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the way, please! It's burning, bursting into flames and the... and it's falling on the mooring mast and all the folks between it. This is terrible, this is one of the worst catastrophes in the world. Oh it's... its flames... Crashing, oh! Four- or five-hundred feet into the sky and it... it's a terrific crash, ladies and gentlemen. It's smoke, and it's flames now; and the frame is crashing to the ground, not quite to the mooring mast. Oh, the humanity, all the passengers. screaming around here. I told you: it... I can't even talk to people, their friends are on there! Ah! It's... it... it's a... ah! I... I can't talk, ladies and gentlemen. Honest: it's just laying there, mass of smoking wreckage. Ah! And everybody can hardly breathe and talk and the screaming, lady, I... I... I'm sorry. Honest, I... I can hardly breathe. I... I'm going to step inside, where I cannot see it. Charlie, that's terrible. Ah, ah... I can't, I... Listen, folks: I... I'm gonna have to stop for a minute because I've lost my voice. This is the worst thing I've ever witnessed.
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head back to the disc. Fortunately the cutting stylus never cut through the lacquer to the aluminum base. If that had happened the most dramatic part of the recording would not have been made because the stylus would have been ruined. The digs and the bouncing off of the cutting head were caused by the shock wave of the explosion which reached the machine just after
Morrison said "It burst into flames..." I and several others believe that the originals were recorded slightly slow, and that all replays have been at too fast a speed. Comparison with the now two other known contemporary recordings of Morrison demonstrate this conclusion.
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I have closely examined the original discs and photographed the grooves at the point of the explosion. You can see several deep digs in the lacquer before the groove disappears. Then almost immediately there is a faint groove for about two revolutions while
Charlie Nehlsen gently lowered the cutting
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At the time, radio network policy forbade the use of any recorded material other than that used for sound effects, and
Morrison and Nehlsen had no facilities for live broadcast. Even so, the results still became the prototype for news broadcasting in the years that followed. The event had no effect
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It's starting to rain again; it's... the rain had (oh) slacked up a little bit. The back motors of the ship are just holding it (uh) just enough to keep it from...It's burst into flames! Get this, Charlie; get this, Charlie! It's fire, and it's crashing! It's crashing, terrible! Oh, my! Get out of
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network the next day. It was the first time that recordings of a news event were ever broadcast, and also the first coast-to-coast radio broadcast. Morrison's quick professional response and accurate description combined with his own emotional reaction have made the recordings a classic of audio
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Morrison and
Nehlsen continued their work, reporting at length on the rescue efforts and interviewing survivors, with several pauses while Morrison composed himself. A small and dashing-looking man, Morrison wore a blue serge suit and a topcoat. Morrison mistakenly thought there were 106 people
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Several people believe that this classic recording is not an accurate reflection of
Morrison's speech. These people theorize that Nehlsen's Presto 6D recorder ran about 3% slow, causing Morrison's voice to sound different from how it actually was, and that Morrison's normal speaking and radio
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film of the crash, giving the impression of a modern television-style broadcast. However, at the time, newsreels were separately narrated in a studio, and
Morrison's words were not heard in theaters.
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Morrison's usual broadcast work was as an announcer on live musical programs, but his earlier successful reporting of
Midwestern floods from an airplane led to his assignment at
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television affiliate in
Pittsburgh. He also ran for Congress three times as a Pennsylvania Republican. Before his retirement he served as a technical adviser for the 1975 film
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BBC Prime: TV Documentary: Days That Shook the World (2003): TV Episode: Disaster in the Skies (2004); Charlie
Nehlsen played by Dickon Tolson
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disk recordings were rushed back to
Chicago by airplane and broadcast in full later that night. Portions were rebroadcast nationally by the
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The availability of newsreel films, photographs and Morrison's description was a result of heavy promotion of the arrival by the
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aboard the flight, when in reality there were 97. Thirty-five died in addition to one fatality on the ground. The 16-inch green
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announcer voice was actually quite deep as evidenced by other recordings of his voice from the same era.
