We Interrupt This Broadcast
Encyclopedia
We Interrupt This Broadcast is the title of a non-fiction
book from 1998. It was written by Joe Garner
; the foreword
was written by the veteran American newscaster Walter Cronkite
. In addition to many descriptions and pictures of notable news events from the 20th century, compact disc
s containing audio news clips from the events described in the book are also included. The audio portions are narrated by Bill Kurtis
.
The phrase "we interrupt this broadcast" has been used frequently by radio and television networks when breaking into a program in progress to deliver important news or information. The description on the book jacket states: "Wherever we may happen to be, our lives stop for a moment, and we experience those few seconds of anxiety between the interruption and the actual announcement of what has happened."
The book has been ranked on The New York Times
list of best-selling multimedia books
.
The second edition, released in 2000, features the above events, plus...
The third edition, released in 2002, features the above events, plus...
In 2008, a fourth edition was released. This most recent version was released with 3 CD's, featuring the above events, plus...
Non-fiction
Non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...
book from 1998. It was written by Joe Garner
Joe Garner (author)
Joe Garner is an author and former radio executive who resides in Los Angeles.Garner spent twenty years working in the radio industry, with over ten of those years employed as an executive with the Westwood One radio network. He contributed to the creation and production of numerous audiobooks for...
; the foreword
Foreword
A foreword is a piece of writing sometimes placed at the beginning of a book or other piece of literature. Written by someone other than the primary author of the work, it often tells of some interaction between the writer of the foreword and the book's primary author or the story the book tells...
was written by the veteran American newscaster Walter Cronkite
Walter Cronkite
Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years . During the heyday of CBS News in the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll...
. In addition to many descriptions and pictures of notable news events from the 20th century, compact disc
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
s containing audio news clips from the events described in the book are also included. The audio portions are narrated by Bill Kurtis
Bill Kurtis
Bill Kurtis is an American television journalist, producer, narrator, and news anchor. He is also the current host of A&E crime and news documentary shows, including Investigative Reports, American Justice, and Cold Case Files...
.
The phrase "we interrupt this broadcast" has been used frequently by radio and television networks when breaking into a program in progress to deliver important news or information. The description on the book jacket states: "Wherever we may happen to be, our lives stop for a moment, and we experience those few seconds of anxiety between the interruption and the actual announcement of what has happened."
Editions
The first edition of We Interrupt This Broadcast was published in October 1998. A second edition was published in May 2000, and a third edition came out in May 2002. Both of these editions were revised to include more recent events, and both included two CDs. A fourth "10th Anniversary Edition" was published in October 2008, and in addition to summarizing more recent events, this edition contains three CDs instead of two.The book has been ranked on The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
list of best-selling multimedia books
New York Times Best Seller list
The New York Times Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. It is published weekly in The New York Times Book Review magazine, which is published in the Sunday edition of The New York Times and as a stand-alone publication...
.
Events
The first edition of We Interrupt This Broadcast details, in chronological order, 38 notable events from the 20th century. Each event is chronicled in the book in words and pictures, and each has a corresponding audio track on one of the CDs containing narration by Bill Kurtis and snippets from network radio and television newscasts. The events described in the first edition are:- "The Hindenburg ExplodesHindenburg disasterThe Hindenburg disaster took place on Thursday, May 6, 1937, as the German passenger airship LZ 129 Hindenburg caught fire and was destroyed during its attempt to dock with its mooring mast at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station, which is located adjacent to the borough of Lakehurst, New Jersey...
" (May 6, 1937) - "Pearl Harbor Under AttackAttack on Pearl HarborThe attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
" (December 7, 1941) - "D-Day: The Normandy Invasion" (June 6, 1944)
- "President Roosevelt Dies" (April 12, 1945)
- "V-E Day: War in Europe EndsVictory in Europe DayVictory in Europe Day commemorates 8 May 1945 , the date when the World War II Allies formally accepted the unconditional surrender of the armed forces of Nazi Germany and the end of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. The formal surrender of the occupying German forces in the Channel Islands was not...
" (May 7, 1945) - "Atomic Bomb Destroys HiroshimaAtomic bombings of Hiroshima and NagasakiDuring the final stages of World War II in 1945, the United States conducted two atomic bombings against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, the first on August 6, 1945, and the second on August 9, 1945. These two events are the only use of nuclear weapons in war to date.For six months...
