[78-L] 1938 War of the Worlds broadcast in excllent sound

[Michael Biel]

Nelson Eddy was the star of the program and Don Ameche was the host. 
When RHJ says his father said he was "listening to Nelson", he probably
was referring to the PROGRAM HEADLINER, not the content that was on the
air at the moment. Bergen and McCarthy were NOT the stars of the show. 
Eddy opened the show with a song and was not the reason for the
tune-outs because the song was over at about 4 minutes into the show. 
Then most of the cast did a conversational routine with Ameche,
including Bergen & McCarthy.  There was a dramatic sketch after that,
and this might have been the tuneout. Listen tomorrow at 8 when
YesterdayUSA.com will play both shows in sync on our two channels.

As for the dial spinning, after sunset almost all the independent
non-network stations were off the air.  About all that most people could
pick up were multiples of network affiliates.  Turn the dial and you
will hit several CBS stations with the drama.

Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [78-L] 1938 War of the Worlds broadcast in excllent sound
From: David Lennick <dlennick at sympatico.ca>
Date: Tue, October 29, 2013 8:58 am
To: 78-L Mail List <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>

Now THAT is more credible than listeners automatically switching off at
the end 
of the first routine or the commercial or because Nelson Eddy came on.
The 
great unwashed had no idea who Orson Welles was on October 30, 1938. If
they 
changed stations, they might have been more likely to switch to a local
one 
playing music....depends on what was nearest to NBC on the dial in
whatever city.

dl

On 10/29/2013 6:36 AM, rjh334578gmail wrote:
> Musical taste, like beauty and funny, also rests with the beholder.
> Is the Chase and Sanborn show cited available online somewhere? My
> dad recalled they were listening to Nelson when the neighbors came
> pounding on the door and they listened to the remainder of Wells all
> the way to the can't soap all your windows line.
>
> Sent from my iPod - which explainz the bad typjng
>
> On Oct 29, 2013, at 12:04 AM, "Sammy Jones"<sjones69 at bellsouth.net>
> wrote:
>
>> They also exist as a souvenir set made for the "director of the
>> Mercury
>> Theatre and star of these broadcasts" which I have<grin>. The
>> recording
>> was made by the Harry Smith studio of New York.
>>
>> Lennick is right: there apparently was no repeat broadcast, so
>> listeners on
>> the west coast heard the show at 5 PM if they heard it at all.
>> Remember,
>> this was a very obscure, non-sponsored series up against one of the
>> top
>> comedy shows on the air.
>>
>> I still would like to pin down of the recording we have of the Chase
>> and
>> Sanborn Charlie McCarthy show of that night (Oct. 30) is from the
>> east or
>> west coast version. If the aircheck was made from a west coast
>> station,
>> then it's not the same performance that most of the country was
>> listening to
>> as Welles and his group put on their Hallowe'en Eve play...
>>
>> Sammy Jones
>>
>>
>>> It was LIVE LIVE LIVE and not even redone 3 hours later for the west
>>> coast.
>>> Transcriptions existed only as reference recordings (line or air
>>> checks)
>>> or for
>>> syndication to non-network stations because the radio networks had
>>> agreed
>>> for
>>> years never to broadcast a record. The first exception was Herb
>>> Morrison's
>>> Hindenburg report and as Mike Biel has said, it was the only one up
>>> to
>>> this
>>> point. No such problems existed in Europe or at the Beeb or in
>>> Canada.
>>>
>>> dl
>>>
>>> On 10/28/2013 7:18 PM, Julian Vein wrote:
>>>> Was it intended to be broadcast only once without reference to the
>>>> other
>>>> time zones? Was it transcribed by CBS for later broadcasting?
>>>>
>>>> Julian Vein
>>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> 78-L mailing list
>> 78-L at klickitat.78online.com
>> http://klickitat.78online.com/mailman/listinfo/78-l
> _______________________________________________
> 78-L mailing list
> 78-L at klickitat.78online.com
> http://klickitat.78online.com/mailman/listinfo/78-l
>
>

_______________________________________________
78-L mailing list
78-L at klickitat.78online.com
http://klickitat.78online.com/mailman/listinfo/78-l