Episode 2: Believe It
Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! was…
one of the most popular radio shows of the 1930s, and for good reason: early radio, not unlike the Internet of nearly a century later, was obsessed with doubt about belief. On this episode of The Last Archive, Jill Lepore spins the dial and takes a tour of 1930s radio — from Robert Ripley to Charlie Chan, from Mexican broadcaster Pedro González to the shows of Orson Welles: the full spectrum of fakery on the air.
Image: CBS Photo Archive/CBS via Getty Images
KEY SOURCES
Ripley’s Believe it or Not! radio program, this one from 1944.
Footage of Bob Ripley.
An episode of America's Town Meeting of the Air debating “Will The Machine Dominate Man?”
Listen to vintage Charlie Chan episodes here and here.
Watch interviews with Pedro González in Ballad of an Unsung Hero.
Learn more about Pedro González’s music with Los Madrugadores.
Listen to Orson Welles’ infamous “War of the Worlds” adaptation here.
In this clip, Welles speaks to reporters about hysteria caused by his broadcast.
Listen to Ed Murrow reporting from WWII air raids in London here.