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Ecuador Eve When Martians Landed-Xavier Almeida

Usage: Public Domain

Topics: Radio Quito, radio drama, panic, War of the Worlds, Ecuador

In this 1998 interview with HCJB's Ken MacHarg, Dr. Xavier Almeida of Radio Quito details how in February, 1949 the station aired a re-creation of "War of the Worlds". The panic of Quito residents turned to anger and the radio station and newspaper building was burned down by people when they learned they'd been fooled by the dramatization.