XM to Host Live ‘War of the Worlds’ Re-Enactment

Nationally syndicated talk show host Glenn Beck will re-enact “War of the Worlds” on Oct. 30, live from 8-9 p.m. Eastern. The broadcast will originate from XM Satellite Radio’s performance studio in Washington and will be heard on Buzz XM (XM channel 166) as well as Beck’s 100 radio affiliates.
Premiere Radio Networks is producing the performance, which will remain
faithful to the original script performed by Orson Welles in 1938. The program will feature a dozen actors, a 15-piece orchestra, and sound effects. It will air without commercial interruption. The live Beck broadcast will follow two recorded versions of “War of the Worlds,” also presented on XM without commercial interruption. The Welles original will run from 6-7 p.m. Eastern on Radio Classics (XM channel 164). An LA Theaterworks version performed by cast members of the original “Star Trek” TV series will run from 7-8 p.m. Eastern on Sonic Theater (XM channel 163).
On Oct. 31, 1938, actor and producer Orson Welles captivated the nation, and set off widespread panic, with a dramatization of H.G. Wells’ late-19th Century fantasy. Thousands of listeners across the nation mistook the broadcast for news reports of an actual Martian invasion that detailed meteor landings in New Jersey and aliens killing Earthlings with death-rays. Many New Jersey and New York residents abandoned their homes or massed to combat the Martians.