What happens
NBC presents a special broadcast from Operation Crossroads, reporting on the atomic bomb dropped on the target fleet in Bikini Atoll in the Pacific. Correspondents including Ralph Howard Peterson, George Thomas Foster and W.W. Chaplin describe the anchored ships from aboard vessels in and near the lagoon, including the Mount McKinley and the Appalachian. Scientists and military observers give their impressions of the blast, the rising cloud and the damage to the ships, with some reporters noting that the damage looks less severe than expected. William Lawrence of the New York Times and David Beeth, science editor, also offer comments. The broadcast was made on the day of the bombing, June 30, 1946, in the program series The Pacific Story.
Bikini Atoll in the Pacific, aboard ships in and near the lagoon, during Operation Crossroads, with reports also relayed from San Francisco and Kwajalein.
Characters: Ralph Howard Peterson, George Thomas Foster, W.W. Chaplin, Colonel John Moynihan, David Beeth, William Lawrence, Jack Demen, Arthur Van Dyck
Listen for: The correspondents' first-hand descriptions of the anchored fleet before and after the blast, the mushroom cloud, and the scientists' explanations of what they saw.
Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.