Coverage of the 75th Anniversary of "The War of the Worlds"

Orson Welles throughout his performance of War of
the Worlds. Photo Credit: CBS Photo Archive

Blog Summary
By: Andrew Smith

For this semester’s commemorative coverage assignment, our group chose to cover the historic 1938 War of the Worlds radio broadcast. Our group members included, Scott Allen, Alex Castillo, Spencer McAdams, Catherine O’Hara, Chris Salinas, and Andrew Smith. 

Our research brought us to a variety of news and media sources. For printed information we utilized The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News and the National Archives, relying heavily upon their microfilm copies. In the search for images we used the CBS Photo Archive, Getty Images, The Washington Post and AP Images. Additional information was obtained through

The broadcast was famous for it’s highly realistic presentation as a breaking news event and its record-sized audience of listeners. In contrast, the radio event was also controversial and alarming for the distress it caused to the public and consequently law enforcement officials.

War of the Worlds- University Star coverage

By: Scott Allen

The article I found from The University Star (or “The College Star” as it was once called) is certainly dated. The first half is in all caps and it punishes the listeners for actually believing the broadcasting. It goes on to ask a lot of open-ended questions that are meant to provoke thought. The article concludes with the idea that America may not be ready if a real attack like that happened.         

Orson Welles performing a segment from the 1938 live radio drama,
War of the Worlds. Photo Credit: CBS Photo Archive

I enjoyed the article because it was compelling. It might seem a little too wordy for today’s standards, but the alliteration and allusions were effective. The point was given in a contextual way and was made simple for the common reader. The big difference between this and today’s article was that this one had no picture or visual representation. In today’s papers, you see pictures all over.

1938 “The War of the Worlds” Radio Broadcast Timeline

By: Spencer McAdams

October 30

8pm – Mercury Theatre Group’s Halloween show begins broadcast of H.G. Wells’ “The War of the Worlds” radio drama, with Orson Welles as the announcer.

8:30 pm – Radio listeners who missed the announcement at the beginning of the broadcast begin to panic as they believe the events being described are fact instead of fiction.

9pm – Broadcast ends and police stations in Concrete, Washington are flooded with calls, people lock themselves in basements, take to the roads, and arm themselves for the perceived threat.

October 31
Newspapers release articles describing the events that took place, speculation on several causes of the panic, and the response.  Public officials reassure the panicked public and attempt to restore the peace.

Panic Amongst Dedicated Listeners

The College Star: War! Fantastic Radio Program By Welles Makes Impossibilities Realistic
Written by: Santry Greene
Front Page, Wednesday, November 2^nd, 1938

By: Scott Allen

Orson Welles fooled many with his broadcasting. He did so without hesitation and his act helped establish radio as Americans favorite pastime.

Why it matters even today

Even though this happened almost exactly 75 years ago, the message behind this event is still prevalent. This broadcast showed that the media has a strong control over society. An article posted from The College Star cited people suffering from “heart failure-some attempted suicide- others moved out of the state.” I feel like this can still happen today. If the president’s Facebook was hacked and it said “War with Syria” then people would believe it and even relay the message themselves. It may be a far-fetched idea, but the underlying belief still holds. People are gullible and trust the media to deliver the truth and only the truth. This system is a very powerful one, but it can be abused as Mr. Welles effectively showed us.

Front page of the November 2, 1938 issue of The College Star

But it won’t ever happen again

The reason behind this thinking is simple. There are too many false safes and checkpoints for today’s media to let this one slip by. With the amount of fact-checkers and whistle-blowers in the media, the hoax wouldn’t last in the 21^st century. The reason it worked so well 75 years ago was for many reasons. First, there were less people in the world so a smaller chance that someone would notice it as a hoax. Second, as The New York Times pointed out, Orson Welles had a “radio character, ‘The Shadow,’ used to give ‘the creeps’ to countless child listeners. This time at least a score of adults required medical treatment for shock and hysteria.” People were frightened by the broadcast because Welles had a convincing voice for the part and many trusted his voice. Not since the late Walter Cronkite has there been a more trusted voice in media. Third, the audience was bigger than any single media we see today. If you adjust for inflation, it makes sense. There are too many different outlets for media today to get a mass percentage of the population on one platform. Back then, radio was all people had, so during the night’s hours everyone would be listening. Today, people’s sources are diluted with the multiple connections that flourish from recent inventions.