" (August 6, 1945) - "Japan Surrenders: WWII EndsSurrender of JapanThe surrender of Japan in 1945 brought hostilities of World War II to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy was incapable of conducting operations and an Allied invasion of Japan was imminent...
" (August 15, 1945) - "Truman Defeats DeweyUnited States presidential election, 1948The United States presidential election of 1948 is considered by most historians as the greatest election upset in American history. Virtually every prediction indicated that incumbent President Harry S. Truman would be defeated by Republican Thomas E. Dewey. Truman won, overcoming a three-way...
" (November 3, 1948) - "General MacArthur Fired" (April 11, 1951)
- "Sputnik Launched by Soviets" (October 4, 1957)
- "John Glenn Orbits Earth" (February 20, 1962)
- "Marilyn Monroe DiesDeath of Marilyn MonroeMarilyn Monroe was found dead in the bedroom of her Brentwood home by her psychoanalyst Ralph S Florence after he was called by Monroe's housekeeper Eunice Murray on August 5, 1962. She was 36 years old at the time of her death. Her death was ruled to be "acute barbiturate poisoning" by Dr. Thomas...
" (August 4, 1962) - "Cuban Missile Crisis: Nuclear War ThreatenedCuban Missile CrisisThe Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation among the Soviet Union, Cuba and the United States in October 1962, during the Cold War...
" (October 22, 1962) - "President Kennedy AssassinatedJohn F. Kennedy assassinationJohn Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas...
" (November 22, 1963) - "Lee Harvey Oswald Assassinated" (November 24, 1963)
- "President Johnson Declines Re-election Bid" (March 31, 1968)
- "Martin Luther King Jr. AssassinatedMartin Luther King, Jr. assassinationMartin Luther King, Jr., a prominent American leader of the African-American civil rights movement and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968, at the age of 39...
" (April 4, 1968) - "Robert Kennedy AssassinatedRobert F. Kennedy assassinationThe assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, a United States Senator and brother of assassinated President John F. Kennedy, took place shortly after midnight on June 5, 1968, in Los Angeles, California...
" (June 4, 1968) - "Apollo 11: Man Walks on MoonApollo 11In early 1969, Bill Anders accepted a job with the National Space Council effective in August 1969 and announced his retirement as an astronaut. At that point Ken Mattingly was moved from the support crew into parallel training with Anders as backup Command Module Pilot in case Apollo 11 was...
" (July 20, 1969) - "Apollo 13: Astronauts Escape DisasterApollo 13Apollo 13 was the seventh manned mission in the American Apollo space program and the third intended to land on the Moon. The craft was launched on April 11, 1970, at 13:13 CST. The landing was aborted after an oxygen tank exploded two days later, crippling the service module upon which the Command...
" (April 13, 1970) - "Kent State MassacreKent State shootingsThe Kent State shootings—also known as the May 4 massacre or the Kent State massacre—occurred at Kent State University in the city of Kent, Ohio, and involved the shooting of unarmed college students by members of the Ohio National Guard on Monday, May 4, 1970...
" (May 4, 1970) - "Munich Olympics TragedyMunich massacreThe Munich massacre is an informal name for events that occurred during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Bavaria in southern West Germany, when members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage and eventually killed by the Palestinian group Black September. Members of Black September...
" (September 5, 1972) - "Nixon Resigns" (August 8, 1974)
- "Saigon FallsFall of SaigonThe Fall of Saigon was the capture of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, by the People's Army of Vietnam and the National Liberation Front on April 30, 1975...
" (April 30, 1975) - "Elvis Dies" (August 16, 1977)
- "Iran Hostage CrisisIran hostage crisisThe Iran hostage crisis was a diplomatic crisis between Iran and the United States where 52 Americans were held hostage for 444 days from November 4, 1979 to January 20, 1981, after a group of Islamist students and militants took over the American Embassy in Tehran in support of the Iranian...
