Happy Halloween!

As promised, here is my special Brutally Honest Halloween show from this past Saturday... enjoy!

"War of the Worlds" - Seventy Years Later!

Click Play to hear the actual radio show.

(Radio show comes courtesy of Old Time Radio and the Internet Archive.)

On October 30th, 1938, a small group of radio performers gave a performance that would, quite literally, shock the world.

To lead actor and star Orson Welles, the performance was nothing more than a cleaver Halloween stunt; to scare people on the radio in the same way that people scared themselves in front of the campfire for generations gone by.

The show certainly sounds innocent enough on the onset. Some timely music, reportedly coming from a hotel ballroom, and the occasional discussion about an otherwise innocent meteor strike. But then the story takes a more dramatic turn.

Unfortunately Welles did not take into consideration the fact that certain listeners would not be able to listen to the start of the program, which announced that the production was actually fictional. Even in those days audience members would engage in what we today refer as "channel jumping", where they would jump from one station to the next every time that station would go to break. So some listeners would go from Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy to boxing to shocking news from Grover's Mill.

Before the show reached the halfway point, the panic was nationwide. People were fleeing their homes in New York, New Jersey, Ohio, and Illinois. Police stations from Boston to Los Angeles were flooded with calls from frantic listeners that believed that the world was in fact coming to an end. College students in North Carolina were frantically calling their parents, begging to come get them, fearing the worst. Even listeners in Canada were frantically calling CFRB in Toronto asking for more information.

Hospitals were filled with people who claimed to be overcome by smoke and stricken by fear. The electric company in Providence, Rhode Island, was besieged with callers demanding that they turn off all the electricity as a "defensive maneuver".

In the days that followed, the Federal Communications Commission, only five years old, summoned the leaders of the broadcast companies to Washington to discuss remedies to prevent future hysterical outbursts. One suggestion commonly expressed was the outright prohibition of the use of the words "flash" and "bulletin" for any broadcast other than legitimate news stories. This would be the second time such speech was censored by the FCC, the first being made upon the formation of the FCC back in 1933 when they were ordered by Congress to prohibit any kind of message supporting socialism, Communism, or Nazism.

Still more draconian methods were proposed by members of Congress in the wake of this broadcast. One such measure insisted by Senator Clyde Herring (Democrat) of Iowa would require that the FCC review EVERY broadcast before it could be aired. Fortunately, the Senator's blatant bowdlerization plan failed to gain traction.

Regretfully, even H.G. Wells, who wrote the original story, was outraged at the hysteria, but was even more outraged at Orson Welles making changes to his legendary story and thus demanded that the Columbia Broadcasting Station issue an immediate retraction.

The Columbia Broadcasting Station apologized profusely to the hysteria that was inadvertently caused by the late-coming listeners and vowed that the show would NEVER BE AIRED AGAIN!

Of course, it has been rebroadcast since then... and remade and paid homage to numerous times, and even today, on the 70th anniversary of the original broadcast, it is available for people to listen to at their leisure.

A few things that should be mentioned...

• If the "artillery cannons" sounded like a toilet flushing, that's because it was. Some very creative people strung a microphone cable to the men's room for some of the sound effects.
  
• The "Secretary of the Interior" was originally supposed to be the President, but radio officials balked at the idea and ordered it be changed, even though many panic-stricken listeners were convinced it really was President Roosevelt.
  
• Orson Welles supposedly played a recording on the reporter's account of the 1937 Hindenburg disaster to demonstrate the kind of tone the fictional radio announcer should take during the performance.
  
• In the original story by H.G. Wells, the story takes place in his home country of England. Orson Welles believed that the story needed to be moved to New Jersey so it would appeal to the American listeners. (This was part of Wells' complaint about the radio show.)
  
• The Columbia Broadcasting Station, the syndicated radio system, is best known today as the TV network CBS.
  
• The radio station where the Mercury Theater on the Air made the broadcast was WABC in New York. WABC would later change their call letters to WCBS, and a new WABC would be created in 1953 which would become the flagship to the American Broadcasting Company, which many of you would recognize today as the TV network ABC. WCBS would later become instrumental in the fight against McCarthyism, and the plight of one of their popular radio personalities would inspire Edward R. Murrow to take on the politically powerful Senator Joe McCarthy.
  
• Finally, the speech that Orson Welles made at the very end of the broadcast was completely ad-libbed and done at the behest of radio officials because, up until that point, they had absolutely no idea of the kind of hysteria that was going on outside of the WABC building. Welles and the rest of the performers were taken completely by surprise as to what happened.

