The Radio Planet · radio builds the future
The Worldof Tomorrow
Flushing Meadow promised a century of machines. Radio was the machine that carried the promise.
When the 1939 fair opened its gates, the future arrived as an exhibit: a television set you could stand in front of, a highway with no traffic lights, a voice from a laboratory explaining what plastics were. This wing gathers the surviving broadcasts made on those fairgrounds, the science and engineering series that carried on the argument for another twenty years, and the hours in which radio simply invented the future instead — the atomic bulletins, the sound barrier, the first rockets, and Bradbury adapted for Wednesday night.
8
Pavilions
1,237
Broadcasts
1920–1969
Years covered
1920
Earliest dated
The oldest exhibit standing
Aus Life with Dexter
Ep 084 The New Television
1920 · 28 min
From Television Arrives.
Pavilion 1 · 1935–1959
The Fair Itself
Flushing Meadow, 1939: the Trylon and the Perisphere, Billy Rose's Aquacade, and the RCA exhibit where Vox Pop set up its microphones beside the first television receivers sold to the public. These are the surviving broadcasts made on the fairgrounds themselves, down to the night the gates closed.
23 broadcasts
Fairgrounds and Expositions
Vox Pop (08-15-1940) (Location - Billy Rose's Aquacade, New York World's Fair, New York City, New York) (Guests - Eleanor Holm, Buster Crabbe)
1 January 1935 · 29 min
Fairgrounds and Expositions
Vox Pop (09-09-1939) (Location - RCA Exhibit, New York World's Fair - New York City, New York)
1 January 1935 · 29 min
Fairgrounds and Expositions
Vox Pop (09-23-1939) (Location - RCA Exhibit, New York World's Fair - New York City, New York) (Guest - Arthur Webber)
1 January 1935 · 32 min
Fairgrounds and Expositions
The World's Fair 5-14-1940 - The Revuers
1938 · 28 min
Fairgrounds and Expositions
1939 NY World's Fair Opening 390430
1939 · 20 min
Fairgrounds and Expositions
FredAllen-391025 The Fred Allen Show (Hour of Smiles)-The World's Fair Aquacade (Billy Rose)
25 October 1939 · 59 min
Fairgrounds and Expositions
NBC 280 New York World's Fair New York, New York
9 September 1939 · 29 min
Fairgrounds and Expositions
Band Remote - Canadian National Exposition, Toronto, Canada (09-05-1940)
1940 · 15 min
Fairgrounds and Expositions
CBS Buster Crabbe, New York World's Fair
15 August 1940 · 29 min
Fairgrounds and Expositions
MBS NY World's Fair Closing
27 October 1940 · 32 min
Fairgrounds and Expositions
NY World's Fair Closing
27 October 1940 · 32 min
Fairgrounds and Expositions
Worlds Fair Closing
27 October 1940 · 32 min
Fairgrounds and Expositions
ay Postcard Pavillion at the World's Fair
26 August 1948 · 3 min
Fairgrounds and Expositions
Benny Goodman Tape 25 Benny Goodman in Brussels Worlds Fair 1958 Side A
1958 · 47 min
Fairgrounds and Expositions
Benny Goodman Tape 25 Benny Goodman in Brussels Worlds Fair 1958 Side B
1958 · 46 min
Fairgrounds and Expositions
Benny Goodman Tape 26 Brussels Worlds Fair 1958-1959 Side A
1959 · 52 min
Fairgrounds and Expositions
Benny Goodman Tape 26 Brussels Worlds Fair 1958-1959 Side B
1959 · 52 min
Fairgrounds and Expositions
Bob&Ray-591119 Wally Ballou on the Coming World's Fair
1959 · 11 min
Fairgrounds and Expositions
M Worlds Fair
undated · 3 min
Fairgrounds and Expositions
M Worlds Fair 64kb
undated · 3 min
Fairgrounds and Expositions
M Worlds Fair vbr
undated · 3 min
Fairgrounds and Expositions
Opening Of Act II (At The World's Fair); Why Do I Love You? (1 of 2)
undated · 7 min
Fairgrounds and Expositions
Opening Of Act II (At The World's Fair); Why Do I Love You? (2 of 2)
undated · 7 min
Pavilion 2 · 1943–1955
The Laboratory Hour
Westinghouse put its research engineers on the air and let them explain what they were building. Adventures in Research dramatised the work of real laboratories week after week — the closest thing American radio had to a science desk.
