New Program Friday Night: Anniversary of The War of the Worlds Broadcast

Dear Friend and Listener:

Tonight I have an exciting program for you — one that's centered around the 1938 War of the Worlds broadcast. That was the 55-minute radio drama by a very young Orson Welles, which somehow convinced a large number of people around the country that Martians had invaded central New Jersey.

	Late night in the audio lab, preparing Planet Waves FM.

The new program posts to its tab on the new website at about 10 pm Friday night, sometimes earlier. All old programs are available there as well.

What We Learned from this Event — Through the Lens of the McLuhans

With the War of the Worlds broadcast, society knew everything it needed to know about the power of broadcast media. The incredible thing is that the program was an obvious drama, and included a disclaimer that it was a drama, and still, many, many listeners fell for it, and a tremendous fuss was caused.

We’ll analyze segments of the program (the content) and consider the electronic broadcast environment (the medium) as the transformative vector of the message. For those who have been following my McLuhan studies, this program will be a treat.

Before I get there, I’ll be covering election astrology and the U.S. election scenario in some detail, to give you a feeling of what’s happening.

Community Radio — with 100% Community Sponsorship

Planet Waves FM is a truly unique internet radio project, presented without commercial interruption or corporate sponsorship. My relationship is directly with you, and I have you in mind when I do the program each week. I work in long-form to have space to explore, and also to develop the social nature of the program as a kind of hang-out session.

	Marshall McLuhan, first philosopher of mass media, or any media. He was a professor of literature.

The program is designed to be listened to while you’re driving, cleaning, or doing anything where spoken language does not get in the way.

The style I use was once much more prevalent: late night free-form talk and music. (I was initially inspired by Father Bill Ayres, founder of WHY Hunger, who did the Sunday night program on WPLJ-FM for 40 years, starting in the late 1970s.)

No Funding from Billionaires — Only From You

I consider Planet Waves FM to be a community radio project. As such, I have two requests: If you listen regularly or just support what we do, please make a monthly or one-time contribution. We run on a little money and a lot of love. We take no money from billionaires or insurance companies or drug manufacturers. Therefore, there are no filters or restrictions on what I can say to you. My viewpoint is my own.

Second, I am interested in your ideas and your participation. There is room for us to grow and evolve, and the way we do that is with ideas and people. So if you want to help out in some way (including program ideas), please write to us at editors@planetwaves.net.

Thank you for your support, for listening and most of all, for your trust.

With love,


PS — All who make a contribution of ANY size — whether $5 or $500 — can have your choice of an Astrology Studio reading for your birth sign. These are helpful, insightful and inspiring 75 minute readings (with many extras) that you will love. We will see your contribution come through and reach back to you. Coming Soon! News About All Of Us Here

In honor of Jupiter and Saturn in Aquarius, the annual readings this year are called ALL OF US HERE. I will have information about this Friday or Saturday when the pre-order begins. I am planning to have your extended audio readings (with a video introduction wherein I describe the charts) done by Dec. 21, the day of the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction. There is also a separate written reading called AN AQUARIAN ERA, which covers 2021-2023. Many of you are already subscribers. I am still working out the schedule for AN AQUARIAN ERA. Chiron Return, our nonprofit arm, publishes Covid19 News every day, in fact several times a day. We have updated about 800 times since we began publishing on March 3. This old-style news weblog takes a panoramic view of the virus situation. We offer news and viewpoints from a wide diversity of sources, science news, international reporting, videos and other resources to help you see the wide diversity of information not making it onto television or major websites. We are tracking the vaccine and testing issues carefully. Planet Waves publishes daily astrology and birthdays through the week. This feature includes a daily extended birthday reading and ongoing commentaries on developing astrology as it happens. Check in whenever you want — no password required. Every week or so, I do a new edition of Planet Waves TV. Usually these focus an astrological topic or chart in detail. After initially being resistant to video, I now love doing these. The more people click on them the more I will do — and I am interested in your suggestions. The link to PlanetWaves.TV redirects to our YouTube channel for easy access. We also post to Facebook, to our front page, and include one with the weekly newsletter.  Going back to February, I've developed a portfolio of essays, investigative articles, videos and audio presentations on the Covid situation. These include articles about the astrology of the situation, hand sanitizer, holistic care, social critique and a wide diversity of other topics. We've recently added a selection of my satires, such as CDC guidance on blowing kisses. This is a truly comprehensive look at the issues, written from a worldly, nonpolitical standpoint. Here is the link.