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Historic Broadcasts

24 episodes · 1933–1945 · Mutual, NBC, CBS, All networks · Historical

Play Historic Broadcasts on Radio Days

Not dramas: real broadcasts, as listeners heard them. Herbert Morrison's recording at Lakehurst as the Hindenburg burned, the first report from Honolulu, President Roosevelt asking Congress to declare war and talking to the nation through the war years, and Edward R. Murrow's report from Buchenwald. Some are excerpts of longer broadcasts.

Sources: RadioGOLDINdex

Episodes

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1933

• The First Fireside Chat: The Bank Holiday March 12, 1933 · NBC · 13 min
  In his first radio talk from the White House since his inauguration, the president explains the bank holiday he has just declared. RadioGOLDINdex counts it as the first Fireside Chat.

1937

• The Hindenburg Disaster May 7, 1937 · Blue Network · 7 min
  Herbert Morrison of WLS, Chicago, went to Lakehurst, New Jersey, with a recording engineer to cover the airship's arrival and recorded what he saw as it burned. The recordings went on the air afterward; the disaster itself was not broadcast live.

1939

• Fireside Chat: The European War September 3, 1939 · Mutual · 11 min
  With war breaking out in Europe, the president tells Americans how he means to keep the country out of it.

1940

• Fireside Chat: National Defense May 26, 1940 · Mutual · 32 min
  The president describes how he is preparing the country for the possibility of war.
• Fireside Chat: National Security December 29, 1940 · Mutual · 40 min
  The president's fireside chat on national security.

1941

• Fireside Chat: The Greer Incident September 11, 1941 · CBS · 28 min
  After German attacks on the destroyer Greer and other ships at sea, the president announces a tougher policy and warns Germany to stop.
• Pearl Harbor: The Report from Honolulu December 7, 1941 · NBC · 3 min
  Late Sunday afternoon in the East, NBC switches to KGU in Honolulu, where a reporter on the roof of the Advertiser Building describes the attack as it happens.
• President Roosevelt Asks for a Declaration of War December 8, 1941 · NBC · 8 min
  The day after Pearl Harbor, the President speaks to a joint session of Congress for about seven minutes and asks for a declaration of war.
• Fireside Chat: The War with Japan December 9, 1941 · NBC · 28 min
  Two days after Pearl Harbor, the President tells the country where it stands, what the nation is fighting for, and how the war will be fought.

1942

• State of the Union, 1942 January 6, 1942 · CBS · 43 min
  A month into the war, the President's State of the Union message tells the Axis what to expect from the United States.
• Fireside Chat: The Progress of the War February 23, 1942 · Mutual · 36 min
  The President reports to the people on how the war is going.
• Fireside Chat: Sacrifice April 28, 1942 · All networks · 32 min
  The president announces price ceilings and a wage freeze to protect the wartime economy.
• Fireside Chat: Inflation and Food Prices September 7, 1942 · Mutual · 27 min
  A Labor Day fireside chat on the high cost of living. Recorded music follows the president's talk.
• Fireside Chat: The Home Front October 12, 1942 · Mutual · 28 min
  Back from a tour of the country, the president reports to the nation on the war.

1943

• Fireside Chat: The Coal Strike May 2, 1943 · Mutual · 27 min
  The President speaks to the nation about the coal strike that is hurting the war effort, and says the production of coal will not stop.
• Fireside Chat, July 28, 1943 July 28, 1943 · CBS · 29 min
  A fireside chat to the people about their obligations on the home front. (The Archive copy is labeled "On the Fall of Mussolini.")
• Fireside Chat: Opening the Third War Loan September 8, 1943 · All networks · 12 min
  The president's appeal to buy war bonds, from the end of Cavalcade for Victory, the broadcast that opened the Third War Loan. (The Archive copy is labeled "On the Armistice in Italy.")
• Christmas Eve Fireside Chat December 24, 1943 · Mutual · 27 min
  From Hyde Park on Christmas Eve, the President speaks to Americans at home and the millions in uniform, reports on the conferences at Cairo and Tehran, and names General Eisenhower to lead the Allied forces.

1944

• Fireside Chat: The State of the Union January 11, 1944 · Mutual · 30 min
  A shorter spoken version of the State of the Union message; the full message went to Congress in writing and was read by clerks.
• Fireside Chat: The Fall of Rome June 5, 1944 · Mutual · 17 min
  The president talks to the nation about the fall of Rome, the night before D-Day.
• President Roosevelt's D-Day Prayer June 6, 1944 · NBC · 7 min
  On the evening of D-Day, the President speaks to the nation and leads it in prayer.
• 15 Roy Shield Orchestra June 7, 1944 · 38 min
• Fireside Chat: Opening the Fifth War Loan June 12, 1944 · CBS · 13 min
  The president's talk opening the Fifth War Loan, from an hour-long broadcast that also had Treasury Secretary Morgenthau.

1945

• Edward R. Murrow at Buchenwald April 15, 1945 · 10 min
  From London, Murrow describes his visit to the Buchenwald concentration camp. His descriptions are graphic and hard to hear.