82 broadcasts · showing the first 24
Adventures in Research
ch ep001 Piece of Silk
2 February 1943 · 14 min
Adventures in Research
ch ep002 Fight Against Fire
9 February 1943 · 14 min
Adventures in Research
ch ep003 The King of Ice
16 February 1943 · 14 min
Adventures in Research
ch ep004 And Then the Night
23 February 1943 · 14 min
Adventures in Research
ch ep005 I Scream You Scream
2 March 1943 · 14 min
Adventures in Research
ch ep006 Yesterdays Secret Weapon
9 March 1943 · 14 min
Adventures in Research
ch ep007 Mariah Coventry
16 March 1943 · 14 min
Adventures in Research
ch ep008 The Man Who Found a Continent
23 March 1943 · 14 min
Adventures in Research
ch ep009 The Immigrant Inventor
30 March 1943 · 14 min
Adventures in Research
ch ep010 Dirty Hands
6 April 1943 · 14 min
Adventures in Research
ch ep013 Victory in the Desert
27 April 1943 · 14 min
Adventures in Research
ch ep015 The Recluse of Fitzroy Square
11 May 1943 · 14 min
Adventures in Research
ch ep095 History of 1st Regular Radio Broadcast
21 November 1944 · 15 min
Adventures in Research
ch ep096 Telegraphy
28 November 1944 · 15 min
Adventures in Research
ch ep142 A New Kind Of Movie
16 October 1945 · 14 min
Adventures in Research
ch ep173 George Westinghouse
16 May 1946 · 14 min
Adventures in Research
ch ep180 Electronics in Communications
2 July 1946 · 15 min
Adventures in Research
ch ep181 Electronics in Transportation
9 July 1946 · 15 min
Adventures in Research
ch ep184 King of Clocks
30 July 1946 · 15 min
Adventures in Research
ch ep185 The Paper Invention That Worked
6 August 1946 · 15 min
Adventures in Research
ch ep186 Golden Jubilee
13 August 1946 · 15 min
Adventures in Research
ch ep187 The First American Patent
20 August 1946 · 15 min
Adventures in Research
ch ep188 Typewriter History
27 August 1946 · 14 min
Adventures in Research
ch ep189 Science in Recreation
3 September 1946 · 14 min
Pavilion 3 · 1935–1952
The People Who Made It
DuPont's Cavalcade of America turned inventors, surgeons, engineers and chemists into dramatic leads: Edison, Bell, Whitney, Morse, Carver, the men who strung the telegraph and the women who ran the wards.
36 broadcasts · showing the first 24
Cavalcade of America
000 No Turning Back (This version is sponsored by Bell Telephone)
6 October 1935 · 59 min
Cavalcade of America
020 The Bridge Builders
19 February 1936 · 30 min
Cavalcade of America
028 Railroad Builders — 15 Apr 1936 (1 of 2)
15 April 1936 · 29 min
Cavalcade of America
028 Railroad Builders — 15 Apr 1936 (2 of 2)
15 April 1936 · 29 min
Cavalcade of America
Cavalcade of America 0020 36-02-19 The Bridge Builders
19 February 1936 · 29 min
Cavalcade of America
Cavalcade of America 0028 36-04-15 The Railroad Builders
15 April 1936 · 29 min
Cavalcade of America
RailroadBuilders
15 April 1936 · 30 min
Cavalcade of America
TheBridgeOfBuilders
19 February 1936 · 30 min
Cavalcade of America
077 Admiral Peary Discovers the Pole
7 April 1937 · 30 min
Cavalcade of America
083 Thomas A Edison, The Man
19 May 1937 · 29 min
Cavalcade of America
AdmiralPerryDiscoversThePole
7 April 1937 · 30 min
Cavalcade of America
Cavalcade of America 0077 37-04-07 Admiral Peary Discovers the Pole
7 April 1937 · 29 min
Cavalcade of America
Cavalcade of America 0083 37-05-19 Edison the Man
19 May 1937 · 29 min
Cavalcade of America
ThomasAEdisonTheMan
19 May 1937 · 29 min
Cavalcade of America
JeffersonAndAmericanEducation
13 April 1938 · 29 min
Cavalcade of America
149 Alexander Graham Bell
23 January 1939 · 30 min
Cavalcade of America
188 Jane Addams of Hull House
21 May 1940 · 29 min
Cavalcade of America
Cavalcade of America 0188 40-05-21 Jane Addams of Hull House
21 May 1940 · 29 min
Cavalcade of America
JaneAdamsOfHullHouse
21 May 1940 · 28 min
Cavalcade of America
237 Clifford Holland
28 July 1941 · 29 min
Cavalcade of America
355 Burma Surgeon
1 November 1943 · 29 min
Cavalcade of America
Burma Surgeon
1 November 1943 · 30 min
Cavalcade of America
Cavalcade of America 0355 43-11-01 Burma Surgeon
1 November 1943 · 29 min
Cavalcade of America
452 The Builders of the Bridge
5 November 1945 · 29 min
Pavilion 4 · 1920–1964
Television Arrives
Radio reporting on the medium that would replace it — demonstrations, first telecasts, licence fights and the slow realisation in the newsroom that the picture had won.
