CS100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: The Panic Broadcast, Orson Welles, Ventriloquism
Radio and the Wireless Word
Screening: War of the Worlds
Q & A with Dr. Paul Heyer
Radio - Key Dates and Figures:
Guglielmo Marconi
Reginald Fessenden
1895 - Marconi transmits wireless message → radiowaves, successful short distances
1901 - Marconi sends trans-Atlantic wireless message
1906 - Fessenden sends first point-to-mass message → broadcast, Fessenden started
sending things like reading and singing, whoever had receiver would get message
1912 - Titanic disaster → signal not received or ships were too far
1938 - War of the Worlds broadcast
Technologically produced orality → makes people rethink what their nation is about, etc
Radio shares stories within nation but in different areas
Even during the Depression, people continued to buy radios → desire for connection
1922 60 000 households in US have radio, 1929 10 million households → growth
War of the Worlds Notes
● Radio broadcast had people believe America was under alien attack by Mars
● Lost confidence in Radio
● Orson Welles → The Panic Broadcast
● Oct 30 1938, eve of Halloween “Devil’s Night”
● Most people were listening to ventriloquist act, but began channel surfing and turning
dial → tuned into War of the Worlds, missed announcement that it was a play
● Said there were explosions on Mars, flaming object travelling towards Earth
● Listeners though it was a national emergency (was 10 years after stock market crash)
● By 1939, radio was in nearly 80% of American homes, gave up other things during
Depression but kept radios
● Devastating announcements one after the other, eg Hindenburg airship burst into
flames, Hitler in Europe
● Thus, people were used to news interruptions and believed War of the Worlds
● Sounds of torture on mic, mic went dead → Orson Welles and actors holding silence
● H.G. Welles wrote story with …? about Mars attack in New Jersey → Grovers Mills
● Decided way to make the script more exciting was to use news bulletins
● When announced it was life from Mars, some people decided it was radio drama, others
thought it was real
find more resources at oneclass.com
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Document Summary
1895 - marconi transmits wireless message radiowaves, successful short distances. 1906 - fessenden sends first point-to-mass message broadcast, fessenden started sending things like reading and singing, whoever had receiver would get message. 1912 - titanic disaster signal not received or ships were too far. Technologically produced orality makes people rethink what their nation is about, etc. Radio shares stories within nation but in different areas. Even during the depression, people continued to buy radios desire for connection. 1922 60 000 households in us have radio, 1929 10 million households growth. Radio broadcast had people believe america was under alien attack by mars. Oct 30 1938, eve of halloween devil"s night . Most people were listening to ventriloquist act, but began (cid:3247)channel surfing(cid:3248) and turning dial tuned into war of the worlds, missed announcement that it was a play. Said there were explosions on mars, flaming object travelling towards earth.
