History Radio / TheWarOfTheWorlds1938

* AfterTheEnd: The last third of the one-hour show quits the PhonyNewscast format, and follows Pierson as he writes in his journal about his harrowing trip from Grover's Mill to New York City. He sees one living person the whole way.

'''Ladies and gentlemen, this page has no further significance than as the educational article it was intended to be; TV Tropes' own version of dressing up in a sheet and jumping out of a bush and saying, "Boo!" So, please – [[ThisIsNoTimeToPanic don't panic]]!'''

The incident is dramatized in "The Night America Trembled" (a 1957 episode of ''Westinghouse Studio One'' narrated by Creator/EdwardRMurrow and featuring a young Creator/WarrenBeatty in its cast) and ''The Night That Panicked America'' (a 1975 MadeForTVMovie starring Creator/VicMorrow, Creator/CliffDeYoung, and Creator/JohnRitter among others). It's touched upon in feature films such as Creator/WoodyAllen's ''Film/RadioDays'' (1987) and even in cartoons like Creator/BobClampett's ''WesternAnimation/KittyKornered'' (1946) and ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS18E4TreehouseOfHorrorXVII Treehouse of Horror XVII]]" (2006). Two episodes of Music/{{Negativland}}'s weekly KPFA radio series ''Over the Edge'', helmed by master culture jammer Don Joyce, focused on the broadcast as an example of "[[https://archive.org/details/OTE_20060518_How_Radio_Was_Done_3_-_WOTWW How Radio Was Done]]" (2006) and an examination of how we discern "[[https://archive.org/details/OTE_19990200_True_and_False True and False]]" information in modern life (1999). It was analyzed in a [[http://www.radiolab.org/story/91622-war-of-the-worlds/ hysterically funny 2008 episode]] of NPR's ''Radiolab'', talking about the power of mass media and humanity's need for storytelling. The real-world events and situations which led up to the incident are described in the 2013 PBS ''[[Series/TheAmericanExperience American Experience]]'' episode "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1iLFp6XyPY The War of the Worlds]]". There's more in A. Brad Schwartz's 2015 book ''Broadcast Hysteria: Orson Welles' War of the Worlds & the Art of Fake News''.

The incident is dramatized in "The Night America Trembled" (a 1957 episode of ''Westinghouse Studio One'') and ''The Night That Panicked America'' (a 1975 MadeForTVMovie starring Creator/VicMorrow, Creator/CliffDeYoung, and Creator/JohnRitter among others). It's touched upon in feature films like Creator/WoodyAllen's ''Film/RadioDays'' (1987) and even in cartoons such as Creator/BobClampett's ''WesternAnimation/KittyKornered'' (1946) and ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS18E4TreehouseOfHorrorXVII Treehouse of Horror XVII]]" (2006). Two episodes of Music/{{Negativland}}'s weekly KPFA radio series ''Over the Edge'', helmed by master culture jammer Don Joyce, focused on the program as an example of "[[https://archive.org/details/OTE_20060518_How_Radio_Was_Done_3_-_WOTWW How Radio Was Done]]" (2006) and an examination of how we discern "[[https://archive.org/details/OTE_19990200_True_and_False True and False]]" (1999) information in modern life. It was analyzed in a [[http://www.radiolab.org/story/91622-war-of-the-worlds/ hysterically funny 2008 episode]] of NPR's ''Radiolab'', talking about the power of mass media and humanity's need for storytelling. The historical events and situations leading up to this incident are described in PBS's 2013 ''[[Series/TheAmericanExperience American Experience]]'' episode "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1iLFp6XyPY The War of the Worlds]]". There's more info in A. Brad Schwartz's 2015 book ''Broadcast Hysteria: Orson Welles' War of the Worlds & the Art of Fake News''.

* a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNhodx4Oxbk&t=12s 1998 version on WGRF]] in Buffalo, New York, incorporating elements from the 1953 film (sound effects, dialogue, and a character named Clayton Forrester). Needless to say, the broadcast included several disclaimers throughout reminding the audience that it was pure fiction to prevent a recurrence of the WKBW panic from 30 years prior.

* a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffB29LYR5Go 1994 revival on KCRW]] in Los Angeles, featuring a nearly all ''Franchise/StarTrek'' cast (including Creator/LeonardNimoy as Prof. Pierson, Gates [=McFadden=] as reporter [[GenderFlip Carla Phillips]], and Creator/DwightSchultz, Creator/ArminShimerman, Creator/BrentSpiner and Creator/WilWheaton in various roles) and directed by John de Lancie.

