I was interviewed this afternoon by an author in the UK, who's writing a book on legendary radio hoaxes.
He's researching the local version of "War of the Worlds" that we performed on Halloween, 1974.
This caused a REAL fuss...
...and has been written-up elsewhere, including the 2004 book, "Panic Attacks: Media Manipulation and Mass Media Delusion," by Robert E. Bartholemew & Hilary Evans (http://www.amazon.com/Panic-Attacks...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210973776&sr=1-1).
I hadn't heard this show in decades, and I didn't know ANYBODY who still had a copy.
This author DID, and he put it on his server, so I could download it...and you can listen online:
http://www.war-ofthe-worlds.co.uk/wpro/wpro.html
We figured this would be a cute Halloween bit...
We never thought listeners would BELIEVE what-we-were-telling them.
I had JUST started full-time at WPRO a month before (and I SOUND that young).
Our "War of the Worlds" began on my 7-midnight show.
We pre-recorded the whole thing; so, the-minute-it-began, I jumped in the car and drove around, to hear it.
We had re-worked a script that aired on our sister station WKBW/Buffalo.
Interestingly, they TRIED to produce a scripted version...but it didn't work.
So they had their news people ad-lib...THAT script worked...and we re-worked that ad-libbed version.
We were reading almost every word you'll hear, with local references replacing Buffalo-area landmarks mentioned in KB's version.
What's most impressive about this, as I re-listen decades later, is:
1. How much work went into this. Our production director, the late, great, Jake Paquin spliced this all together. And I mean SPLICED. Today, it's a snap to digitally edit 24 tracks on a laptop. At the time, Jake was working with two turntables, several cart machines, and 3 reel tape decks, one-of-which was a 2-track. LOTS of grease-pencil-and-razor-blade. MANY man-hours of work.
2. How deep our cast-of-characters was. There are more voices in this show that lots of stations now have on-staff. That deep News crew you'll hear is one reason so many people freaked out that night. Listeners were accustomed to BELIEVING us. You'll hear PD Jay Clark in "take-charge" mode...and eventually as last-man-on-Earth. Listen as various staffers get vaporized by aliens-from-another-planet ("...the charred body of Barry Parker" was found on Jamestown, after the bridge blew up). We also blew up the Newport Bridge. Everyone in Fall River died.
3. The impact EVENING programming could have. And WPRO-AM's 1974 night time pattern hadn't yet been pushed-out to-the-south. We didn't get into East Greenwich at night back then. But, even so, our local music programming, WITH news, got numbers, against then-aggressive competitors. Here's "the book" that included this fateful evening: http://hollandcooke.com/Arb.jpg
4. How naive we were! Earlier-in-the-day, vague teases alluded to something special that night...but, as you'll hear, the show did NOT begin with a disclaimer.
In that respect, WPRO's "War of the Worlds" caused as much local fuss as Orson Welles' earlier version did nationally.
But Welles' show DID begin with a disclaimer...that nobody heard.
In the 1930s, radio shows began-and-ended at various times.
Unlike WPRO-in-1974, Welles' Mercury Theater was NOT the ratings leader.
He was the ratings underdog to A DUMMY...literally.
VENTRILOQUIST Edgar Bergen had the top-rated show in its time period.
And Bergen's show ended after Welles' had begun.
So most listeners who channel-surfed to Mercury Theater after Bergen ended had missed the disclaimer.
You won't hear a disclaimer until 3/4-of-the-way-into this show, calmly voiced by Salty, his only appearance on the show.
At the end, Larry Kruger and Jimmy Gray, who did not appear in the play, read the close and credits.
The next day, we were the lead story on all 3 TV stations, and on page one in the newspaper.
EVERYONE was upset at us...except advertisers.
We were duly apologetic...and smirking.
WJAR and WGNG were EXTREMELY aggressive competitors at the time.
But, that next day, all they could do is play-the-hits.
This not-so-little stunt earned us a-slap-on-the-wrist from the FCC...and those ratings.