61 broadcasts · 24 series · showing the first 24
Aus Life with Dexter
Ep 084 The New Television
1920 · 28 min
The Shadow of Fu Manchu
Secret Television Transmitter
3 September 1939 · 14 min
The Life of Riley
28 (251) A Television Set on a 10 Day Free Trial
23 April 1944 · 28 min
Radio Programs
AbeBurrowsShow471024 When Television Takes Over
1947 · 13 min
The Open Shelf
Band 2 - Televised Talk On His 90th Birthday (26 7 46)
1947 · 16 min
Duffys Tavern
rn 1949-03-09 (314) Archie Writes a Television Play (with Marlene Dietrich)
3 December 1947 · 29 min
Oddities
49 490617 Television
1948 · 24 min
Oddities
58 491014 Television
1948 · 23 min
Oddities
85 500423 Liz Appears On Television
1948 · 30 min
My Favorite Husband
049 (AFRTS) Television (aka Geo Breaks Neighbor's Television)
17 June 1949 · 24 min
My Favorite Husband
058 (AFRTS) Television (aka Ordering TV Set) (Poor Snd)
14 October 1949 · 23 min
The Green Hornet
917 Face in the Television
10 February 1949 · 28 min
Duffys Tavern
DT #313 Guest is Mickey Rooney (Television Play)
2 March 1949 · 29 min
Duffys Tavern
duff 1949 03 09 Television Play
9 March 1949 · 29 min
Duffys Tavern
Duffy'sTavern-490309 A Television Play (Guest Mickey Rooney)
9 March 1949 · 21 min
The Fred Allen Show
FredAllen-490206 The Fred Allen Show-Planning a Television Show (Guest Bert Lahr)
6 February 1949 · 28 min
The Life of Riley
LOR 1949-10-28 #251 Riley Buys a Television
28 October 1949 · 28 min
The Life of Riley
lril 1949 10 28 Television Set on Ten Day Trial
28 October 1949 · 28 min
My Favorite Husband
nd 1949-06-17 (48) The Television Suit
30 September 1949 · 29 min
My Favorite Husband
nd 1949-10-14 (57) Television
30 September 1949 · 26 min
Archie Andrews
New Television Set
21 May 1949 · 29 min
Oddities
Television
1949
My Favorite Husband
Television — 14 Oct 1949 (1 of 2)
14 October 1949 · 23 min
My Favorite Husband
Television — 17 Jun 1949 (1 of 2)
17 June 1949 · 28 min
Pavilion 5 · 1940–1969
The Atomic Age
August 1945 and after: the bulletins that announced the bomb, the broadcasts that tried to explain fission to a listening public, and the arguments about what to do next.
40 broadcasts · 24 series · showing the first 24
The Adventures of Superman
FreeOTRShows com - Superman 400226 07 The Atomic Beam M
26 February 1940 · 12 min
Bulldog Drummond
d 1947-01-17 (282) Claim Check Murders Aka Atomic Murders
28 September 1941 · 29 min
Wwii News Sound Files
Radio Report to the Nation on the Dropping of the Atomic Bomb 08-09-1945
1945 · 29 min
Radio News 1945
Slim Gaillard Quartette - Atomic Cocktail
15 December 1945 · 2 min
Joan Davis
Will Andy Russell Make a Movie for Atomic Pictures?
