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Buddy Shula
Guest
We at "Buffalo's Very Own" like the original broadcasters, not the impostors. Orson Wells is the original. Our listeners know who Orson Wells is.
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War Of The Worlds: 50 years on
- Thread starter ckg279
- Start date
We at "Buffalo's Very Own" like the original broadcasters, not the impostors. Orson Wells is the original. Our listeners know who Orson Wells is.
Now, Buddy, that's just silly. You can't even spell Orson Welles. I'll bet that you can spell Jeff Kaye. I'll also bet that the only reason you're familiar with War of the Worlds is because of the WKBW broadcast.
Go ahead. Put up a Facebook poll on your page and ask your listeners which version they'd rather hear. Oh, wait - you don't have rights to the WKBW version so the answer doesn't really matter.
Alan Pergament wrote in his column in the Buffalo News back in April about the showing of the documentary film at the North Park October 30, and that WWKB will air their 1968 version the following night on Halloween. Back in 1938 on October 30 Buffalo listeners would have heard the original Orson Wells broadcast on the CBS affiliate which was....WKBW. In 1938 they were at 1480 with 5kw.
WNED-TV will also air the documentary at midnight, Halloween night.
I don't often find reason to disagree with Sr. Gleason, but I will do so here, at least on this.
80 years on, there aren't many people out there at all with firsthand memory of the Orson Welles version from its original airing. My wife's grandmother recalls it, but she'll be 102 in December. She's a most remarkable lady, but not at all representative of the 2018 audience. You'd have to be 90 or older to remember actually having heard it back then.
I'm in my mid-40s, a decade away from demographic irrelevance, and my generation knows Welles only from having learned about him in school (if we took communications/media courses) or from seeing parodies of him late in his life. I'd bet fewer than 1 in 100 people my age has ever actually heard the 1938 WOTW.
But the 1968 version? And the later versions WKBW did at least twice in the 1970s? Buffalo being uniquely Buffalo and WKBW having been as huge as it was back then, those were cultural touchstones for a lot of listeners in their teens, 20s and 30s back then. Those listeners are in their late 60s and up now - and because the rate of out-migration from Buffalo is relatively slow and the rate of in-migration even slower, a surprisingly large number of those listeners are probably still in the 716 area code.
How crazy was Buffalo about its own War of the Worlds versions? I remember driving to Buffalo and parking myself at Ted's in Depew on Halloween eve in (I think) 1998 to hear yet another anniversary recreation, that one done by the jocks who were on the air at the time on 97 Rock and the Edge, which went into a simulcast to carry the show that night. (While WWKB was yet again playing either the 1968 or 1973 version at the same time - I had a bunch of cassette decks running!) I recall a bunch of articles in the News back then about both airings.
It was a big deal, in a way that probably couldn't have happened at almost any other station, and which wouldn't be remembered half a century later if it had been. Few other markets had a single station as dominant as WKBW back then, which means you wouldn't have had the immediate impact that KB did. And even if a similarly huge station like WBZ had done a recreation back then, it wouldn't resonate the same way in that market today, because the population of any other market would have turned over much more thoroughly than in stay-at-home Buffalo.
Of course, even the WKBW version isn't going to mean much to anyone under 65 who's not a radio buff, any more than the Welles version does now. (I doubt my kids have any idea who Welles was, or that they'd understand the intricate brilliance with which Welles recreated contemporary radio programming of 1938 and then blew it apart.)
But for Buffalonians of a certain age, the WKBW versions are still an important touchstone, and I expect the theater will be packed for the documentary. I know I'll be driving over to see it.
80 years on, there aren't many people out there at all with firsthand memory of the Orson Welles version from its original airing. My wife's grandmother recalls it, but she'll be 102 in December. She's a most remarkable lady, but not at all representative of the 2018 audience. You'd have to be 90 or older to remember actually having heard it back then.
I'm in my mid-40s, a decade away from demographic irrelevance, and my generation knows Welles only from having learned about him in school (if we took communications/media courses) or from seeing parodies of him late in his life. I'd bet fewer than 1 in 100 people my age has ever actually heard the 1938 WOTW.
But the 1968 version? And the later versions WKBW did at least twice in the 1970s? Buffalo being uniquely Buffalo and WKBW having been as huge as it was back then, those were cultural touchstones for a lot of listeners in their teens, 20s and 30s back then. Those listeners are in their late 60s and up now - and because the rate of out-migration from Buffalo is relatively slow and the rate of in-migration even slower, a surprisingly large number of those listeners are probably still in the 716 area code.
How crazy was Buffalo about its own War of the Worlds versions? I remember driving to Buffalo and parking myself at Ted's in Depew on Halloween eve in (I think) 1998 to hear yet another anniversary recreation, that one done by the jocks who were on the air at the time on 97 Rock and the Edge, which went into a simulcast to carry the show that night. (While WWKB was yet again playing either the 1968 or 1973 version at the same time - I had a bunch of cassette decks running!) I recall a bunch of articles in the News back then about both airings.
