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
1,034
Broadcasts
1920–1976
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 · 1935–1948
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.
15 broadcasts · 7 series
Vox Pop
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
Vox Pop
Vox Pop (09-09-1939) (Location - RCA Exhibit, New York World's Fair - New York City, New York)
1 January 1935 · 29 min
Vox Pop
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
The Fred Allen Show
FredAllen-391025 The Fred Allen Show (Hour of Smiles)-The World's Fair Aquacade (Billy Rose)
25 October 1939 · 59 min
Vox Pop
NBC 280 New York World's Fair New York, New York
9 September 1939 · 29 min
Vox Pop
CBS Buster Crabbe, New York World's Fair
15 August 1940 · 29 min
Radio News 1940
MBS NY World's Fair Closing
27 October 1940 · 32 min
Wwii News Sound Files
NY World's Fair Closing
27 October 1940 · 32 min
Wartime News Reports
Worlds Fair Closing
27 October 1940 · 32 min
Bob and Ray
ay Postcard Pavillion at the World's Fair
26 August 1948 · 3 min
Sponsor Maxwell House
M Worlds Fair
undated · 3 min
Sponsor Maxwell House
M Worlds Fair 64kb
undated · 3 min
Sponsor Maxwell House
M Worlds Fair vbr
undated · 3 min
Sponsor Maxwell House
Opening Of Act II (At The World's Fair); Why Do I Love You?
undated · 7 min
Sponsor Maxwell House
Opening Of Act II (At The World's Fair); Why Do I Love You?
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.
28 broadcasts · showing the first 24
Cavalcade of America
CALV 351006 000 No Turning Back (This version is sponsored by Bell Telephone)
6 October 1935 · 59 min
Cavalcade of America
CALV 360219 020 The Bridge Builders
19 February 1936 · 30 min
Cavalcade of America
CALV 360415 028 Railroad Builders
15 April 1936 · 29 min
Cavalcade of America
CALV 360415 028 Railroad Builders
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
AdmiralPerryDiscoversThePole
7 April 1937 · 30 min
Cavalcade of America
CALV 370407 077 Admiral Peary Discovers the Pole
7 April 1937 · 30 min
Cavalcade of America
CALV 370519 083 Thomas A Edison, The Man
19 May 1937 · 29 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
CALV 390123 149 Alexander Graham Bell
23 January 1939 · 30 min
Cavalcade of America
CALV 400521 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
CALV 410728 237 Clifford Holland
28 July 1941 · 29 min
Cavalcade of America
Burma Surgeon
1 November 1943 · 30 min
Cavalcade of America
CALV 431101 355 Burma Surgeon
1 November 1943 · 29 min
Cavalcade of America
Cavalcade of America 0355 43-11-01 Burma Surgeon
1 November 1943 · 29 min
Cavalcade of America
CALV 451105 452 The Builders of the Bridge
5 November 1945 · 29 min
Pavilion 4 · 1920–1959
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.
42 broadcasts · 18 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
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
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
My Favorite Husband
Television
17 June 1949 · 28 min
My Favorite Husband
Television
17 June 1949 · 24 min
My Favorite Husband
Television
14 October 1949
My Favorite Husband
Television
14 October 1949 · 23 min
The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show
The Burns and Allen Show (33) George On Televison
12 May 1949 · 29 min
The Phil Harris Alice Faye Show
The Television Test
6 November 1949 · 29 min
The Phil Harris Alice Faye Show
The Television Test
6 November 1949 · 29 min
Pavilion 5 · 1940–1976
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.
38 broadcasts · 20 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
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
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
1 January 1948 · 1 min
Murrow Reports
39 Chaplain Wm Downey's Prayer Before First Atom Bomb Mission
1 January 1948 · 1 min
Murrow Reports
40 Truman Announces Hiroshima Attack
1 January 1948 · 1 min
Radio News 1948
CBC The Atom Bomb
3 April 1948 · 2 min
Murrow Reports
Chaplain's Prayer Before First Atom Bomb Mission; Hiroshima Attack; Japan Surrender; MacArthur
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
1 January 1949 · 4 min
Murrow Reports
Conflict Between Russia & The West; The Bikini Atom Bomb Test
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
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
1 January 1949 · 4 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
Dangerous Assignment
t (055) Atomic Fission Formula (Java)
31 March 1951 · 29 min
Dangerous Assignment
t-52-12-31 139 Retrieve Stolen Atomic Secrets
31 December 1952 · 23 min
Pavilion 6 · 1927–1964
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.
79 broadcasts · 32 series · showing the first 24
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
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
The Adventures of Superman
FreeOTRShows com - Superman 400503 36 Airplane Disaster
3 May 1940 · 10 min
The Adventures of Superman
FreeOTRShows com - Superman 400506 37 Airplane Disaster
6 May 1940 · 11 min
The Adventures of Superman
FreeOTRShows com - Superman 400508 38 Airplane Disaster
8 May 1940 · 9 min
The Adventures of Superman
FreeOTRShows com - Superman 400510 39 Airplane Disaster
10 May 1940 · 11 min
Cavalcade of America
CALV 410519 227 David Crockett
19 May 1941 · 29 min
Radio News 1941
CBS Elmer Davis & The News Charles Lindbergh Opposes Lend-lease
23 January 1941 · 4 min
American History Through the Eyes of Radio
Charles Lindbergh - Address on U S Neutrality
23 April 1941 · 9 min
Radio News 1941
Charles Lindbergh America First Committee Speech in Des Moines, Iowa
11 September 1941 · 9 min
Wwii News Sound Files
Lindberghs America First Committee Speech in Des Moines Iowa
11 September 1941 · 9 min
Lum and Abner
Abner's Rocket Ship to Mars
26 October 1942 · 12 min
Lum and Abner
Article on Rocket Project
24 November 1942 · 11 min
Lum and Abner
How to Build a Rocket Ship
28 October 1942 · 11 min
Lum and Abner
L&A (155) Mousey, Airplane Watcher
26 February 1942 · 11 min
Pavilion 7 · 1943–1958
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.
13 broadcasts · 9 series
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
CALV 440424 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
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
Family Theater
Grampa's Marvelous X-Ray
undated · 28 min
Pavilion 8 · 1950–1973
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.
737 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 · 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 · 27 min
Dimension X
Dimx e004 NoContact
1950 · 28 min
Dimension X
Dimx e013 ALogicNamedJoe
1950 · 26 min
Dimension X
Dimx e019 TheCastaways
1950 · 28 min
Dimension X
Dimx e023 FirstContact
1950 · 27 min
Dimension X
Dimx e026 AndTheMoonBeStillAsBright
1950 · 29 min
Dimension X
Dimx e029 Shanghied
1950 · 28 min
Dimension X
Dimx e036 Nightmare
1950 · 23 min
Dimension X
Dimx e041 Courtesy
1950 · 30 min
Dimension X
Dimx e043 TheVeldt
1950 · 28 min
Dimension X
Dimx e044 TheVitalFactor
1950 · 29 min
Dimension X
Dimx e046 MarionettesInc
1950 · 28 min
Dimension X
Dimx e048 Kaleidoscope
1950 · 30 min
Dimension X
Dimx e049 Requiem
1950 · 30 min
Dimension X
Dr Grimshaw's Sanitarium
22 September 1950 · 30 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.