22 October 1945 · 25 min
Otr Shelf
Bikini Atomic Test
1946 · 14 min
The Pacific Story
ep154 Special Broadcast - The Atomic Bomb At Bikini Atoll
30 June 1946 · 29 min
Radio Readers Digest
59 Eleven Against The Nazi Atom Bomb
17 April 1947 · 29 min
Bulldog Drummond
Claim Check Murders Aka Atomic Murders
17 January 1947 · 29 min
Duffys Tavern
rn 1951-12-21 (420) Atomic Research
3 December 1947 · 28 min
Murrow Reports
39 Chaplain Wm Downey's Prayer Before First Atom Bomb Mission — 1948 (2 of 2)
1 January 1948 · 1 min
Radio News 1948
CBC The Atom Bomb
3 April 1948 · 2 min
Far Flung
Chaplain's Prayer Before First Atom Bomb Mission; Hiroshima Attack; Japan Surrender; MacArthur
1948 · 4 min
Murrow Reports
Chaplain's Prayer Before First Atom Bomb Mission; Hiroshima Attack; Japan Surrender; MacArthur — 1948
1 January 1948 · 4 min
Bob and Ray
ay A Discussion about Nuclear Weapons
19 July 1949 · 28 min
Murrow Reports
Conflict Between Russia & The West; The Bikini Atom Bomb Test — 1949 (1 of 2)
1 January 1949 · 4 min
Murrow Reports
Conflict between Russia & the West; The Bikini Atom Bomb Test — 1949 (2 of 2)
1 January 1949 · 4 min
Murrow Reports
The Baruch Proposal For The Control Of Atomic Energy; International War Crimes Trial At Nuremburg; Execution Of Ten Top Nazi War Leaders — 1949 (1 of 2)
1 January 1949 · 4 min
Murrow Reports
The Baruch Proposal for the control of Atomic Energy; International War Crimes Trial at Nuremburg; Execution of ten top Nazi War Leaders — 1949 (2 of 2)
1 January 1949 · 4 min
Into the Air
CBS Atomic City U.S.A
1950 · 29 min
Hear It Now
39 Chaplain Wm Downey's Prayer Before First Atom Bomb Mission
1951 · 1 min
Bold Venture
Atomic Espionage no San Thomas
7 May 1951 · 26 min
Bold Venture
Bold Venture 510507 07 Atomic Espionage in San Tomas
7 May 1951 · 26 min
Duffys Tavern
DT Atomic Research
21 December 1951 · 28 min
Pavilion 6 · 1923–1960
The Sky and Beyond
Flight as news: Earhart and Lindbergh, the airliner and the airmail, the sound barrier, and the first rockets, carried live and reported the morning after.
107 broadcasts · 41 series · showing the first 24
Out of the Ordinary
begruessung charles lindberghs in washington
1923 · 7 min
Out of the Ordinary
Lindbergh Arrival at US Navy Yard, Washingtn DC
1923 · 5 min
Great Sporting Days
Charles Lindbergh Coverage (06-11-1927)
1925 · 56 min
American History Through the Eyes of Radio
Calvin Coolidge - Lindbergh's Return to U S
11 June 1927 · 2 min
American History Through the Eyes of Radio
Charles Lindbergh - Reception in Washington
11 June 1927 · 56 min
Into the Air
Charles Lindbergh Coverage (06-11-1927)
1927 · 56 min
Into the Air
Lindbergh Arrival at US Navy Yard, Washingtn DC
1927 · 5 min
Into the Air
1935-xx-xx A Womans Place in Science Amelia Earhart
1930 · 5 min
Into the Air
1937-xx-xx On The Future Of Women In Flying Amelia Earhart
1930 · 2 min
Into the Air
Charles Lindbergh
1932 · 36 min
Otr Shelf
Amelia Earhart
1934 · 5 min
Otr Shelf
Amelia Earhart
1934 · 2 min
Radio Programs
Rocket Ship
1934 · 28 min
Into the Air
tr1xuq9ncysrnq4-airmail
1934 · 2h 10m
Otr Shelf
FIBBERMM 460604-AviationShow
1935 · 28 min
Little Orphan Annie
Flying In The New Silent Airplane
1936 · 12 min
American History Through the Eyes of Radio
Amelia Earhart - on the Future of Women in Flying
1937 · 2 min
Radio News 1938
Charles Lindbergh Speaks On US Neutrality
1938 · 9 min
The Adventures of Superman
adv of superman airplane disasters at bridger field
1940 · 1h 4m
The Adventures of Superman
adv of superman the radar rocket
1940 · 4h 2m
The Adventures of Superman
adv of superman the secret rocket
1940 · 4h 9m
The Aldrich Family
AF 1940-04-30 #044 Model Airplane
30 April 1940 · 29 min
The Adventures of Superman
FreeOTRShows com - Superman 400429 34 Airplane Disaster
29 April 1940 · 10 min
The Adventures of Superman
FreeOTRShows com - Superman 400501 35 Airplane Disaster
1 May 1940 · 11 min
Pavilion 7 · 1941–1958
Medicine's Quiet Revolution
Penicillin, the blood bank, the X-ray, the polio wards and the Salk trials — the advances that changed a lifetime, told while they were still news.