Changes since then

The layout was completely different that what I’m used to seeing today. The words are shrunk down to fit more on the page and there’s one picture on the entire front page. Today’s layout is much prettier, but the older papers were more effective with their storytelling. They didn’t use pictures too much in 1938 because cameras weren’t main stream yet, but the message still got across. I was disturbed by the amount of capitalized words that were in The College Star article. In today’s writing, the dialogue is much more subtle and you’d probably never see an explanation point in the headline. It’s cheesy, but back then, that’s how you caught someone’s eye. There’s weren’t QR codes, pictures, links or hashtags.

Conspiracy theory

In conclusion, I have thought of a theory. Maybe, this whole thing was a hoax. Maybe this whole thing was meant, simply, to beef up Orson Welles resume. His name was known, but not well-known. After this stunt, he most likely had to hire more agents because of his increase in prominence. Everyone knew his name on Halloween of 1938, but why did it matter? It mattered because he was having a movie come out soon. Citizen Kane, released in 1941, is still thought of as one of the greatest movies of all time. It may not have been as successful if Welles hadn’t of publicized his name with the broadcasting. The closeness of the two events spurs me as unusual. Just food for thought. Enjoy!

The 75^th Anniversary of “The War of the Worlds”

New York Times, Nov 2, 1938, Page 22

By: Alex Castillo

In my research for “The War of the Worlds” broadcast, I found a section of the New York Times from November 2, 1938 that was titled “Letters to the Times.”  In this section included seven Times reader’s who wrote in letters that talked about how they felt when they heard the live radio drama. Although this wasn’t an article written by a journalist, I think it is important to include this with our research because it helped voice the audience of the broadcast’s opinion.

Listener’s Reactions

George Bellamy of New York City wrote that quite frankly he was bored and he was unimpressed with the production. “Unless the American average of intelligence is lower that some people suspect,, I for one refuse to believe that any buy children, old ladies and mental deficient’s were seriously perturbed by what struck my family and self merely as a boring and rather inane production,” Bellamy wrote.

William Dock, New Jersey resident, carries a shotgun after hearing the
live radio drama, War of the Worlds on October 31, 1938.
Photo Credit: Bettman/Corbis

Ruth Fleurnoy Bloomsburgh of Albany wrote in to the New York Times and was not so critical of the radio drama than the audience’s reaction towards it. “If we keep on asking for protection from the things in and of the world we live in, and refuse to do our own part in it, we will all be useless gibbering idiots through failure to stop our headline type of reading and waiting for some one to take care of us by forming our opinions.”

A person by the name of H. G. W. Sundelof from New York City wrote in to the Times to applaud Welles’ dramatization and to express his views on the government. “We are far safer from invasion by an unseen enemy squirting death rays than from results of a continued loose governmental fiscal policy,” Sundelof wrote.

Searching for Information

I feel like searching for this topic was difficult because typing in “War of the Worlds” into certain databases gives you more information on the possibility for war. The language from the late 1930’s in my opinion sounds very serious and I think it has to do with the uncertainty of that time period. Less than 10 years prior to the live radio drama, the stock market crashed leading into what is known today as the Great Depression. Unemployment rates were high and people had to worry about living through dust storms because of drought and dust. Also, the tensions between European countries were rising and I think American’s didn’t want to contribute to the possibility of going to war because of memories of World War 1.

This was a fair article because the audience was allowed to say how they felt about the radio drama and even though there was no contribution from the editor, the readers could form their own opinions on the topic. The layout was simple, including a typed version of the letters written and listed in a random order with a subhead. It was a little difficult to read and figure out where one topic ends and another begins.

