On October 30, 1938, Orson Welles’s radio program Mercury Theatre on the Air broadcast a radio play based on the H.G. Wells novel War of the Worlds. The original novel, set in 1890s England, told the story of a Martian invasion of Earth. To make the story more interesting and relevant to American listeners of the 1930s, the radio play took the form of an ordinary music program being interrupted by increasingly alarming news bulletins about a Martian invasion in rural New Jersey. Unfortunately, many listeners tuned in partway through the program and, having missed the introduction, took the fake news bulletins at face value, causing widespread panic across the United States.
At least, that’s what newspapers and radio stations reported at the time! In Broadcast Hysteria: Orson Welles’s War of the Worlds and the Art of Fake News (2015), author A. Brad Schwartz delves further into the story, examining hundreds of complaints and supportive letters sent to Welles and to the FCC in the immediate aftermath of the broadcast in order to get a fuller picture of how widespread the panic actually was.
In addition to an in-depth examination of the War of the Worlds broadcast, this book also discusses the development of radio news, the tensions between newspapers and early radio stations, and the way that radio, public opinion, and government policy all influenced each other. It focuses particularly on the psychological state of the American public on the eve of World War II and their fears that the new medium of radio would enable the rise of fascism and communism.
If you are at all interested in broadcasting, early 20th century history, or psychology, this book is a treat. It goes into a lot of detail, but it’s all fascinating!