Re-Imagined Radio presents “The War of the World: Possible Influences”

Re-Imagined Radio brings back the popular “War of the Worlds” for October. But instead of retelling the most famous radio story ever, the episode will focus on the many stories that may have led to its creation. “The War of the Worlds: Possible Influences” premiers at 1 p.m. Oct. 17 on KXRW-FM, Vancouver, and KXRY-FM, Portland. Subsequent broadcasts and streams will be provided by local, regional and international broadcast partners.

This year marks the 84th anniversary of Orson Welles’s radio adaptation of H. G. Wells’s classic “The War of the Worlds.” Published in 1898, the book was one of the earliest literary works to examine conflict between human and extraterrestrials. Orson Welles’s broadcast is alleged to have caused mass confusion among its listeners through its use of realistic-sounding news bulletins and other narrative techniques.

The episode explores five earlier experiments with radio storytelling. The stories are “The Fall of the City” and “Air Raid,” both written by Pulitzer Prize–winning poet and Librarian of Congress Archibald MacLeish; “The Crimson Wizard,” originally broadcast by WGN, Chicago; “The Minister Is Murdered,” by Erich Ebermeyer; and “Broadcasting the Barricades,” by Father Ronald Arbuthnott Knox, broadcast over the BBC.

Re-imagined Radio premieres episodes on the third Monday of the month on KXRW-FM and KXRY-FM. In addition, every Sunday, an episode of Re-Imagined Radio is broadcast on KXRW only, drawing from previously broadcast episodes. Episodes can be streamed on demand from the Re-Imagined Radio website, www.reimaginedradio.net.