It was a big deal, in a way that probably couldn't have happened at almost any other station, and which wouldn't be remembered half a century later if it had been. Few other markets had a single station as dominant as WKBW back then, which means you wouldn't have had the immediate impact that KB did. And even if a similarly huge station like WBZ had done a recreation back then, it wouldn't resonate the same way in that market today, because the population of any other market would have turned over much more thoroughly than in stay-at-home Buffalo.
Of course, even the WKBW version isn't going to mean much to anyone under 65 who's not a radio buff, any more than the Welles version does now. (I doubt my kids have any idea who Welles was, or that they'd understand the intricate brilliance with which Welles recreated contemporary radio programming of 1938 and then blew it apart.)
But for Buffalonians of a certain age, the WKBW versions are still an important touchstone, and I expect the theater will be packed for the documentary. I know I'll be driving over to see it.
And with that, you have defined yourself. Read Fybush's commentary. Had you referred to the 97 Rock-Edge version with the word "imposters" you might have a leg on which to stand. The WKBW version by the way, received accreditation and recognition at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland and clearly stands on its merit and impact in the Buffalo market.
Sandy Beach worked at WJET 1400 here in Erie PA from 1974-1977. Too bad he couldn't have done an Erie version. Probably wouldn't have had nearly the same impact.
And that is likely because I try to emulate the accuracy of your publications and the extent of your knowledge! (Insert the appropriate emoticon here)
Your argument is convincing based on the local importance and dominance of WKBW in the era when their version was done. I think I am going to cross the aisle here and concur with you.
My leaning towards the original version is based on its enduring fame, and the fact that anyone who remembers the WKBW version is generally going to be in their 60's or so. But then again, Buffalo is not a high transiency market. Like my native Cleveland, more seem to have left "back then" than the replacements coming in. So most local residents of a certain age will remember, I guess.
I'm more familiar with domestic markets like LA, Phoenix, Dallas, Houston and Miami where "nobody" is a native and, thus, nobody cares what a station did 50 years ago. I forget that there are markets where the population has not churned, and that makes "heritage" a real factor and not a negative.
Perhaps now you understand why 97-Rock is still doing well in the ratings playing much of the same music with many of the same jocks who brought it back on the air 30 years ago...
Fine decision... although you could have "crossed the aisle" much sooner based on the veracity and experience of other posters who've mad ethe case for the WKBW version of WOTW; those who've chosen either to reside or work, or extensively listen to radio in this market. Indeed, "Buffalo is not a high transiency market... [l]ike LA, Phoenix, Dallas, Houston and Miami..."
Interesting, Buddy! Especially since you were pictured with Joe Chille, Tim Wenger, Bob Koshinski, Sandy Beach and others at a recent event promoting the WKBW version tribute later this month at the North Park Theatre.
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Buddy Shula
Guest
Have no idea what you are talking about. I was not at that event. You really need to be informed on stuff before you talk.
According to Scott Fybush KB will air its WotW version twice on Oct. 30 beginning at 6:00 p.m. And the 97Rock version will also be dragged out.
I've been wanting to hear the 97Rock version for years. I am not from the Buffalo area but I have listened to the 68 version many times and it is the greatest "fake newscast" dramatization I have ever listened to. Jeff Kaye had his real newsmen wing things from an outline rather than do a prepared script and the end result is a far more effective listening experience IMO than even Welles' original which in 1968 was already a quaint relic in terms of its presentation style. OTOH, the style of newscast reporting in the 1968 production is something I can still connect with to the era of newscasting I grew up and listened to.
Other stations have done their own versions of WOTW over the years but they basically follow the Welles script and just change the locale to where they are without really being as innovative as the 68 WKBW one was (KPEN-San Francisco did do a good one in 1964 that is available on-line at the Bay Area Radio Museum site).
Other stations have done their own versions of WOTW over the years but they basically follow the Welles script and just change the locale to where they are without really being as innovative as the 68 WKBW one was (KPEN-San Francisco did do a good one in 1964 that is available on-line at the Bay Area Radio Museum site).
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Buddy Shula
Guest
So spell check mis-spelled Orson Welles. That's the argument? We run original legends at WECK, not the Part 2. I am not dissing the KB version, but we like the innovators. We don't settle for anything less.
Typical salesman babble. Sell the sizzle, not the steak. If you were running the KB version you'd be extolling the virtues of the hometown version over the national one.
Spin it any way you want, but the truth is WECK blew a primo opportunity to cement its hometown image.
How? By running a 50 year old radio show that he'd have to buy from his former employer? Makes absolutely no sense.
I'd just ignore it and stick with the format.
Clearly you don't get it. But that's expected from drive-by contributors. You have to live here to understand.
No you don't understand. Buddy isn't going to ask his former employer for anything.
If Entercom thought this was a big deal, they'd run it company wide, not on their lowest rated station.
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