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War of the Worlds

"The War of the Worlds" is an episode of the American radio drama anthology series The Mercury Theatre on the Air. It was performed as a Halloween episode of the series on Sunday, October 30, 1938, and aired over the Columbia Broadcasting System radio network. Directed and narrated by actor and future filmmaker Orson Welles, the episode was an adaptation of H. G. Wells' novel The War of the Worlds (1898). It became famous for allegedly causing mass panic, although the reality of the panic is disputed as the program had relatively few listeners.

Radio Adaptations

• FREE -- War of the Worlds -- 1938 -- Orson Welles --> 59 min
  
• FREE -- War of the Worlds -- 1968 -- WKBW Buffalo --> 77 min
  
• FREE -- War of the Worlds -- 1971 -- WKBW Buffalo --> 83 min
  
• FREE -- War of the Worlds -- 1988 -- Natl Pub Radio --> 57 min

Audiobooks

• FREE -- War of the Worlds -- HG Wells/ Michael Scott --> 6.6 hrs

Articles

• The Myth of the War of the Worlds Panic -- Slate (2013)
  
• 'War Of The Worlds' Started A Panic. Or Did It? -- NPR (2013)

Documentaries

• War of the Worlds Documentary -- RadioLab (2013) --> 62 min podcast
  
• War of the Worlds Documentary -- PBS WBGH (2013) --> 52 min video

Radio Adaptation Synopses

• Spoiler:

  Orson Welles - Mercury Theatre (1938)
  
  "The War of the Worlds" is an episode of the American radio drama anthology series The Mercury Theatre on the Air. It was performed as a Halloween episode of the series on Sunday, October 30, 1938, and aired over the Columbia Broadcasting System radio network. Directed and narrated by actor and future filmmaker Orson Welles, the episode [script by Howard E. Koch] was an adaptation of H. G. Wells' novel The War of the Worlds (1898). It became famous for allegedly causing mass panic, although the reality of the panic is disputed as the program had relatively few listeners.
  
  The first two-thirds of the one-hour broadcast was presented as a series of simulated news bulletins, which suggested an actual alien invasion by Martians was currently in progress. The illusion of realism was furthered because the Mercury Theatre on the Air was a sustaining show without commercial interruptions, and the first break in the program came almost 30 minutes into the broadcast. Popular legend holds that some of the radio audience may have been listening to Edgar Bergen and tuned in to "The War of the Worlds" during a musical interlude, thereby missing the clear introduction that the show was a drama, but recent research suggests this only happened in rare instances.
  
  In the days following the adaptation, widespread outrage was expressed in the media. The program's news-bulletin format was described as deceptive by some newspapers and public figures, leading to an outcry against the perpetrators of the broadcast and calls for regulation by the Federal Communications Commission. The episode secured Welles's fame as a dramatist.

  WKBW Buffalo NY (1968)
  
  The War of the Worlds was a radio drama, originally aired by Buffalo, New York radio station WKBW 1520 on October 31, 1968. It was a modernized version of the original radio drama aired by CBS in 1938.
  
  Danny Kriegler served as the director of the radio drama while Jefferson Kaye served as its producer.
  
  WKBW program director Jefferson Kaye, a big fan of the original Orson Welles version from three decades earlier, wondered what The War of the Worlds would sound like if it was made using up-to-date (for 1968) radio news equipment, covering the "story" of a Martian invasion. Until this point, most radio renditions of the 1938 broadcast were simply script re-readings with different actors or had minor variations to account for significantly different geographical locations. Kaye decided to disregard the original script entirely, move the action to Grand Island, New York, and use actual WKBW disc jockeys and news reporters as actors. Other changes reflected the changing state of the industry: instead of the old-time radio programming fare of the 1930s, WKBW's War of the Worlds broadcast was interwoven into the station's top 40 programming.

  WKBW Buffalo NY (1971)
  
  Jackson Armstrong was the DJ at the beginning of this broadcast replacing Sandy Beach. This version was edited down to 63 minutes from the 78-minute original. Kaye reprised Danny Neaverth's role in the 1968 broadcast ,but added more emphasis on the aftermath of the adaptation from that year. This was rebroadcast in 1988 by the station in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the original broadcast, then in 1998 and 2001.

  National Public Radio (1988)
  
  The War of the Worlds, an NPR 50th Anniversary radio adaptation with Jason Robards, using a slightly updated version of the Howard E. Koch script.

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