I hope you enjoy the rebroadcast of the War of the Worlds on it's 70th Anniversary, and be sure to come back to the blog site tomorrow for a rare link to the Brutally Honest show that was inspired by it.

(Historical information provided by Wikipedia and www.waroftheworlds.org)

Good article on Stevens conviction

Yes I'll be talking about the multiple felony convictions of Alaska's geriatric Senator Ted Stevens in my show this weekend, but in the meantime, here's an article by noted author Dr. Marty Klein on the subject...

And here's a quick teaser:

I’m sick of “morality” being defined solely as limiting sexual expression. Lying, bribing, and cheating are all violations of “morality” that affect our kids. But as we’ve seen with anti-sex hypocrites such as the disgraced Trent Lott, Randy “Duke” Cunningham, Ralph Reed, Lou Sheldon, and Pat Robertson, they don’t know “morality” from a hole in the ground. They spew anti-sex hatred and ignorance in the name of “morality,” then steal, cheat, bribe, gossip, lie, and keep library books overdue.

And I’m not even talking about anti-sex politicians who are secretly into sex, such as Larry Craig or Ted Haggard. That’s hypocrisy of a different sort.

Amen Doc!

You better vote!

If you don't then you'll run into this guy...

Special POST-show notes for Halloween Show

Okay, normally I don't do post-show notes, but this is a rare exception, because there were something that I mentioned in last night's show that should be repeated.

For those of you who missed out on last night's Halloween special, I will have the archive uploaded on Halloween Day (10/31), so for those of you who are subscribed to the iTunes podcasts will be able to download them on FRIDAY instead of the following Sunday. And if you haven't subscribed, now will be a great time to do so! (Pull up iTunes, go to their store and search for "David 2's Media" and you'll find it quickly! It's the only entry for that kind of search.) I will also have a direct link to the archive up on the Brutally Honest Blog Site so you'll be able to hear the show from there.

In addition, on October 30th, I will be posting a special show up on the Brutally Honest blog site. This will be the ORIGINAL broadcast of "War of the Worlds" by Orson Wells and the Mercury Theater on the Air as it was aired on WABC radio seventy years ago this coming Thursday. I will also have some notes on the subject, because this one broadcast really did have an effect on broadcasting for years to come. (The show, by the way, will come courtesy of the Internet Archive and by Old Time Radio, which provides many of the original radio broadcasts of the time.)

I really hope you guys take advantage of these broadcasts, not only because I put a lot time and effort in to these things, but because the messages in them are informative and entertaining.

Oh, and by the way, be sure to catch "The Rock and Roll Diner" on ShockNet Radio this Monday night as well as on Halloween Night, as they will be replaying their Halloween special, which has some great all-time Halloween hits, including one that is a REAL blast from the past! The party starts on Monday and Friday nights at 8pm Eastern time (7pm Norman Time) on ShockNet Radio!

Brutally Honest on ShockNet - 10/25/08 Show Notes

Halloween is this coming Friday... thus this week's show will be all about spooky ghost stories! Specifically, what are you really AFRAID of?

Yes, this week I will be bringing up some of our WORST FEARS.

Now longtime Brutally Honest supporters probably can guess what I'll be doing on the show, but I still really want you guys to listen in, because everything here will be remastered and reproduced in crystal-clear MP3 audio, complete with music! I spent quite a bit of time working on this show, guys, and I really hope it pays off for everyone!

That's THIS SATURDAY over at ShockNet Radio at 7pm Eastern Time, 6pm Norman Time, and you can listen in either through ShockNet's streaming server, or through Apple's iTunes radio in the "Talk/Spoken Word" or "Classic Rock" categories.

And don't forget about the ongoing poll over at the right-hand column. You still have time to cast your vote while checking out all of the video reports and cartoons I've recently added.

Brutally Honest... the new heresy begins here!

Liar Liar...

Don't really need to add anything to this one.

Brutally Honest on ShockNet - 10/18/08 Show Notes

All across America endorsements are being made. Newspaper editorial boards are making their choices over whom they're backing for President, and whom they want you to vote for. We have conservative newspapers that have never supported a single Democrat in a hundred years suddenly finding themselves endorsing Barack Obama.

From day one of my show, I've been telling people that I don't have a horse in this presidential race. That ends tonight. Tonight I let everyone know just whom I'll be voting for in November. I'll also let you know why I will be voting for that candidate and not the others. But there is a more important message that goes with that announcement, and THAT is the message that I want you to hear!

