We Interrupt This Program

In the event of a national emergency, American citizens were to adjust their radio dial to one of two radio frequencies designated as the CONELRAD (Control of Electromagnetic Radiation) radio-alert system. Prior to 1951, there was no systematic way for the US government to communicate with citizens during the early years of the Cold War. As forerunners to CONELRAD, broadcasters would interrupt normal programming to issue emergency bulletins, as happened during the 1941 Pearl Harbor attack and the first tornado warning in 1948. Radios came equipped with two frequencies set aside for emergencies. The two civil defense symbols (sometimes red) appeared on radio tuning dials as pictured above.

 
There were those who felt the CONELRAD radio-alert system was not as effective as it could be and the National Emergency Alarm Repeater (NEAR) was invented as a supplement. It did not require a radio or television to be switched on to warn citizens, nor a civil defense siren to be in their vicinity. NEAR was a 3" square box warning device designed to plug into a standard power outlet to receive a special signal sent over the electric power transmission lines. Unfortunately, this "buzzer box" gave no instructions on what to do, leaving citizens to turn to their radios anyway. Both programs were made obsolete by 1963 with the advent of the Emergency Broadcast System (EBS), still in use today. 

Note: A CONELRAD automobile radio is used in the 1962 thriller, Panic In The Year Zero! about a nuclear attack on American cities.

CONELRAD history

World Wide Web Infancy

 

On this day in 1935, The March of Time was launched in over 500 theaters. Each entry in the series was either 20 or 30 minutes of current world events. Westbrook Van Voorhis, who hosted the radio program, served as narrator of the film series. The series was an immediate success that enabled audiences to travel around the globe. Because of its high production costs—estimated at fifty grand per episode, released at the rate of about one episode per month—the series was a money loser. However, it remained in production for six years beyond the cancellation of the radio show (1931-1945) on which it was based. The American short film series was sponsored by Time Inc.

A Royal Wedding and Then Some

 

On this date in 1951, Royal Wedding premiered. The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical comedy is set in 1947 London and starred Fred Astaire and Jane Powell with direction by Stanley Donen. Astaire and Powell play siblings, echoing the real-life theatrical relationship of Fred and Adele Astaire, who are persuaded to take their Broadway success to London to coincide with the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten. The highly influential event leads to two additional marriages with fellow cast members, Sarah Churchill, and Peter Lawford, respectively. 

The film features Astaire's innovative set design idea from the 1920s which has him "dancing" on the walls and ceiling singing, "You're All the World to Me." Other signature dance routines by Astaire, along with a competent performance by Powell helped make the film one of the top box office hits of the year with an MGM profit of $584,000.