History Main / PhonyNewscast

* "Radio/TheWarOfTheWorlds", the UrExample and TropeMaker, was an October 30, 1938 broadcast of Creator/OrsonWelles' CBS radio series ''Radio/TheMercuryTheatreOnTheAir'' that featured a dramatization of [[Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds H.G. Wells' novel]] updated for 20th-century America. The program depicted a generic big band music performance getting [[WeInterruptThisProgram interrupted]] by a series of news bulletins covering what turned out to be the vanguard of an AlienInvasion of Earth by Martians. Adding to the realism was that there was no commercial break until after the first act which consisted of the newscast; the second half was a standard play. Only those tuning in right at the start, or who listened through the commercial break, heard disclaimers that it was only a play. The program was said to have created widespread panic among thousands of listeners who believed an actual invasion was occurring – mostly listeners who were unable to reason that the sequence of events, as dramatized, was happening a little too fast (20 minutes from "explosions on Mars" to the "end of the world") or read the radio listings in their local newspaper promoting "War of the Worlds" as that night's dramatization. Or who simply didn't keep listening to the rest of the play, and Welles' final remarks at the end reminding listeners it was just a story (reportedly made under duress as the network was well aware of what was happening during the broadcast). In any case, "War of the Worlds" cemented Orson Welles' fame as a radio/movie/TV broadcaster, writer and producer.

* ''[[http://www.apocalypsezone.com/audio-drama/peoria-plague-classic-zombie-audio-drama-1972/ The Peoria Plague]]'', produced by Peoria, Illinois radio station WUHN in 1972, involves the station's easy listening music format being interrupted by a breaking news story about a BigBlackout that soon turns into a combination of TheVirus, ZombieApocalypse and AlienInvasion.

* "Radio/TheWarOfTheWorlds", the UrExample and TropeMaker, was an October 30, 1938 broadcast of Creator/OrsonWelles' CBS radio series ''Radio/TheMercuryTheatreOnTheAir'', featuring a dramatization of [[Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds H.G. Wells' novel]] updated for 20th-century America. The program depicted a generic big band music performance getting [[WeInterruptThisProgram interrupted]] by a series of news bulletins covering what turned out to be the vanguard of an AlienInvasion of Earth by Martians. Adding to the realism was that there was no commercial break until after the first act which consisted of the newscast; the second half was a standard play. Only those tuning in right at the start, or who listened through the commercial break, heard disclaimers that it was only a play. The program was said to have created widespread panic from thousands of listeners who believed an actual invasion was occurring – mostly listeners who were unable to reason that the sequence of events, as dramatized, was happening a little too fast (20 minutes from "explosions on Mars" to the "end of the world") or read the radio listings in their local newspaper promoting "War of the Worlds" as that night's dramatization. Or who simply didn't keep listening to the rest of the play, and Welles' final remarks at the end reminding listeners it was just a story (reportedly made under duress as the network was well aware of what was happening during the broadcast). In any case, "War of the Worlds" cemented Orson Welles' fame as a radio/movie/TV broadcaster, writer and producer.

** Twelve years before the ''Mercury Theatre'' "War of the Worlds" broadcast, BBC Radio aired "Broadcasting the Barricades", a simulated live account of a violent revolution in London written and aired by Catholic priest and satirist Ronald Knox, who -- accompanied by vivid sound effects -- regaled his listeners with reports of Big Ben getting toppled, the National Gallery being looted, and the Houses of Parliament and Savoy Hotel coming under mortar fire, mass executions of government officials, etc. As with the Welles broadcast, the Knox drama [[http://hoaxes.org/archive/permalink/the_bbc_radio_panic caused a panic among some listeners]] to were unaware they were tuned in to a fictional program. Orson Welles later cited the Knox program as one of the influences for his own "panic broadcast".

** Twelve years before the Orson Welles ''War of the Worlds'' broadcast, BBC Radio aired ''Broadcasting the Barricades'', a simulated account of a violent revolution in London. Catholic priest and satirist Ronald Knox regaled listeners with reports of Big Ben getting toppled, the National Gallery being looted, and the Houses of Parliament and Savoy Hotel coming under mortar fire. As with the Welles broadcast, the Knox drama [[http://hoaxes.org/archive/permalink/the_bbc_radio_panic caused a panic among some listeners]] to were unaware they were tuned in to a fictional program. Orson Welles later cited Knox's dramatization as one of the influences for his own "panic broadcast".