All that plus the news of the week, including my take on the last Obama-McCain debate. How did McCain do according to the Brutal One? Find out!

All of that is TONIGHT - THIS SATURDAY - over at ShockNet Radio at 7pm Eastern Time, 6pm Norman Time, and you can listen in either through ShockNet's streaming server, or through Apple's iTunes radio in the "Talk/Spoken Word" or "Classic Rock" categories.

And don't forget about the ongoing poll over at the right-hand column. You still have time to cast your vote while checking out all of the video reports and cartoons I've recently added.

Brutally Honest... the new heresy begins here!

How we got in this mess

This came from a link sent by D1...

Bear in mind this is supposed to be funny.

Brutally Honest on ShockNet - 10/11/08 Show Notes

Whew! What a week, huh?

It's been UGLY out there! U-G-L-Y, you ain't got no alibi, you're UGLY! You're UGLY! (Okay, now where are my scantily-clad college-age cheerleaders?)

Economy sucks. No big surprise, huh? But there's something else going on with Wall Street that you may not know. Something that will have a profound effect on our government next year. What is it? You'll just have to tune in TONIGHT to hear what that is.

And, as promised, I would put the whole "lesser of two evils" argument to the ultimate test. I show you just HOW evil and HOW insidious is really is.

Plus, the return of "Off the Wire", a special "Unflushed" award, and an archive segment that you really need to hear. You might know a few people I mention in that segment. Hell, you might be one of them!

All of that is TONIGHT - THIS SATURDAY - over at ShockNet Radio at 7pm Eastern Time, 6pm Norman Time, and you can listen in either through ShockNet's streaming server, or through Apple's iTunes radio in the "Talk/Spoken Word" or "Classic Rock" categories.

And don't forget about the ongoing poll over at the right-hand column. You still have time to cast your vote while checking out all of the video reports and cartoons I've recently added.

Brutally Honest... the new heresy begins here!

Monkey See...

... monkey do.

The American people are what? LIAR!

Last week when we were forced into swallowing that multi-billion horse pill called a "rescue plan"... which was really a BAILOUT plan... the media and the politicians were claiming that the American people were behind this BAILOUT plan.

Guess what? They were stinking LIARS!

Here's the proof.

And mind you, you DID NOT see this on CNN or any of the other networks!

Update on archive problems

Okay, for those who remember my earlier post on the problems I was having with the radio archives, I'm pleased to say that those somehow got fixed.

It's weird because it ONLY seemed to pertain to MY Internet access to the Ourmedia website. Access through an alternate provider and it worked fine. Access from another connection on the same provider and it worked fine. Access it through my upload program it worked fine. Access it through the iTunes store and it worked fine... just not through my Internet access and just not through the iTunes podcast subscriptions.

And nobody wanted to say it was on their end! That was probably the most annoying part about it.

Well, it's done and I have access again, so that's good. I just hope I was really the only one with that sort of problem.

Forgive Sarah Palin?

That's what MSNBC's Keith Olbermann suggests in his special comment.

Bush's next recovery plan

Yeah, he sorta kinda does that...

New Poll

Yes, if you haven't noticed, I have a new poll up on the right-hand column. It's about... polls!

Please feel free to check it out and sound off on it. It will end on election day, and I don't think I'll be adding any more of them unless I get a RESOUNDING response to this one.

Brutally Honest on ShockNet - 10/04/08 Show Notes

Okay, let's face it, we got robbed this week! Big Government decided it was more important to bail out Big Banks and Big Investors than help out the little guy. But you know, for just a little while, it seemed that someone in that bloated leviathan actually recognized we exist and that we would be the one screwed over by all of this. And that's the subject of this week's main rant. It's about that one brief period of time and why it was so important.

Plus, hey, I couldn't ignore the Veep debate even if I wanted to. Too many people were hyping it for me to even think about doing something more important. You know, something like, oh, I don't know... maybe give myself a root canal? Anyway, that's on the show too. That and a blast from the Brutally Honest past dealing with something that the media loves to drag out for us. What is it? Well just tune in and find out for yourself!

All of that is THIS SATURDAY over at ShockNet Radio at 7pm Eastern Time, 6pm Norman Time, and you can listen in either through ShockNet's streaming server, or through Apple's iTunes radio in the "Talk/Spoken Word" or "Classic Rock" categories.

Brutally Honest... the new heresy begins here!