The entire episode is chronicalled in the book "Panic Attacks" by Robert E. Bartholomew:
“Police switchboards statewide were jammed with calls from panic-stricken or angry listeners.”

On Halloween night 1974, Cooke's show was interrupted by a special feature. WPRO Program Director Jay Clark adapted Orson Welles' classic 1938 Mercury Theater radio play War of the Worlds, and cast it with station voices.

Clark had re-worked a script that aired on WPRO sister station WKBW/Buffalo. Interestingly, WKBW tried to produce a scripted version...but it didn't work. So they had their news people ad-lib. That script worked, and WPRO re-worked that ad-libbed version. “We were reading almost every word you hear,” Cooke reveals, “with local landmarks replacing Buffalo-area references in KB's version.”

Producer Jake Paquin spliced-it-together. “LITERALLY 'spliced' it,” Cooke notes: “And I mean SPLICED. Today, it's a snap to digitally edit 24 tracks on a laptop. At the time, Jake was working with two turntables, several cart machines, and 3 reel tape decks, one-of-which was a 2-track. LOTS of grease-pencil-and-razor-blade. MANY hours of work.”

“This unfolded in the final hour of my 7-midnight show,” he remembers, “and the whole thing was pre-recorded. So once the tape started, I jumped in the car and drove-around, to hear it out there.” Holland was new on the job, just having joined WPRO full-time several weeks earlier. “As I hear this decades later,” he admits, “I can't get over how young I sounded; and how fake the whole thing sounded.”

Salty Brine's voice was deliberately left-out, until his calm disclaimer about 3/4 of the way into the show: 'IT IS A DRAMATIZATION, A PLAY. IT IS NOT HAPPENING IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM.' “His credibility, his 'word,' meant THAT much.”

“Something else I'm struck by as I re-listen to this now,” Cooke observes: “How deep our cast-of-characters was. There are more voices in this show that lots of stations now have on-staff.” Pro Personalities Larry Kruger and Jimmy Gray only appeared at the end, in announcer mode. Yet we still had all those news people you'll hear. That staff depth is one reason so many people freaked out that night. Listeners were accustomed to BELIEVING us.”

Earlier-in-the-day, vague teases alluded to something special that night...but, as you'll hear, the show did NOT begin with a disclaimer. In that respect, WPRO's "War of the Worlds" caused as much local fuss as Orson Welles' earlier version did nationally...

Radio History Rewind
Welles' fateful 1938 broadcast DID begin with a disclaimer...that very few listeners heard. Why?

In the 1930s, radio shows began-and-ended at various times. Unlike WPRO-in-1974, Welles' Mercury Theater was NOT the ratings leader. He was the ratings underdog to A DUMMY...literally. VENTRILOQUIST Edgar Bergen (father of Candice) had the top-rated show in its time period. And Bergen's show ended after Welles' had begun. So most listeners who channel-surfed to Mercury Theater after Bergen said goodnight had missed the disclaimer.

“November 1, 1974,” Cooke chuckles, “we were the big story on all 3 TV stations. EVERYONE was upset at us...except advertisers. We were duly apologetic...and smirking. That next day, our hit music competitors WJAR and WGNG just played the hits, like nothing had happened...while EVERYBODY was buzzing about WPRO.” This not-so-little stunt earned WPRO a-slap-on-the-wrist from the FCC...and ratings.

WPRO-AM's 1974 night time pattern hadn't yet been pushed-out to-the-south. The station didn't get into East Greenwich at night back then. But, even so, WPRO's local night time music programming, WITH news, got numbers.

Listen again...
...as various WPRO staffers get vaporized by aliens-from-another-planet.
Among them, Mark Haines/WPRO News, now morning anchor on CNBC.
To see the video, close your eyes.

Part One
Part Two

(Tip: DON'T fast-forward through songs. You'll miss breathless news bulletins that interrupt.)

More WPRO-obelia

More MyRI.TV? Stay tuned...