What happens
The Pacific Story presents a documentary-style account of Tokyo, beginning with the city as it stood before the great earthquake of September 1, 1923. Narrators and visitors describe its crooked streets, crowded theaters and open shops. The quake and the fires that followed destroy much of the city, and Japanese planners decide to rebuild it with wide streets, parks, canals and fireproof construction. Officials and military figures discuss the new layout and its defenses, and the program follows the city's growth through the 1930s and the strains that arrive with war. The episode was broadcast on September 24, 1944, on the National Broadcasting Company network.
Tokyo, Japan, from before the 1923 earthquake through the 1930s and into the war years
Characters: Gaine Whitman, General Uyahara
Listen for: The description of Tokyo's rebuilding after the 1923 earthquake, with its wide trunk streets, fireproof construction and planned defenses
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.