OCTOBER 30, 1938
On the night of October 30, 1938, CBS Radio was broadcasting "La Cumparsita", a Spanish tango. The orchestra was conducted by Ramon Raquello, and had been playing live from the Meridian Room at the Park Plaza in New York City. Within minutes, a reporter interrupted the radio transmission with a very urgent, fearful message: Earth was under attack. The end of the world was upon them, and the play-by-play descriptions of it were coming to them live, in the presumed safety of their own living rooms.
"It is reported that at 8:50 p.m., a huge, flaming object, believed to be a…