19 broadcasts · 13 series
The Baby Snooks Show
BSs 1941-06-12 #090 X-Ray Machine
1941 · 8 min
Lum and Abner
L&A (531) Wanting Squire's X-Rays
15 December 1943 · 11 min
Lum and Abner
Wanting Squire's X-Rays
15 December 1943 · 11 min
Cavalcade of America
380 The Story of Penicillin
24 April 1944 · 28 min
Cavalcade of America
Cavalcade of America 0380 44-04-24 Story of Penicillin
24 April 1944 · 29 min
Suspense
268 The X-Ray Camera
23 October 1947 · 29 min
Into the Air
1959-xx-xx U.N. Radio The Fight Against Polio Frank Sinatra
1950 · 4 min
Guest Star
Eddie Cantor Guest Star Time Polio Fundraiser D D Teoli Jr A C
1950 · 14 min
The Phil Harris Alice Faye Show
Phil's Vaccination
4 June 1950 · 29 min
Nightwatch
Polio and Fog
27 January 1955 · 26 min
Night Watch
Polio and Fog
27 January 1955 · 26 min
Yours Truly Johnny Dollar
578 The Salkoff Sequel Matter
16 March 1958 · 20 min
Yours Truly Johnny Dollar
578 The Salkoff Sequel Matter [AFRTS]
16 March 1958 · 20 min
Yours Truly Johnny Dollar
578 The Salkoff Sequel Matter [AFRTS]
16 March 1958 · 20 min
Cavalcade of America
380 The Story of Penicillin
undated · 28 min
Edgar Bergen and Charlie Mccarthy
47-11-02CharliesX-ray
undated · 4 min
Edgar Bergen and Charlie Mccarthy
48-01-18MortimerSnerdX-ray
undated · 3 min
Family Theater
Grampa's Marvelous X-Ray
undated · 28 min
Station Wor
Mary Backstayge: Peanut Butter Serum
undated · 4 min
Pavilion 8 · 1950–1958
Tomorrow, Imagined
The other half of the promise. When radio dramatised the future it hired the best science-fiction writers alive: Dimension X and X Minus One adapting Bradbury, Asimov and Heinlein, and the space operas that sold the same optimism to children at teatime.
869 broadcasts · 7 series · showing the first 24
Dimension X
004NoContact
1950 · 28 min
Dimension X
A Logic Named Joe
1 July 1950 · 29 min
Dimension X
Almost Human — 1950
1950 · 28 min
Dimension X
And The Moon Be Still As Bright
29 September 1950 · 29 min
2000 Plus
AVeteran Comes Home
1950 · 28 min
Dimension X
Beyond Infinity
1950 · 29 min
2000 Plus
Brooklyn Brain, the
21 June 1950 · 29 min
Dimension X
ChildsPlay
1950 · 23 min
Dimension X
Competition
1950 · 28 min
Dimension X
Destination Moon — 1950
1950 · 27 min
Dimension X
Dimension X #001 50-04-08 The Outer Limit
1950 · 29 min
Dimension X
Dimension X #002 50-04-15 With Folded Hands
1950 · 29 min
Dimension X
Dimension X #003 50-04-22 Report On The Barnhouse
1950 · 29 min
Dimension X
Dimension X #004 50-04-29 No Contact
1950 · 24 min
Dimension X
Dimension X #005 50-05-06 Knock
1950 · 29 min
Dimension X
Dimension X #006 50-05-13 Almost Human
1950 · 28 min
Dimension X
Dimension X #007 50-05-20 The Lost (Race)
1950 · 29 min
Dimension X
Dimension X #008 50-05-27 To The Future
1950 · 29 min
Dimension X
Dimension X #009 50-06-03 The Embassy
1950 · 29 min
Dimension X
Dimension X #011 50-06-17 There Will Come Soft Rains & Zero Hour
1950 · 29 min
Dimension X
Dimension X #013 50-07-01 A Logic Named Joe
1950 · 28 min
Dimension X
Dimension X #014 50-07-07 Mars Is Heaven
1950 · 29 min
Dimension X
Dimension X #015 50-07-14 The Man In The Moon
1950 · 29 min
Dimension X
Dimension X #016 50-07-21 Beyond Infinity
1950 · 25 min
How these are gathered
A recording joins a pavilion only when its own title names the subject, or when the whole series was built around it — Westinghouse’s Adventures in Research, DuPont’s Cavalcade of America, Dimension X and X Minus One. Nothing here is a reconstruction. The fair pavilion is deliberately small: almost nothing recorded on the fairgrounds survives, and we would rather show ten genuine transfers than pad the shelf.