Radio: War of the Worlds CSP (1938)

Radio: War of the Worlds CSP (1938)

Our second CSP for radio is the 1938 CBS broadcast of War of the Worlds.

This is a famous broadcast of Orson Welles's radio play - an adaptation of HG Wells's science-fiction novel of the same name. It is a text of historical significance due to a long-running debate over the effect the broadcast had over audiences at the time. Here's a lesson video taking you through some of the key ideas around War of the Worlds:



Narrative and background

War of the Worlds, a science-fiction novel by author HG Wells, was first published in 1898. It is a story of alien invasion and war between mankind and an extra-terrestrial race from Mars.

The original 1938 Orson Welles broadcast is available here:

In particular, focus on the following extracts:

Opening: 0.00 – 4.00
Development: 10.00 – 13.00
Emergence of alien: 17.00 – 19.00
Middle section: 39.00 – 41.00
Ending: 57.00 – end 

Think about these questions while you listen:

• How does the radio play seek to engage the audience?
• What effect do you think this may have had on radio audiences in 1938?

Hybrid genre

Orson Welles was initially reluctant to adapt War of the Worlds, describing it as 'boring'. He was persuaded by the prospect of using recent developments in radio news reporting to create a hybrid-form radio play designed to sound like a real breaking news story. The broadcast begins with a music performance that is increasingly interrupted by breaking news of martians invading New Jersey.


Historical context

In 1938, the world was on edge as Germany mobilised to invade Europe and populations feared gas attacks from another world war. In the weeks leading up to the 1938 broadcast, American radio stations had increasingly cut into scheduled programming to bring news updates from Europe on the chances of war. This meant Welles's use of radio news conventions had more of an impact on listeners who were unaware that it was a fictional radio play.

Media effects theories

The War of the Worlds radio play has become a much-studied text with regards to media effects theories. The initial reported reaction from audiences provided evidence for the Frankfurt School's Hypodermic Needle theory - that suggests people believe whatever they see or hear in the media. However, later studies suggest the audience reaction was exaggerated by the newspaper industry (under threat from radio at the time) and that audiences are more sophisticated consumers of media than first thought.

You can also apply Gerbner's Cultivation Theory, the two-step flow model and Stuart Hall's Reception Theory to Orson Welles's War of the Worlds broadcast.



Radiolab podcast on War of the Worlds

The American podcast Radiolab looked back on the significance of the 1938 broadcast of War of the Worlds and later attempts to recreate the effect. It's a brilliant summary of the context and reaction from the audience alongside clips from the broadcast and transcripts from interviews at the time.

You can listen to the Radiolab podcast here.

War of the Worlds: Blog tasks

Media Factsheet

Read Media Factsheet #176: CSP Radio - War of the Worlds. You'll need your Greenford Google login to download it. Then answer the following questions:

1) What is the history and narrative behind War of the Worlds?

A radio adaption of H.G. Wells’ novel first published in 1898, War of the Worlds was adapted by Orson Welles (director of citizen kane) in 1938.

It tells the fictional event of an alien invasion and the ensuing conflict between mankind and an extra-terrestrial race from Mars in the vein similar to a news story.
The Trenton Police Department (close to the site of the fictional invasion) received over 2000 calls in less than two hours, while the New York Times switchboard received 875 calls from concerned listeners wanting to know where they would be safe.

2) When was it first broadcast and what is the popular myth regarding the reaction from the audience?

30th October 1938. The myth is that there was mass panic and hysteria out on the streets.

3) How did the New York Times report the reaction the next day?

The New York Times headline was "MANY FLEE HOMES TO ESCAPE ‘GAS RAID FROM MARS’ – PHONE CALLS SWAMP POLICE AT BROADCAST OF WELLES FANTASY" 

It was said the broadcast disrupted households, interrupted religious services, created traffic jams and clogged communication systems, and that many began to flee their homes.

4) How did author Brad Schwartz describe the the broadcast and its reaction?

He suggests that hysteria it caused was not entirely a myth. “Instead it was something decades ahead of its time: history’s first viral-media phenomenon.” 

He argues that “the stories of those whom the show frightened offer a fascinating window onto how users engage with media content, spreading and reinterpreting it to suit their own world views.

But it’s even more important to understand how the press magnified and distorted those reactions, creating a story that terrified the nation all over again, so that we can recognise when the same thing happens today. Our news media still have a penchant for making us fear the wrong things, of inflating certain stories into false Armageddons, as they did with War of the Worlds.”

5) Why did Orson Welles use hybrid genres and pastiche and what effect might it have had on the audience?

His version of War of the Worlds reworks a Victorian narrative about an alien invasion (which he considered “boring”) and turns it into an exciting radio play through his use of pastiche.

 By borrowing the conventions of the radio newscast, he is able to create real moments of shock and awe, which almost certainly account for the strong reaction it received. By creating a hybrid form – mixing conventional storytelling with news conventions – Welles blurred the boundaries between fact and fiction in a way that audiences had never experienced.

6) How did world events in 1938 affect the way audiences interpreted the show?

>Hitler signed the Munich Agreement annexing portions of Czechoslovakia and creating the ‘Sudetenland’.
>At this time, radio networks frequently interrupted programmes to issue news bulletins with updates on the situation in Europe
>As a result, audiences became familiar with such interruptions and were thus more accepting of Welles’ faux newscasts at the beginning of the play. Indeed, for the listeners, it didn’t sound like a play.

