The Broadcast That Spooked America

[Subdeacon Joe]

 

 

 

[Widder, SASS #59054]

The next time, lets send in the reporters from NBC, MSNBC, CBS and ABC.

 

..........Widder

 

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

My parents were on their honeymoon in the forests of Oregon when that aired.  The never heard it until I found cassette tape of it about 30 years ago.  I gave them the copy (and a tape player) for their anniversary.

 

Dad's first comment was "and here I thought being stupid enough to believe that sort of thing was something new."  They enjoyed it, in spite of that.

[Alpo]

8th grade civics class. The teacher brought in a record and we listened to it. And he told about how people thought it was real. And at the beginning of the show it said it was the Mercury theater of the air, and every time they broke for a commercial they said it was the Mercury theater of the air, and at the end of it they said that it was the Mercury theater of the air.

 

And I wondered how in the world anybody could believe it was real when they said Time after Time after Time that it was a radio play.

 

I figured all that hoopty hoop about them people way back in the thirties and thought it was real was just garbage people been spouting for years.

 

But I understand that the Coast Guard got requests to go find the passengers and crew of the poor shipwrecked SS Minnow, and that was in the late 60s.

 

So obviously people are stupid.

[Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062]

14 minutes ago, Alpo said:

8th grade civics class. The teacher brought in a record and we listened to it. And he told about how people thought it was real. And at the beginning of the show it said it was the Mercury theater of the air, and every time they broke for a commercial they said it was the Mercury theater of the air, and at the end of it they said that it was the Mercury theater of the air.

 

And I wondered how in the world anybody could believe it was real when they said Time after Time after Time that it was a radio play.

 

I figured all that hoopty hoop about them people way back in the thirties and thought it was real was just garbage people been spouting for years.

 

But I understand that the Coast Guard got requests to go find the passengers and crew of the poor shipwrecked SS Minnow, and that was in the late 60s.

 

So obviously people are stupid.

 

 

                  .............. welllll, ..... it was on tv so it must be right; they wouldn't lie .... would they ?

[watab kid]

that was a heartstopper back then and when my grandfather played a recording of it for me back in the early 60s ill admit i understood why , the radio wasthe media back then - everyone trusted and believed what they heard , its why our current MSM thinks we still do 

[Subdeacon Joe]

8 hours ago, Alpo said:

And I wondered how in the world anybody could believe it was real when they said Time after Time after Time that it was a radio play.

 

They didn't say,  "This is a radio play."  They said,  "This is Mercury Theater On the Air." and it was presented as a music program. If you missed the introduction by Wells,  you might not have known it was a play, just some music interrupted by a breaking news story. 

 

"

ANNOUNCER: . . .for the next twenty-four hours not much change in temperature. A slight atmospheric disturbance of undetermined origin is reported over Nova Scotia, causing a low pressure area to move down rather rapidly over the northeastern states, bringing a forecast of rain, accompanied by winds of light gale force. Maximum temperature 66; minimum 48. This weather report comes to you from the Government Weather Bureau. . . . We now take you to the Meridian Room in the Hotel Park Plaza in downtown New York, where you will be entertained by the music of Ramón Raquello and his orchestra.

(MUSIC: SPANISH THEME SONG [A TANGO] . . . FADES)

ANNOUNCER THREE: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. From the Meridian Room in the Park Plaza in New York City, we bring you the music of Ramón Raquello and his orchestra. With a touch of the Spanish. Ramón Raquello leads off with “La Cumparsita.”

(PIECE STARTS PLAYING)

ANNOUNCER TWO: Ladies and gentlemen, we interrupt our program of dance music to bring you a special bulletin from the Intercontinental Radio News. At twenty minutes before eight, central time, Professor Farrell of the Mount Jennings Observatory, Chicago, Illinois, reports observing several explosions of incandescent gas, occurring at regular intervals on the planet Mars. The spectroscope indicates the gas to be hydrogen and moving towards the earth with enormous velocity. Professor Pierson of the Observatory at Princeton confirms Farrell’s observation, and describes the phenomenon as (quote) like a jet of blue flame shot from a gun (unquote). We now return you to the music of Ramón Raquello, playing for you in the Meridian Room of the Park Plaza Hotel, situated in downtown New York."