Helluva bit.
HC
www.HollandCooke.com
He's researching the local version of "War of the Worlds" that we performed on Halloween, 1974.
This caused a REAL fuss...
...and has been written-up elsewhere, including the 2004 book, "Panic Attacks: Media Manipulation and Mass Media Delusion," by Robert E. Bartholemew & Hilary Evans (http://www.amazon.com/Panic-Attacks...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210973776&sr=1-1).
I hadn't heard this show in decades, and I didn't know ANYBODY who still had a copy.
This author DID, and he put it on his server, so I could download it...and you can listen online:
http://www.war-ofthe-worlds.co.uk/wpro/wpro.html
We figured this would be a cute Halloween bit...
We never thought listeners would BELIEVE what-we-were-telling them.
I had JUST started full-time at WPRO a month before (and I SOUND that young).
Our "War of the Worlds" began on my 7-midnight show.
We pre-recorded the whole thing; so, the-minute-it-began, I jumped in the car and drove around, to hear it.
We had re-worked a script that aired on our sister station WKBW/Buffalo.
Interestingly, they TRIED to produce a scripted version...but it didn't work.
So they had their news people ad-lib...THAT script worked...and we re-worked that ad-libbed version.
We were reading almost every word you'll hear, with local references replacing Buffalo-area landmarks mentioned in KB's version.
What's most impressive about this, as I re-listen decades later, is:
1. How much work went into this. Our production director, the late, great, Jake Paquin spliced this all together. And I mean SPLICED. Today, it's a snap to digitally edit 24 tracks on a laptop. At the time, Jake was working with two turntables, several cart machines, and 3 reel tape decks, one-of-which was a 2-track. LOTS of grease-pencil-and-razor-blade. MANY man-hours of work.
2. How deep our cast-of-characters was. There are more voices in this show that lots of stations now have on-staff. That deep News crew you'll hear is one reason so many people freaked out that night. Listeners were accustomed to BELIEVING us. You'll hear PD Jay Clark in "take-charge" mode...and eventually as last-man-on-Earth. Listen as various staffers get vaporized by aliens-from-another-planet ("...the charred body of Barry Parker" was found on Jamestown, after the bridge blew up). We also blew up the Newport Bridge. Everyone in Fall River died.
3. The impact EVENING programming could have. And WPRO-AM's 1974 night time pattern hadn't yet been pushed-out to-the-south. We didn't get into East Greenwich at night back then. But, even so, our local music programming, WITH news, got numbers, against then-aggressive competitors. Here's "the book" that included this fateful evening: http://hollandcooke.com/Arb.jpg
4. How naive we were! Earlier-in-the-day, vague teases alluded to something special that night...but, as you'll hear, the show did NOT begin with a disclaimer.
In that respect, WPRO's "War of the Worlds" caused as much local fuss as Orson Welles' earlier version did nationally.
But Welles' show DID begin with a disclaimer...that nobody heard.
In the 1930s, radio shows began-and-ended at various times.
Unlike WPRO-in-1974, Welles' Mercury Theater was NOT the ratings leader.
He was the ratings underdog to A DUMMY...literally.
VENTRILOQUIST Edgar Bergen had the top-rated show in its time period.
And Bergen's show ended after Welles' had begun.
So most listeners who channel-surfed to Mercury Theater after Bergen ended had missed the disclaimer.
You won't hear a disclaimer until 3/4-of-the-way-into this show, calmly voiced by Salty, his only appearance on the show.
At the end, Larry Kruger and Jimmy Gray, who did not appear in the play, read the close and credits.
The next day, we were the lead story on all 3 TV stations, and on page one in the newspaper.
EVERYONE was upset at us...except advertisers.
We were duly apologetic...and smirking.
WJAR and WGNG were EXTREMELY aggressive competitors at the time.
But, that next day, all they could do is play-the-hits.
This not-so-little stunt earned us a-slap-on-the-wrist from the FCC...and those ratings.
Helluva bit.
HC
www.HollandCooke.com