YUSA Sets New "High Water Mark" With WAR OF THE WORLDS Broadcast

"On October 30^th, 2009, the 71^st anniversary of Orson Welles’ famous War Of The Worlds broadcast that panicked an entire nation, Yesterday USA Radio also made broadcast history"; says Founder Bill Bragg. A crew of five (5) YUSA volunteers (that included a National Public Radio Engineer/Producer, a consultant to the Smithsonian Institution and a noted author of well over a dozen books on old time radio) arrived at Grover’s Mill, NJ. at 7 PM Eastern Time. This was the exact site that was randomly pick by Welles and his staff, as the location where the Martian Space Ship would land during the original broadcast back in 1938. NPR’s Neal Ellis acted as moderator of the broadcast and was assisted by OTR historian Ken Stockinger. Dr. Michael Biel, a retired college professor and consultant to the Smithsonian, along with author Martin Grams were the expert commentators The "YUSA Mobile Unit" was really a rather crowded late model Toyota 4 door sedan, which was owned by Neal Ellis. "The live signal was sent back to the YUSA Studios via a cell telephone; which was fed by a concoction of battery power equipment that I designed several years ago", said Bragg. Leah Biel, another recognized broadcast historian and the daughter of Dr. Michael Biel, added additional input and commentary throughout the entire evening. Kim Bragg was manning the studio controls at Richardson, Texas!

At 8 PM Eastern, control was switched back to the Richardson, TX. YUSA Studios; where a digital copy of the broadcast was put on the air at the exact time of the original broadcast; 71 years later! Then, control was switched back to Grover’s Mill, where the panel of experts continue their discussion of the historic event!

At 10:30 PM Eastern Time, control was then switched to Hollywood, CA., where Walden Hughes and Armed Forces Radio & Television personally Mr. Frank Bresee were poised to go "live" with their weekly Friday Night Broadcast. Frank played his original Orson Welles interview from the 1950's and reminisced about his 60 year career in Network Radio! Walden Hughes (a.k.a. "The Walking Encyclopedia Of Old Time Radio) topped off the event by scoring a "live" interview with the world famous network radio writer and producer Norman Corwin. The 99 year old Mr. Corwin was the producer/director of the "live" program that followed the War Of The Worlds broadcast on CBS Radio in 1938. Hughes also dug up a dozen or more rare audio clips, including a copy of The Edgar Bergen / Charlie McCarthy Show which aired opposite of Welles’ now famous spoof on NBC. "We are really going to have to jump thru hoops if we ever intend to out-due this event", concluded Station Founder Bill Bragg!