all the hoopla and lawsuits, in the end, absolutely nothing came of it. Even the lawsuits were all dismissed. I seem to remember that the FCC established a new rule about station breaks because of that broadcast, but it wasn’t mentioned in this documentary. Also not mentioned was the fact that it wasn’t the first of its kind. Britain had a radio play in 1926 in which Big Ben was destroyed, a popular minister assassinated and all sorts of mayhem in London. It too panicked the public, though not to the extent that Welles did, mostly because radio wasn’t as widespread in 1926 as it was in 1938. (Information courtesy of my “Downton Abbey” desk calendar.)
Good morning, Vagabonds.
I watched Tuesday’s “American Experience” last night. It was about Orson Welles’ radio broadcast of “War of the Worlds”. It was pretty interesting. Even with all the hoopla and lawsuits, in the end, absolutely nothing came of it. Even the lawsuits were all dismissed. I seem to remember that the FCC established a new rule about station breaks because of that broadcast, but it wasn’t mentioned in this documentary. Also not mentioned was the fact that it wasn’t the first of its kind. Britain had a radio play in 1926 in which Big Ben was destroyed, a popular minister assassinated and all sorts of mayhem in London. It too panicked the public, though not to the extent that Welles did, mostly because radio wasn’t as widespread in 1926 as it was in 1938. (Information courtesy of my “Downton Abbey” desk calendar.)
Sunny and cool this morning. Same old, same old.