I’m not sure who placed a gigantic bull’s eye on the south side of Racine, but for the second time in less than six months, we have been visited by a tornado. This one wasn’t quite as close to our house as this summer’s (which damaged homes eight blocks away from us) but it touched down just a few blocks from Schulte Elementary School, where Kathy teaches- and in fact, the school lost power for more than three hours, thanks to the huge storm which swept through so dramatically that morning, right before 8.
Speaking of drama, there was double-decker drama during that day’s Morning Show. My guest that morning was Vanessa Schoeder, a recent Carthage grad who is directing her first show- the Lakeside Players‘ production of “War of the Worlds” – and she was on the program to talk about it. After our conversation had finished up, I decided to fill the rest of the hour by replaying a portion of the historic Orson Welles radio braodcast of 1938, the one that sent thousands of people across the country (or was it millions?) into an absolute panic because they didn’t seem to understand that they were hearing a radio drama and not real news accounts of an actual invasion from Mars.
Just as the morning show started, we received word that the severe storm that had rolled through the area had indeed touched off a tornado which had evidently touched down just north of the Kenosha Airport, and stayed on the ground for five minutes, traveling all the way into Racine. As soon as we could, we dispatched WGTD News Director Dave McGrath into the field” to call in an eyewitness account of the damage. And as luck would have it, his call to the station came about halfway through the War of the Worlds broadcast, just at that dramatic point when the fictitious announcer says that we’re going to Sutter’s Field for the latest news. . . or words to that effect. Within moments of that, I had to pot down the War of the World to say that we were going to Dave McGrath for a report on storm damage . . . . in what amounted to one of the strangest cases of real life imitating make-believe drama I can ever remember.
In fact, as I went on to describe the storm, other watches and warnings, etc. it occurred to me that if I had a wicked sense of humor, questionable ethics, and a desire to suddenly have some free time every weekday morning, I could have gone on the mic and said that there had been an explosion at the Zion nuclear power plant or a terrorist attack imminent, or anything my imagination might concoct, and chances are that there would have been someone out there who would have believed every word I was saying. That’s part of the mystique and magic of broadcasting. . . and it was especially true back in 1938, when people were probably even more apt to trust everything that they heard emanating from their radio- in much the same way that some people are still a bit too apt to believe anything and everything that they find on the internet.
By the way, I recorded Tuesday’s morning show and was listening to it last night because I was excited to relive what felt at the time like one of my most triumphant moments at WGTD. . . reacting to the rapidly unfolding events with clarity and calm. . . But then I heard myself calmly announce that the most serious damage in Racine was believed to have occurred near the corner of Ohio Street and Kinzie Avenue, which is highway 11. First of all, that news item from the Associated Press proved to be incorrect and that wasn’t at all where the main damage had occurred. But on top of that, Kinzie Avenue isn’t highway 11. . . Durand Avenue is! I heard that misinformation coming out of my mouth and cringed. . . and then double-cringed when I heard it a second time . . . and nearly drove my car into a telephone pole when I heard it a third and final time. So it wasn’t just a momentary slip of the tongue- I delivered that misinformation again and again and again over the course of my thirteen-minute live broadcast. (And it was so incredibly stupid of me. I live just a few blocks south of Durand – and Holy Communion is located right off of Kinzie.) Which just goes to show ya. . . a healthy dose of humble pie is often served up to us when we least expect it.
P.S. – I can write rather lightheartedly about the storm because no one suffered any significant injuries, and it sounds like there was also fairly minimal damage to people’s homes. So we were fortunate.
pictured above: This neat coffee table book includes the full text of H.G. Wells‘ original “War of the World” plus a detailed account of the radio adaption directed by Orson Wells – and a companion CD which includes the entire 1938 broadcast plus a recording of Wells‘ press conference the next morning.