Back in the day: revisiting “The War of the Worlds” as breaking news

An evaluation of an article published by the New York Times, Monday, October 31, 1938 (Front Page/Page 4)—the day following “War of the Worlds” radio broadcast

By Catherine O'Hara

The Times, then: layout design

The first thing I noticed upon glancing at the copy of the New York Times was that there was no prominent hierarchy within the design of the layout. The stories seem to be more randomly placed where they could fit best rather than for a purpose of grabbing attention; however, perhaps it was with reason that the article about “The War of the Worlds” is found at the top-center of the front page of the day. Maybe during that era, the press was more concerned about just getting the news out and not so much about guiding the attention of readers or competing against other media for the greatest headline. Another reason I am left at this conclusion is because of the minimal use of imagery in the newspaper apart from advertisements. In this day, you will seldom find a newspaper without an eye-grabbing image or headline on the front page—especially for a story with such a large impact.

Scan from the October 31, 1938 issue of the
New York Times.

Story format: similarities and differences

The format of the headline, subhead and copy do appear in the same manner of hierarchy as today's standards, from larger and more bold to smaller and less bold on the page. The difference, though, is that the story did not include a byline; no story or image is printed without giving credit these days. My first reaction was to assume that maybe the credit would be listed at the end of the story, but it wasn't. My second reaction was to guess that perhaps the story was compiled by various writers accounting for the news across various areas of New York as there are sections within the story with subheads such as “Harlem Shaken By the 'News,'” “Record Westchester Calls,” and “Columbia Explains Broadcast.” Moreover, the story was published the following day of the radio broadcast. Whether this assumption is correct or false, the other stories in the paper also lack a proper byline. The most relative recognition you will find, for example, will read “From a Staff Correspondent.”

Revealing drama—using drama. . .

My overall impression of the content of the story was that it was a bit scattered and disorganized, without a clear focus or direction. It started with a lead that managed to sum up the whole article in approximately 50 words. Then, it swayed back and forth a bit between listeners' reactions and information about the broadcast. Reading the story itself seemed to stir up some of the anxiety and emotional upheaval that it was reporting on. The copy is loaded with colorful words and phrases like “disrupted households,” “clogged communications systems,” “shock and hysteria,” and “fright and panic,” and the various sentence structures used interchangeably add to the dramatic appeal. The story is largely entertainment, in my opinion, besides the news it provides about the story being fictional. If I were to rewrite the story, I would begin with announcing that the broadcast was fictional, give some background or explanation of the broadcast, and then conclude with the reactions of the audience and other repercussions. And then, of course, I would throw in some visuals.

Listeners panic after radio drama

Reaction to The New York Times ‘Radio Listeners in Panic, Taking War Drama as Fact’ on the Oct. 31, 1938 edition Page 1

By Christopher Salinas

Aspects of “Back in the Day” Original Coverage

One of the first things I noticed from the headline of this story in The New York Times is how long it is compared to what you would see nowadays. Granted, some headlines do need to be longer and they still occur, but I feel like a story like this would be eager to grab you in first with a big headline, and then explain more afterwards. But no, the headline and subhead both continue lots of information to get you ready for even more information you’re about to read, which leads to my next aspect.

The lead is full of information, and unlike today’s leads where we are taught to keep it somewhere between 25-35, this lead had around 59 words. Anyone today would have been overwhelmed by this much information, but this was a different time and perhaps a unique story that called for such a thing.

Orson Welles, center, explains to reporters on October 31, 1938
his radio dramatization of H.G. Wells' "War of the Worlds."
Photo Credit: AP Photo

The story is so long and full of subheads and information. You get a “Message From the Police,” prayers and even another story about a geologist who fell for the radio broadcast. Any newspaper today would be extremely lucky to run even half of this story because it’s just trying to cover so much.

