Metro Weekly

Spotlight: ‘War of the Worlds’ and other audio escapes at Stitcher

Stitcher contains a treasure trove of classic radio shows and podcast originals

orson welles, war of the worlds, audio, stitcher
Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds

On Oct. 31, 1938, Orson Welles gave Americans a true fright with his radio adaptation of H.G. Wells’s War of the Worlds.

Many listeners mistakenly believed that the fictionalized series of “news bulletins” were truly reporting on Martians invading Earth and causing mass destruction, military battles, and vast chaos in the New York area.

The original broadcast is available to stream or download for free at www.stitcher.com, a site that is a treasure trove of audio offerings to help escape from the daily drumbeat of COVID-19 news — whether classic radio shows or podcast originals.

Among many standouts, try Lost at the Smithsonian with Aasif Mandvi, a 10-part series released last fall finding the former Daily Show with Jon Stewart comedian rifling through the pop culture artifacts from the National Museum of American History’s collection.

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