WAR OF THE WORLDS AT 88: WHAT ORSON WELLES'S BROADCAST TELLS US ABOUT FEAR AND THE MEDIA TODAY

CHICAGO, IL, October 15, 2026 /24-7PressRelease/ -- With an op-ed scheduled for October 30 in The Hill, upcoming interviews on WGN Radio, WCPT 820, and WDCB, and a Wall Street Journal review of his book Dead Air: The Night That Orson Welles Terrified America, national bestselling author William Elliott Hazelgrove is revisiting the broadcast that blurred the line between entertainment and breaking news 88 years ago.

Hazelgrove's forthcoming Hill op-ed examines what Orson Welles's October 30, 1938, adaptation of The War of the Worlds tells us today. Its central theme also drives Dead Air: how the authority of a trusted medium, the atmosphere of an anxious nation, and the power of dramatic storytelling could make an imaginary invasion feel real.

In an era when Americans were accustomed to urgent radio bulletins about the threat of war in Europe, Welles and his Mercury Theatre company brought an alien invasion into listeners' living rooms through simulated news reports. Dead Air follows the creation of the broadcast, Welles's extraordinary ambition, and contemporary accounts of frightened listeners who believed catastrophe was unfolding.

Eighty-eight years later, the broadcast remains a compelling starting point for discussing media credibility. How do audiences distinguish reporting from performance? What happens when fear overtakes skepticism? And why does the format of a message sometimes carry as much authority as its evidence?

The scale of the 1938 panic remains debated. Drawing on contemporary newspaper accounts, Hazelgrove argues that the reaction reached beyond isolated confusion. His book gives readers a view of both the production inside the CBS studio and reports of alarm outside it, inviting renewed discussion of the evidence and the broadcast's lasting cultural impact.

OCTOBER MEDIA AND EVENT LINEUP

• The Hill — Op-ed on The War of the Worlds at 88 scheduled for October 30, the broadcast's anniversary.
• WGN Radio — Live interview with John Landecker, October 28.
• Wheaton Library — War of the Worlds presentation, October 28 at 7 p.m.
• WCPT 820 — Live interview with Richard Chew, October 30.
• WDCB — Interview recording with Gary Zidek, October 20.

The Wall Street Journal described Dead Air as a "granular history and richly anecdotal." The book also received a starred review from Booklist.

Hazelgrove is available for television, radio, podcast, and print interviews about Welles, the panic debate, the making of the broadcast, and its relevance to contemporary questions about misinformation and trust.

Dead Air: The Night That Orson Welles Terrified America is published by Rowman & Littlefield, now part of Bloomsbury.

William Elliott Hazelgrove is a national bestselling author of fiction and narrative nonfiction whose work has received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, and Booklist. His books have been covered by major national newspapers and broadcast outlets. He served as the Ernest Hemingway Writer in Residence, writing for ten years in the attic of Hemingway's birthplace.

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