" (November 4, 1979) - "John Lennon Assassinated" (December 8, 1980)
- "President Reagan ShotReagan assassination attemptThe Reagan assassination attempt occurred on Monday, March 30, 1981, just 69 days into the presidency of Ronald Reagan. While leaving a speaking engagement at the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C., President Reagan and three others were shot and wounded by John Hinckley, Jr...
" (March 30, 1981) - "The Challenger ExplodesSpace Shuttle Challenger disasterThe Space Shuttle Challenger disaster occurred on January 28, 1986, when Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, leading to the deaths of its seven crew members. The spacecraft disintegrated over the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of central Florida at 11:38 am EST...
" (January 28, 1986) - "Berlin Wall Crumbles" (November 9, 1989)
- "Operation Desert Storm Begins" (January 29, 1991)
- "Rodney King Verdict Incites Riots" (April 29, 1992)
- "Waco Standoff Ends in Disaster" (April 19, 1993)
- "O.J. Simpson SagaO. J. Simpson murder caseThe O. J. Simpson murder case was a criminal trial held in Los Angeles County, California Superior Court from January 29 to October 3, 1995. Former American football star and actor O. J...
" (June 13, 1994 to February 4, 1997) - "Oklahoma City BombingOklahoma City bombingThe Oklahoma City bombing was a terrorist bomb attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. It was the most destructive act of terrorism on American soil until the September 11, 2001 attacks. The Oklahoma blast claimed 168 lives, including 19...
" (April 19, 1995) - "Flight 800 Explodes Over AtlanticTWA Flight 800Trans World Airlines Flight 800 , a Boeing 747-131, exploded and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near East Moriches, New York, on July 17, 1996, at about 20:31 EDT, 12 minutes after takeoff, killing all 230 persons on board. At the time, it was the second-deadliest U.S...
" (July 17, 1996) - "Atlanta Olympics BombingCentennial Olympic Park bombingThe Centennial Olympic Park bombing was a terrorist bombing on July 27, 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States during the 1996 Summer Olympics, the first of four committed by Eric Robert Rudolph...
" (July 27, 1996) - "Princess Diana DiesDeath of Diana, Princess of WalesOn 31 August 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales, died as a result of injuries sustained in a car accident in the Pont de l'Alma road tunnel in Paris, France. Her companion, Dodi Fayed, and the driver of the Mercedes-Benz W140, Henri Paul, were pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. Fayed's...
" (August 31, 1997)
The second edition, released in 2000, features the above events, plus...
- "The Impeachment of President ClintonImpeachment of Bill ClintonBill Clinton, President of the United States, was impeached by the House of Representatives on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice on December 19, 1998, but acquitted by the Senate on February 12, 1999. Two other impeachment articles, a second perjury charge and a charge of abuse of...
" (December 19, 1998) - "Tragedy at Columbine High SchoolColumbine High School massacreThe Columbine High School massacre occurred on Tuesday, April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Columbine, an unincorporated area of Jefferson County, Colorado, United States, near Denver and Littleton. Two senior students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, embarked on a massacre, killing 12...
" (April 20, 1999) - "John F. Kennedy Jr. DiesJohn F. Kennedy, Jr. airplane crashOn July 16, 1999, John F. Kennedy, Jr. died when the Piper Saratoga light aircraft he was piloting crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. His wife, Carolyn Bessette, and sister-in-law, Lauren Bessette, were also killed. His flight departed from Essex...
" (July 16, 1999)
The third edition, released in 2002, features the above events, plus...
- "The 2000 ElectionUnited States presidential election in Florida, 2000The 2000 United States presidential election in Florida took place on November 7, 2000 as it did in the other 49 states and D.C., which was part of the 2000 United States presidential election...
" (November 7, 2000) - "America Under Attack" (September 11, 2001)
In 2008, a fourth edition was released. This most recent version was released with 3 CD's, featuring the above events, plus...
- "Operation Iraqi Freedom Begins" (March 20, 2003)
- "Hurricane Katrina Floods New OrleansHurricane KatrinaHurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
" (August 29, 2005) - "The Virginia Tech MassacreVirginia Tech massacreThe Virginia Tech massacre was a school shooting that took place on April 16, 2007, on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States. In two separate attacks, approximately two hours apart, the perpetrator, Seung-Hui Cho, killed 32 people...
" (April 16, 2007)