On Halloween night, Monday October 31st at 8pm, JPR will broadcast a two-hour Halloween special featuring Orson Welles' original 1938 radio drama "War of the Worlds" on our Rhythm & News Service.
Orson Welles caused a nationwide panic with his broadcast of 鈥淲ar of the Worlds鈥濃�攁 realistic radio dramatization of a Martian invasion of Earth. Welles was only 23 years old when his Mercury Theater company decided to update H.G. Wells鈥� 19th-century science fiction novel War of the Worlds for national radio. Despite his age, Welles had been in radio for several years, most notably as the voice of 鈥淭he Shadow鈥� in the hit mystery program of the same name. 鈥淲ar of the Worlds鈥� was not planned as a radio hoax, and Welles had little idea of the havoc it would cause.
Prior to the broadcast, tune in at 8pm as Jad Abamrad and the crew at Radiolab dig deep into the frenzy caused by that original broadcast, and how it has continued to fool people ever since--from Santiago, Chile to Buffalo, New York to a particularly disastrous evening in Quito, Ecuador.
Settle in after the trick-or-treaters have gone off to bed and enjoy a broadcast classic. Our special begins at 8pm Halloween night on the Rhythm & News Service.
