ailuropoda melanoleuca torontonensis wrote:

today is the anniversary (1937) of the destruction of the *Hindenberg*
by fire.



What's most remarkable about this explosion and fire is that it is probably
the first documented case of news media hype for the sake of hype.

While it's true that it was a terrible loss of 35 lives, there are also a few
things to note:

(1) The story wasn't done live. It was recorded on a wire recorder and the
commentator, Herb Morrison, asks a couple times of his assistant, "Get this,
Charlie, get this, Charlie" to make sure he was getting a recording.

(2) It was not "one of the worst catastrophes in the world," either.

(3) Though 36 people died, it was not the heaviest loss of life during the
decade, nor even the heaviest loss of life due to airship disasters. The
U.S.S. Akron disater 4 years earlier took more than twice as many lives. What
made it remarkable was that it was recorded for posterity.

The Hindenberg disaster should be a lesson to all of us that what is on the
news is not the sum total of what's happened in the world that day. Another
example is the quake of 1989. It looked like San Francisco was being burnt to
a crisp, and yet it was only a couple buildings fed by a gas line that nobody
knew how to turn off. The shots were shown over and over again because ABC
happened to have a helicopter in the sky for World Series coverage. Far more
loss of life and destruction happened in communties such as Santa Cruz,
Watsonville, and Oakland that day.

On 2010-05-06 14:25:10 -0700, (David Kaye) said:

What's most remarkable about this explosion and fire is that it is prob
ably
the first documented case of news media hype for the sake of hype.

WLS was the station which covered the incident.

Came all the way from Chicago to cover it.

"Oh, the Humanity!!!!!"

David Kaye wrote:
(1) The story wasn't done live. It was recorded on a wire recorder and the
commentator, Herb Morrison, asks a couple times of his assistant, "Get this,
Charlie, get this, Charlie" to make sure he was getting a recording.

Actually, it wasn't a wire recorder; it was recorded to lacquer disc.
The engineer, Charlie Nehlsen, had to work quickly to ensure the shock
wave of the explosion didn't cause the cutting stylus to dig into the
disc's aluminum base. If it had, the stylus would've been ruined, and
there wouldn't have been anything recorded after Morrison said, "It burst
into flame...".

The following is a link to a discussion of the recording and its later
broadcast (apologies for the line wrap):
http://web.archive.org/web/200708141...indenburg.html

The version of the recording that most people have heard runs at too
high a speed; poor Herb Morrison almost sounds like a chipmunk. A
corrected speed version of the recording is a revelation; it can be
found about halfway down this page:
http://www.wlshistory.com/WLS30/

-shawn

David Kaye wrote:
(1) The story wasn't done live. It was recorded on a wire recorder and the
commentator, Herb Morrison, asks a couple times of his assistant, "Get this,
Charlie, get this, Charlie" to make sure he was getting a recording.

Nope, Presto disc recorder.
--scott


--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Peter wrote:
WLS was the station which covered the incident.

Came all the way from Chicago to cover it.

"Oh, the Humanity!!!!!"

It seems odd that a Chicago station would send someone to New Jersey
to record what should've been a routine event (the Hindenburg had
been making transatlantic flights for a year prior to its last flight,
and other Zeppelins had been flying the route for years). The reason
for Morrison being there, though, becomes clear when one listens to
the full recording (36 minutes, though not speed-corrected) at
http://www.otr.com/hindenburg.shtml .

Seems that the recording was intended to promote American Airlines'
service from Chicago to Lakehurst (via Newark), which would then
connect with the Hindenburg to provide transatlantic service all
the way from the heartland. Obviously, the recording never got used
as originally intended...

-shawn

This weekend, the Dr. Demento Show will have its final broadcast on
KIYU, KLOO, WLVQ (QFM96), WRKH (The Rocket) and KOZT (The Coast).

This was a very painful decision for the Doctor...he really hates to
let it go after almost 40 years...but he has come to agree with his
manager and his family that it's necessary. The broadcast has been
losing money for some time.