>The rise of fascism and Nazism in the 1930s during the build up to the second world war undoubtedly caused the public to be more on-edge and more likely to get panicked by a radio series like this.

7) Which company broadcast War of the Worlds in 1938?

CBS Radio network

8) Why might the newspaper industry have deliberately exaggerated the response to the broadcast?

1930s and 1940s were considered to be the ‘golden age of radio.’

During this era radio was still a relatively new medium but was widespread in homes across America. It was increasingly competing with newspapers for audiences and advertisers and, in 1938, was winning the battle.

Radio made money off advertising revenue from print during the Depression, badly damaging the newspaper industry.

Papers seized the opportunity to discredit radio as a source of news.

9) Does War of the Worlds provide evidence to support the Frankfurt School's Hypodermic Needle theory?

It can be interpreted as a passive audience believing whatever they hear, however there were many other factors that could make an audience of the time believe something like war of the world:
"The theory states that audiences consume and respond to media texts in an unquestioning way, believing what they read, see or hear. 

This might be true of the audiences of the 1930s, unfamiliar with new media forms like radio, but in the modern age it carries less weight. 

It is questionable as to how far most of the audience were actually duped by the broadcast. And, those who ‘bought into’ the idea of an invasion, may well have been influenced by external factors such as the social and political context of the time. It was not impossible to believe that a foreign power was invading American soil in 1938."

10) How might Gerbner's cultivation theory be applied to the broadcast?

Gerbner’s Cultivation Theory emphasises the longer-term effects that media texts have upon audiences. Based on his research into television viewing, cultivation theory states that high frequency viewers of television are more susceptible to media messages and the belief that they are real.

Applied to War of the Worlds it could be argued that an audience familiar with the frequent interruptions to radio shows over the weeks leading up to the broadcast did not question the faux invasion broadcasts during Welles’ production.

11) Applying Hall's Reception Theory, what could be the preferred and oppositional readings of the original broadcast?

The preferred reading may be to feel an initial shock from the presentation of the broadcast, however interpret it as a fictional story to enjoy as a piece of entertainment. Welles likely assumed the audience listening would have enough media literacy to realise, at least as the broadcast continued, that this wasn't real.

The oppositional reading would be to completely panic about it.

12) Do media products still retain the ability to fool audiences as it is suggested War of the Worlds did in 1938? Has the digital media landscape changed this?

The factsheet mentions The Blair Witch Project, a film made up of  'found footage' which sparked debate among audiences as to whether the footage was real. However due to where they watch the media text, it is unlikely to have fooled the audience in the same way, or with the same authority as a series of radio news bulletins. 

Analysis and opinion

1) Why do you think the 1938 broadcast of War of the Worlds has become such a significant moment in media history?

It seems to be one of the first instances of mass hysteria caused due to a piece of fictional media, which brings up questions about the morality of blurring the line between fiction and reality and the way audiences respond to media such as this. It likely caused discussions about how passive audiences are in the consuming of media and how global events can obscure our perception of it. 

It also sheds light on the way newspapers and media can exaggerate events in order to fit their narrative, showing how powerful news outlets are in shaping society's worldview. 

2) War of the Worlds feels like a 1938 version of 'fake news'. But which is the greater example of fake news - Orson Welles's use of radio conventions to create realism or the newspapers exaggerating the audience reaction to discredit radio?

Well, War of the Worlds was presented as a piece of fiction from the beginning. The objective wasn't to trick the audience into believing that this was a real alien invasion. The newspapers however, purposefully exaggerated the audience reaction in order to discredit radio. Since the newspapers presented this as fact, surely the greater example of fake news is the newspapers. 

3) Do you agree with the Frankfurt School's Hypodermic Needle theory? If not, was there a point in history audiences were more susceptible to believing anything they saw or heard in the media?

I don't, as it suggests audiences are completely passive shells who will consume any ideology presented to them.

I think there was. For example, the film of a train that was shown to a group of people that caused them to dodge out of the way, due to never seeing a film before and not being able to comprehend it.

4) Has the digital media age made the Hypodermic Needle model more or less relevant? Why?

I think people are much more cautious of news and messages they see online. The digital media age allows for more "normal" people's viewpoints to be shared around easier, and thus a user of social media isn't going to believe everything they see as they are bound to agree with some things and disagree with others. The age allows for critical thinking and for people to make their own viewpoints and share their views.

5) Do you agree with George Gerbner's Cultivation theory - that suggests exposure to the media has a gradual but significant effect on audience's views and beliefs? Give examples to support your argument.

I think this theory can be true in some cases, especially with children, however I don't think the media can completely desensitise people when it comes to certain topics.

If you are constantly exposed to one ideology, such as only getting your news from right leaning news outlets, you may easily develop right wing ideologies for example. In the same way a child may develop bigoted views from their parents.

An example that disagrees is the use of death in media texts. Media is saturated with death, with video games, movies and any piece of fictional writing showing and discussing death constantly. The average person has probably been exposed to hundreds of examples of death, murder etc in movies and TV, and so they are likely to be desensitised to the abundance of it in media. However, I don't think it would effect a person to the point that hearing or witnessing a death in real life would make them apathetic to it.

6) Is Gerbner's Cultivation theory more or less valid today than it would have been in 1938? Why?

I think it's less valid, as in this digital age we have access to everybody's views and opinions through social media and can easily make judgements about if we agree or disagree or not. We don't only consume left wing media or right wing media, we consume both.