CBS Radio 4 July 1948

You Are There (CBS, 1947-50) took historic events and dramatized them with live radio coverage. Of course, many famous events were covered on radio prior to the Second World War, but the daily transcontinental field reports created an emotional impact that represented radio reporting at its best. Many of the announcers on You Are There were real wartime correspondents in the conflict which finished three years earlier. 

Of course, many of the historic events took place before radio - that fact was obvious to listeners, who knew this was a radio re-enactment. But the dialogue was believable, as factual as possible, and very much in character. Director Robert Lewis Shayon used sound effects, actors and the reporters "coverage" in an exciting and thought-provoking way.

This show looked at the ways in which the Declaration of Independence was forged in 1776.  Although I did not catch the credits, I felt that the show was incredibly prescient of what has recently taken place in American politics: a deeply divided group of politicians basically failing to agree on the future course for their country.  Even now, the day after President Obama has just won a second term as US President, I doubt whether he will be able to forge a significant consensus.