Media interest in Orson Welles’ landmark War of the Worlds radio broadcast typically peaks in the final days of October each year, but that has changed with the arrival of William Elliott Hazelgrove’s book Dead Air: The Night Orson Welles Terrified America.
Hazelgrove, the best-selling author of such books as Forging a President: How the Wild West Created Teddy Roosevelt and Madam President: The Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson, has making the media rounds promoting his book on the broadcast and the panic it caused on the night of October 30, 1938 . There has been considerable coverage on both side of the Atlantic in print, broadcast and online.
This week, Dead Air and Mercury Theatre On the Air broadcast were the subject of Parthenon’s History Unplugged podcast. The nearly hour-long podcast focused on Hazelgrove’s contention that the panic caused by Welles was not overstated or limited to the East Coast.
An engaging program, it can be found be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or online at https://www.parthenonpodcast.com/history-unplugged-podcast/did-orson-welless-1938-war-of-the-worlds-broadcast-really-cause-a-mass-panic\
Another Dead Air-related podcast was released this week by Hillsdale College. How Orson Welles Terrified America featured Hazelgrove and was produced for the Radio Free Hillsdale Hour.
The 43-minute program can be heard online on Spotify, iTunes and YouTube or online at https://podcast.hillsdale.edu/how-orson-welles-terrified-america/
(Editor’s note: Dead Air: The Night That Orson Welles Terrified America can be pre-ordered from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Walmart and other online retailers.
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