RadioActive wrote:

By now most here are familiar with the story of how Orson Welles' infamous radio drama "War of the Worlds" panicked listeners in the U.S. It happened on this day in 1938, exactly 86 years ago. 

We all know the somewhat exaggerated stories of the fear the show caused down south. But what happened here? The Toronto Star's story on the fright night brings back some pretty interesting Canadian history I never knew. 

The show aired in only two cities north of the border - CFRB in Toronto and CKAC in Montreal. But there were some here who were reportedly panicked at what was coming out of their speakers, just like those unsuspecting listeners in the States.

The result was predictable, at least by Canuck standards - a plan to consider banning future such programs being allowed to air in this country.

The CBC was in charge of broadcast regulation in those days and immediately began a campaign to consider new rules to "protect Canadian listeners against U.S. radio 'scare' programs."

It's not clear if they ever actually did it, but the fact it was under consideration is a fascinating info nugget long lost to history. 

But I find the idea that the CBC was in charge of all broadcasting decisions back then far more frightening than anything Mr. Welles may have conceived of!

wor

The exact same thing happened in the US.  Iowa senator Clyde L. Herring proposed a bill that all programming be reviewed by the FCC prior to broadcast.  Similar to Canada the proposal didn't go anywhere. Reading from the small story in the Star it doesn't sound like there was any panic here at all.   

CBC back in the 30's was much more an agency of the government which they are not today.  There aren't really any worthwhile comparisons between then and now. 

Also interesting that the ratings for War of The Worlds wasn't that great.  One estimate had that only 2% of the US listening audience at the time was tuned into the broadcast.  According to wiki, EC Cooper the main ratings service at the time had telephoned 5,000 households during the broadcast and found that 98% were listening to something else.
 
The Chase and Sanborn Hour on NBC which aired in the same time slot was vastly more popular. 

paterson1 wrote:

RadioActive wrote:

By now most here are familiar with the story of how Orson Welles' infamous radio drama "War of the Worlds" panicked listeners in the U.S. It happened on this day in 1938, exactly 86 years ago. 

We all know the somewhat exaggerated stories of the fear the show caused down south. But what happened here? The Toronto Star's story on the fright night brings back some pretty interesting Canadian history I never knew. 

The show aired in only two cities north of the border - CFRB in Toronto and CKAC in Montreal. But there were some here who were reportedly panicked at what was coming out of their speakers, just like those unsuspecting listeners in the States.

The result was predictable, at least by Canuck standards - a plan to consider banning future such programs being allowed to air in this country.

The CBC was in charge of broadcast regulation in those days and immediately began a campaign to consider new rules to "protect Canadian listeners against U.S. radio 'scare' programs."

It's not clear if they ever actually did it, but the fact it was under consideration is a fascinating info nugget long lost to history. 

But I find the idea that the CBC was in charge of all broadcasting decisions back then far more frightening than anything Mr. Welles may have conceived of!

The exact same thing happened in the US.  Iowa senator Clyde L. Herring proposed a bill that all programming be reviewed by the FCC prior to broadcast.  Similar to Canada the proposal didn't go anywhere. Reading from the small story in the Star it doesn't sound like there was any panic here at all.   

CBC back in the 30's was much more an agency of the government which they are not today.  There aren't really any worthwhile comparisons between then and now. 

Also interesting that the ratings for War of The Worlds wasn't that great.  One estimate had that only 2% of the US listening audience at the time was tuned into the broadcast.  According to wiki, EC Cooper the main ratings service at the time had telephoned 5,000 households during the broadcast and found that 98% were listening to something else.
 
The Chase and Sanborn Hour on NBC which aired in the same time slot was vastly more popular. 

To be fair, the Star article was much, much longer and detailed the supposed panic in both the U.S. and Canada. But it was so long and wide, I'm not sure if it could have been displayed here. The Star noted there were some disturbances here. But the most interesting part was the blurb that appeared in this post. (The rest was mostly devoted to U.S. reaction.)

I remember studying this in school years ago and the conclusion of most scholars is the "panic" was more of a publicity stunt than an actual problem. Not to say there weren't people who overreacted, it just seems the legend has grown out of proportion with each passing year. 

In 1938, The Chase and Sanborn Hour featured Edgar Bergen (Candice's father) and his dummy Charlie McCarthy. It was very popular and I have no doubt it out rated The Mercury Theatre that fateful night. 

Still the CBC ruled that only their stations could operate at 50,000 watts. No private stations had that privilege until 1948 when CFRB was approved for 50K providing they give up 860 for 1010. I believe CKLW was also given the same power approval in 1948 as well.