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Morrison later served in the Army Air Forces during World War II and was the first news director at
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Morrison's description began routinely, but changed instantly as the airship burst into flames:
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on this policy, and recordings were not regularly used until after the end of
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Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 38-11, Section: A, page: 6377
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and others chronicle Herbert Morrison's recording and broadcast. From the
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and others chronicle Herbert Morrison's recording and broadcast. From the
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and developed a radio and television section at West Virginia University.
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Live acetate disc recording from the scene of the Hindenburg disaster
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105:. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed.
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Morrison and engineer Charlie Nehlsen had been assigned by station
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The Making and Use of Recordings in Broadcasting Before 1936
578:"The Hindenburg 75 years later: Memories time cannot erase."
553:"Whispers of the Past-Herbert Morrison and the Hindenburg"
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WLS Eye Witness Recording Of Airship Hindenburg Disaster,
712:"Herbert Morrison, Radio Reporter at Hindenburg Crash."
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who recorded for broadcast his dramatic report of the
163:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
593:Herbert Morrison Hindenburg Radio Broadcast, from
336:(May 14, 1905 – January 10, 1989) was an American
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491:Morrison's description has been dubbed onto the
705:"Herbert Morrison; Gave Report on Hindenburg."
922:United States Army personnel of World War II
351:zeppelin on May 6, 1937, killing 35 people.
877:American radio reporters and correspondents
854:Morrison recording, playback speed adjusted
64:Learn how and when to remove these messages
478:Audio historian Michael Biel, formerly of
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698:"Herbert Morrison, Hindenburg Reporter."
344:, a catastrophic fire that destroyed the
241:Learn how and when to remove this message
223:Learn how and when to remove this message
121:Learn how and when to remove this message
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962:Television producers from West Virginia
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555:. Scottsdale (PA) Historical Society.
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751:. members.aol.com. Archived from
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619:. members.aol.com. Archived from
45:This article has multiple issues.
892:Radio personalities from Chicago
819:Morrison's Eye Witness Recording
749:History of American Broadcasting
743:Miller, Jeff (August 14, 2007).
617:History of American Broadcasting
611:Miller, Jeff (August 14, 2007).
551:Prather, Tracey (May 12, 2022).
452:Problems playing this file? See
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53:or discuss these issues on the
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716:January 11, 1989, page 1-20.
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666:. Northwestern University.
356:Connellsville, Pennsylvania
295:Connellsville, Pennsylvania
101:the claims made and adding
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776:mailing list. It corrects
745:"The Hindenburg Broadcast"
709:January 11, 1989, page 13.
660:Biel, Michael Jay (1977).
644:mailing list. It corrects
613:"The Hindenburg Broadcast"
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882:American male journalists
798:October 28, 2012, at the
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480:Morehead State University
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334:Herbert Oglevee Morrison
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360:Scottdale, Pennsylvania
581:The Newark Star-Ledger
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830:Morrison's recording
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719:"Unforgettable Day."
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374:Further information:
354:Morrison was born in
787:Morrison's recording
157:improve this article
843:Hindenburg Disaster
597:LP vinyl recording.
376:Hindenburg disaster
342:Hindenburg disaster
780:'s report of 1997.
755:on August 14, 2007
714:Los Angeles Times,
648:'s report of 1997.
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576:Frassanelli, Mike
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150:verification
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947:1989 deaths
942:1905 births
837:WLS History
871:Categories
804:Real Audio
693:References
672:1194705098
509:that day.
454:media help
392:New Jersey
387:Hindenburg
368:Hindenburg
348:Hindenburg
322:Occupation
287:1905-05-14
183:newspapers
95:improve it
50:improve it
809:Alternate
680:302862693
530:Footnotes
507:Lakehurst
471:history.
468:NBC Radio
99:verifying
56:talk page
802:(36:47)
796:Archived
774:listserv
676:ProQuest
642:listserv
493:newsreel
370:disaster
213:May 2022
111:May 2021
859:YouTube
848:YouTube
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197:scholar
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366:The
303:Died
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176:news
857:on
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