Buffalo named War of the Worlds Capital

BUFFALO, NY (WIVB) - It was a radio broadcast that stunned the world and Buffalo has kept it alive ever since.

"War of the Worlds" was the all-time Halloween prank. On Oct 21, 1938 the world stopped turning, so to speak, when Orson Welles hit the airwaves and announced an alien invasion.

Gov. David Paterson and the State senate have now declared Buffalo as the "War of the Worlds Broadcast Capital of the World". Veteran radio personalities gathered to celebrate today at Ilio DiPaolo's restaurant.

Buffalo has been the home of more re-enactments of the classic HG Wells story more than any other city on the planet.

Danny Neverth was part of the re-enactment on WKBW radio in 1968 when the space invader setting was Grand Island.

"About a year later I was talking to a bus driver who had his radio on that night and some ladies on board going to Niagara Falls. They looked at the bridge and said 'Isn't this Grand Island?' and he said 'Yes'. And they said, 'Well, we shouldn't be going this way. A space ship landed there and people are being killed by the martians'," said Neverth.

He continued, "But remember this, thoughout the entire broadcast, we kept interrupting saying this is a dramatization and people never went to their dictionaries to look up what it meant. Most of them probably couldn't even spell it!"

To further celebrate Buffalo's "War of the Worlds" legacy, the Ilio DiPaolo's scholarship fund will hold a Halloween costume party on Oct 31st to raise funds for "Kids Escaping Drugs".

Also, the original 1968 re-enactment will be re-broadcast this Halloween on various stations.