The First Great Radio Hoax: London, January 16, 1926Twelve years BEFORE Orson Welles’ infamous War of the Worlds hoax, BBC radio put out a fake news programme of its own. Ronald Knox’s Broadcasting the Barricades convinced thousands of British listeners that London had been attacked by Communist rioters, Big Ben flattened by mortars, the Savoy Hotel bombed to rubble and a Government minister lynched in the street. [via mefi projects]
The BBC was flooded with anxious calls, provincial mayors dusted off their own cities’ emergency plans and the Royal Navy was told to dispatch a battleship up the Thames. The New York Times had a jolly good laugh at the Brits’ foolish gullability, smugly heading its own report: “We are safe from such jesting”. Oh, really?
"Imagine if the hoax continued; paranoid and unstable radio personalities daily propping up imaginary foes, spreading populist fear against protecting our common interests. When will it ever end?" writes a commenter over at mifi; I think, he, you, and I know that it never ha$.
ןooʇ- ɹɐןןop ʎʇɹıp ssɐʇɐɟ ɹnoʎ ɹoɟ buıbbǝq ʇɔnpoɹd ɐ sı ʌʇ uo ɹɐǝɥ puɐ ǝǝs ɹo ɹɐǝʍ puɐ pɐǝɹ noʎ ןןɐ
˙˙˙ʎʇıןɐǝɹ pǝʇɐıpǝɯ ɹnoʎ oʇ ʞɔɐq 'ʍou
-
Anonymous said...
-
I enjoy your site... I like how the graphics change at the top of the page and I wonder where you found such a collection of critters to stick up there?
- 8:13 PM
-
a female Faust said...
-
comments... comments? i have been coming here regularly since at least 05 or so - aint never seen no way to give back -- so much to say - only a tangent to this here post. Mr. $cam, may i call you uncle, you fucking rock. thank you for being a part of my family. thank you so very much. cool upsidedown font, too. all of this is far too general, especially since this unexpected opportunity comes after a spate of being incapable of reading or posting, brought on by a dawning comprehension of the situation in the gulf. so -- to give back -- something i feel as though you ppartially inspired -- my first, uh, piece -- written earlier this year. and, what the fuck, a poem. be seeing you.
- 10:03 AM
Post a CommentThe press and media are the warm blankets empire wraps our minds with, so we don't notice how cold, mean and terrible the bumbling bureaucracy's mouth feels feeding upon us.
Thanks for keeping at it!
DaveS