The incident is dramatized in "The Night America Trembled" (a 1957 episode of ''Westinghouse Studio One'') and ''The Night That Panicked America'' (a 1975 MadeForTVMovie starring Creator/VicMorrow, Creator/CliffDeYoung, and Creator/JohnRitter among others). It's touched upon in feature films like Creator/WoodyAllen's ''Film/RadioDays'' (1987) and even in cartoons such as Creator/BobClampett's ''WesternAnimation/KittyKornered'' (1946) and ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS18E4TreehouseOfHorrorXVII Treehouse of Horror XVII]]" (2006). Two episodes of Music/{{Negativland}}'s weekly KPFA radio series ''Over the Edge'', helmed by master culture jammer Don Joyce, focused on the program as an example of "[[https://archive.org/details/OTE_20060518_How_Radio_Was_Done_3_-_WOTWW How Radio Was Done]]" (2006) and an examination of how we discern "[[https://archive.org/details/OTE_19990200_True_and_False True and False]]" (1999) information in modern life. It was analyzed in a [[http://www.radiolab.org/story/91622-war-of-the-worlds/ hysterically funny 2008 episode]] of NPR's ''Radiolab'', talking about the power of mass media and humanity's need for storytelling. The historical events and situations leading up to this incident are described in PBS's 2013 ''[[Series/TheAmericanExperience American Experience]]'' episode "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1iLFp6XyPY The War of the Worlds]]". There's much more in A. Brad Schwartz's 2015 book ''Broadcast Hysteria: Orson Welles' War of the Worlds & the Art of Fake News''.

The incident was dramatized in "The Night America Trembled", a 1957 episode of ''Westinghouse Studio One'', and ''The Night That Panicked America'', a 1975 MadeForTVMovie co-starring Creator/JohnRitter; and touched upon in feature films like Creator/WoodyAllen's ''Film/RadioDays'' (1987) and even in cartoons like Creator/BobClampett's ''WesternAnimation/KittyKornered'' (1946) and ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS18E4TreehouseOfHorrorXVII Treehouse of Horror XVII]]" (2006). Two episodes of Music/{{Negativland}}'s weekly KPFA radio happening ''Over the Edge'', helmed by master culture jammer Don Joyce, focused on the program as an example of "[[https://archive.org/details/OTE_20060518_How_Radio_Was_Done_3_-_WOTWW How Radio Was Done]]" (2006) and a 1999 examination of how we discern [[https://archive.org/details/OTE_19990200_True_and_False true from false]] information in modern life. It was analyzed in a [[http://www.radiolab.org/story/91622-war-of-the-worlds/ hysterically funny episode]] of NPR's ''Radiolab'' in 2008, talking about the power of mass media and humanity's need for storytelling. The historical events and situations that set up this incident are described in PBS' 2013 ''[[Series/TheAmericanExperience American Experience]]'' episode "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1iLFp6XyPY The War of the Worlds]]". There's more in A. Brad Schwartz's 2015 book ''Broadcast Hysteria: Orson Welles' War of the Worlds & the Art of Fake News''.

'''Ladies and gentlemen, this page has no further significance than as the educational article it was intended to be; it's TV Tropes' own version of dressing up in a sheet and jumping out of a bush and saying, "Boo!" So, please – [[ThisIsNoTimeToPanic don't panic]]!'''

'''Ladies and gentlemen, this page has no further significance than as the educational article it was intended to be; it's TV Tropes' own version of dressing up in a sheet and jumping out of a bush and saying, "Boo!" So [[ThisIsNoTimeToPanic don't panic]]!'''

'''Ladies and gentlemen, this page has no further significance than as the educational article it was intended to be; it is TV Tropes' own version of dressing up in a sheet and jumping out of a bush and saying, "Boo!" So [[ThisIsNoTimeToPanic don't panic]]!'''

'''Ladies and gentlemen, this page has no further significance than as the educational article it was intended to be; it is TV Tropes' version of dressing up in a sheet and jumping out of a bush and saying, "Boo!" So [[ThisIsNoTimeToPanic don't panic]]!'''

* HalloweenEpisode: Aired on October 30, 1938, and explicitly intended as the Halloween episode of Welles' radio show, as he says during his sign-off.

* FaceDeathWithDignity: The radio reporter atop the "Broadcasting Building" in New York,[[note]]played by ''Series/PerryMason'''s Ray Collins[[/note], who narrates the advance of the Martian tripods into the city, knowing perfectly well he's going to die. ("This is the end, now.")

* FaceDeathWithDignity: The radio reporter in New York[[note]]played by ''Series/PerryMason'''s Ray Collins[[/note]], who narrates the advance of the Martian tripods into the city, knowing perfectly well he's going to die. ("This is the end, now.")

