War of the Worlds

The Effects of the `War of the Worlds ' Broadcast

On Halloween of 1938 , CBS presented a radio broadcast adaptation of H .G . Wells ' novel , War of the Worlds , as an episode of its weekly Mercury Theatre on the Air . The story is about aliens from Mars landing in New Jersey and creating chaos in the countryside , burning places and killing people . Presented as a series of news bulletins interrupting a supposedly live musical performance of an orchestra performance at the Park Plaza Hotel , the effect was of a real-time account of an actual

br Martian invasion

Those who heard the broadcast immediately told their neighbors until the story spread and caused confusion and panic among the people Millions were frightened and called the police for confirmation . Some were even said to have gone to Grover Mills , the place where the aliens were reported to have landed , hoping to get a glimpse of the aliens and their spaceships

The radio production was able to create mass hysteria because of the manner in which the program was presented . During the said period in history , radio was a popular medium and news flashes that interrupt in the middle of programs were common . They were reliable means of announcing the news . The War of the Worlds broadcast was made to sound like any other news broadcasts with experts like scientists analyzing the situation , military officials warning the people , and townspeople giving eyewitness account

It was also a time when the people were just bouncing back from a Great Depression , a period in history which has put the people wary . There was already general anxiety and the broadcast drove the people to the edge of their nerves . The radio was an important medium during the Depression in that government officials and even President Franklin Roosevelt used it to broadcast messages to appease the American people that things are going to be alright . When the War of the World broadcast used a voice similar to Roosevelt , some people didn 't pause to ask or doubt the authenticity of what they were hearing from the radio...