Because the writing is so detailed, it almost seems as if you’re reading a book. Again, there’s just so much information. I was surprised by how the reporter described the beginning to the reader, as if it were actually happening at that very moment. Even something as minor as mentioning that a weather report was preceded the broadcast seems a little absurd. I think if a journalist tried rewriting this in modern style, he or she would end up revising and cutting out a lot of this content because it would seem unimportant to most readers nowadays.

My Own Thoughts on the Article

I think the main reason the article and this newspaper are styled as they were back in the day is because there wasn’t as much media and possible sources as we have today to get our news from. Today, we take our information for granted, and a lot of times it leads to misinformation and bias. But these were the main sources people had, so filling it with information and detail didn’t seem so bizarre back then. 

The story itself is interesting. I’ve read and heard many things about the “The War of the Worlds” radio broadcast. The general consensus seems to be that it wasn’t nearly as big of a deal as we and newspapers made it out to be. Only around 20 percent of the listeners actually believed the broadcast was real, according to National Geographic's news, which is also a great summary of what happened for anyone who just wants to know the gist of it.

Orson Welles is shown putting out his hands
after his CBS radio broadcast of War of the Worlds.
Photo Credit: AP Photo

Whether the story was a big deal or not, The New York Times appeared to cover the “War” well by reporting every possible piece of information people would want to know about, especially messages from the police. It even states of the broadcast told listeners at the beginning that it was going to be a drama and that there was even a time slot allotted for the program. Yet people who tuned in late fell for the broadcast. I definitely got a good idea of what happened from this article, and it didn’t seem to be feeding into any hyper sensationalism. It clearly gave the news, with some added detail, and no kind of bias. You even have the different reactions from people.
The broadcast itself is very convincing, and if I hadn't heard then introduction and was living back in the time where I had no access to the Internet and other resources, I might have believed it as well. It was a very tense time already, especially with America on the brink of World War II. Check out the audio from the broadcast at Internet Archive.

War of the Worlds 75th Anniversary Coverage
By: Andrew Smith

In my research of the historic War of the Worlds radio broadcast, I came across a Dallas Morning News article talking about the public reaction and the facts of the event. Firstly the broadcast was done through Columbia Broadcast System (CBS) on the evening of Sunday Oct. 30, 1938. The drama was derived from an H.G. Well’s novel. Because of the story’s tale of destruction and it’s presentation as an unfolding news story, hosts routinely announced that the events were fictional.

The story focused on the destruction of New York City and the nearby state of New Jersey. It claimed that planes were dropping bombs on the two locations and that craft from Mars had landed. It was also mentioned that a large meteorite was streaking through the sky and on a collision course with earth. The conflict was said to be deadly, with bodies lying in the streets. Adding to the believability came reports from an astronomer claiming to have seen strange explosions in the sky just before hand. And a Dr. from the Natural History Museum of New York called in to report seismic activity from the extraterrestrial impacts. The host asked his sources if the happenings had anything to do with the possibility of life on the planet Mars.

Hundreds of listeners throughout the country, who were not fully attuned to the facts of the broadcast, began to call local law enforcement, seeking help and information.  Reports described large groups of Harlem residents taking to the streets in a panic, unsure of the safest course of action. Police initially believed the reports to be nothing more than jokes, but the swarm of calls and the crowds in the streets became difficult to control.

Orson Welles, center, speaks with press the day after the live broadcast
of War of the Worlds. Photo Credit: AP Photo

Demand for updated news on the supposed disaster became so great that the Associated Press even took to posting a bulletin explaining that it was all a story of fiction and was intended for thrill. Though the dramatized events took place far from the Dallas area, the article in the paper illustrates its far reaching effects and notes that local residents were genuinely concerned.Interestingly the headline of the story reads “Radio Drama Backfires on Big Network.” The article made little to no mention of what the negative ramifications were for CBS. Instead it seemed to focus more on the reaction of select few hundred people who weren’t fully informed or were too distraught to catch the disclaimers. Naturally, highlighting the more extreme reactions made the article a more amusing read and added to the newsworthy quality of the story.