FRIENDS OF NORTHERN WISCONSIN LIBRARIES

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

THE MARTIANS HAVE LANDED IN NEW JERSEY


October 30th, 1938 ........ Orson Welles broadcast his "War of the Worlds" radio program. Thousands were terrorized.
Not me! I was 13 days old and was not yet into listening to the radio. I was specializing in drowning out the radio with my cries to be fed.
The broadcast was an amazing event. When you listen to recordings of that show now, it's hard to believe that so many people were duped. However, Americans were nervous with the conflicts which had already began in Europe and China and were primed to believe just about any terrible thing that they heard on the airwaves.
Orson Welles, a Wisconsin native, went on to many great performances. Citizen Kane is still regarded by many as one of the greatest movies every made.
I'm not sure how much radio I'll be listening to today. However, if I tune into PBS and hear Garrison Keillor talking about Martians invading Lake Wobegon, well ..........................
You can actually download the radio broadcast onto Real Audio and listen to the full one-hour show at http://www.earthstation1.com/wotw.html

Labels: ,

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

RADIO ON YOUR COMPUTER


One of the advantages of radio is that you can listen to it while you are doing something else. And these Generation X-ers think they invented multi-tasking!
I have fond memories of my childhood when the entire family was in the living room listening to our favorite radio programs. Mom was sewing, Dad was always fixing something, my little sister was scribbling in a coloring book, and I was playing with cars or soldiers or something. Fibber Magee & Molly or Boston Blackie or some such program was filling the room.
You can still do this sort of thing today, while you are working on your computer. There are thousands of stations you can get over the Net. Try out the following:
www.usliveradio.com (United States)

Labels: