The Hindenburg explosion – “Oh, the Humanity!” – (May 6, 1937)

We Interrupt This Broadcast

The Hindenburg was an engineering masterpiece, an airship as large and as grand as the Titanic - and as doomed. On May 6, 1937, a young radio reporter named Herbert Morrison was on hand to record the Hindenburg’s arrival at Lakehurst, New Jersey. Instead, Morrison helped radio to broadcast one of modern history’s great disasters, as it suddenly unfolded in all its terrible glory. But even as Morrison’s eyewitness report chronicled the end of one era, it signaled the beginning of another - an age in which electronic media would routinely report shocking events in the moment that they occurred. In addition to the story of the Hindenburg, this serves as a preview of Season 1.

Broadcast audio courtesy of Marc Garabedian, Mark 56 Records

Contributors:

• Herbert Morrison
• Dr. Michael Biel, renowned broadcast historian.
• Mike Freedman, President of National Press Club, Professor at GWU –
• Don Hewitt, former CBS News producer (Garner Audio Archive)
• Aaron Brown, former CNN anchor(Garner Audio Archive)
• John Montone, former reporter for 1010 WINS Radio, New York

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.