What Really Happened During Orson Welles The War Of The Worlds Broadcast

On October 30 of 1938, a radio platform known as The Mercury Theater on the Air sent out a broadcast that would be remembered for decades to come. Orson Welles, narrator and creator of the show, addressed the nation by microphone, during which he proceeded to read from the H.G. Wells novel The War of the Worlds. Some people listening believed that the alien invasion that Welles’ preached was a true news broadcast, and pitted into hysteria. However, some believe that one of the most famous radio phenomena didn’t reach as many listeners as assumed. Here’s what really happened on Orson Welles’ The War of the Worlds Broadcast.

One of the Greats

     CBS Photo Archive / Getty  

Welles was a prominent director, screenwriter, actor, and producer who emerged during the 1930s, but his legacy continues to extend far beyond his time. Universities across the world use his films to instruct the fundamentals of filmmaking. Welles had a special flair for the dramatics since childhood, and later started his career on the stage, enjoying roles in plays ranging from Romeo and Juliet to Hamlet. According to Britannica, Welles traveled to Ireland after the death of his father. It was there that he auditioned for his first major stage role, and not long after would make his New York stage debut in 1934. Welles would appear on radio to perform excerpts from plays, and in time he would create one of his longest legacies The Mercury Theatre on the Air.

Despite his successes across multiple media platforms, Welles is most known for his work in Citizen Kane. The 1941 classic is a highly regarded piece of film history, and is often lauded as the greatest film of all time. Welles takes on the lead as Charles Foster Kane, a newspaper tycoon whose last words become a mystery to reporters across the city. Citizen Kane was a building block for film, and will be the very thing that has immortalized Welles in history.

The Broadcast from Outer Space

     The Boston Daily Globe   

H.G. Wells’ American novel The War of the Worlds was published in 1898, and told the fictional story of an alien invasion through an unidentified narrator. Welles would go on to adapt this story into a fictional news broadcast, centering in on Martians landing in New Jersey. On October 30, 1938, Welles went on air, reading from Wells’ novel for the station’s Halloween broadcast. The infamous broadcast became one of the most well known phenomena in radio history. Some counter this as merely a myth, however, radio was the main source of news in the 1930s, and the argument of translation always comes into play. The program used sounds and explosions to sell the experience, and with Welles’ talent being raised by the stage, the program was a hit.

According to Los Angeles Daily News, only two percent of the nation was actually listening to Welles’ broadcast when it aired, and it was actually the local newspapers that used the “fake news” report to assert an attack on radio as a valid source of information. Radio was the equivalent of what social media news is today — a pool of uncapped information with no definitive bottom. The War of the Worlds aired on CBS Radio and KNX in Los Angeles, and would go on to air on KNX’s Halloween special for decades to come.