* BlandNameProduct: At the request of the CBS legal department, several RealLife institutions mentioned in the script had to be changed before air time. Besides the wholly fictional Intercontinental Radio News service, the US Weather Bureau became the Government Weather Bureau, [=McGill=] University in UsefulNotes/{{Montreal}} became [=MacMillan=] University in UsefulNotes/{{Toronto}}, and Princeton Observatory was mentioned without ever tying it to Princeton University.

As the on-air "reporters" breathlessly described large alien tripods emerging from the cylindrical "meteorites" and commencing to destroy the American countryside with heat-rays, many listeners believed that an actual AlienInvasion was taking place, and thus a nationwide panic quickly ensued... or so the UrbanLegends have it, at least. Later research indicates there was little to no actual panic, and the [[https://slate.com/culture/2013/10/orson-welles-war-of-the-worlds-panic-myth-the-infamous-radio-broadcast-did-not-cause-a-nationwide-hysteria.html anxious reports that ran in the next day's newspapers]] were just an attempt by said newspapers to sell more copies (while also discrediting radio as a medium--NewMediaAreEvil, after all). However, the story is more complex than that. What people believed, and continue to believe, ''about'' the broadcast is as important as the notion that people believed the broadcast itself. [[https://broadcastellan.blogspot.com/2009/10/2x2l-calling-cq-night-they-made-up-our.html The legend of this program]] has in any case become [[https://www.rich.mcclear.net/2018/10/30/2x2l-calling-cq/ part of American folklore]].

* FoundFootage: An UrExample and perhaps the only radio version of this trope.

* FoundFootage: A UrExample and perhaps the only radio version of this trope.

* StylisticSuck: Music/BernardHerrmann and his musicians were more comfortable with classical-style music, so they couldn't quite get the proper feel of the dance music interludes. But this still works perfectly, because it adds an extra layer of cheesiness to Ramon Raquello's musical stylings, and makes you ''want'' to have the music interrupted by more bulletins.

* StylisticSuck: Music/BernardHerrmann and his musicians were more comfortable with classical-style music, so they couldn't quite get the proper feel of the dance music interludes. But it works perfectly, because it adds an extra layer of cheesiness to Ramon Raquello's musical stylings, and makes you ''want'' to have the music interrupted by more bulletins.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/war_of_the_worlds_1938_radio_panic.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300: [[NewMediaAreEvil ...but not really]].]]

* [[https://historyradio.org/2017/01/21/the-war-of-the-worlds-in-ecuador/ in 1949 in Quito, Ecuador]] directed by and starring Leonardo Páez, a familiar and beloved voice on Radio Quito; journalist, broadcaster, actor, director, singer-songwriter, poet and playwright. He used a Spanish-language version of the script written for a production in Chile which reportedly had also caused a brief panic. This also had the cooperation of Quito's local newspaper, as they were both owned by the same company. One of the big differences here was that Radio Quito was extremely popular, didn't have as many competitors as CBS, and was highly respected along with the paper as the city's smost trusted news sources. For a few days prior to the broadcast, they ran announcements of a live radio concert featuring Duo Benitez Valencia, an extremely popular folk band, to ensure that lots of people would be listening. They also planted small stories in the paper about unusual phenomena being observed on Mars and in the skies over Quito. [[https://cuencahighlife.com/war-worlds-1949-radio-play-remake-deadly-result-ecuador/ The result was incredible]]: the invasion story was believed, and on a massive scale. When the deception was revealed, those fooled turned angry and set fire to the building housing both the newspaper and radio station. Emergency responders did not arrive until much later--because they had been dispatched to the out-of-the-way location of the supposed alien landing. Six people died (including Páez's girlfriend) and many more were injured, either in the fire, trying to escape the fire, or at the hands of an angry mob. Páez managed to escape unharmed, went into hiding for three months, and was eventually exonerated.

* an [[https://archive.org/details/wotw1968-complete updated version by the late Jeff Kaye of WKBW]] in Buffalo, New York in 1968. Which--in spite of the station running advertisements beforehand and repeatedly announcing disclaimers during the broadcast--[[https://buffalobroadcasters.com/archives-history/wkbws-war-of-the-worlds/ ended up causing a panic in its own right]][[note]]Bob Koshinski's detailed memoir not only recounts what happened that night, but explains exactly how they did it. A gem of radio history.[[/note]]. The broadcast was so convincing, in fact, that the Canadian Army reportedly sent troops to numerous bridges along the border, in preparation to help fight off the "invaders".