Hi, Steve.  Great piece.  Where can I listen to the whole 
thing?  Thanks.--Matt, N1IBB.

At 03:22 PM 8/11/2014, you wrote:
>BlankFYI
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>
>
>
>"the airship is going to make an attempt at landing in the rain..."
>
>Some of radio's greatest moments are when the actual event occurs live on
>the air or while a reporter is recording and the unexpected happens.
>Hindenberg DisasterOne such event happened to reporter Herb Morrison on May
>6th, 1937 in Lakehurst, New Jersey. The mighty German passenger Zeppelin,
>Hindenburg, was attempting a mooring. The Hindenburg was one of Nazi
>Germany's finest airships. It was supposed to reflect the greatness of the
>German Reich and its leader, Adolf Hitler.
>
>The airship had made this voyage before and friends and family were at
>Lakehurst waiting for the arrival of the great zeppelin. Reporter Herbert
>Morrison was there too thanks to his radio station, WLS, Chicago. The day
>was rainy and there had been strong thunderstorms earlier. Morrison was
>recording the event for later rebroadcast. The early part of his recording
>reflects information about the airship and the day and what is necessary to
>bring it into mooring under such conditions.
>
>Engineer Charles Nehlsen was manning the Presto Direct Disc recorder. The
>recorder includes a large turntable with a 16-inch platter, a heavy-duty
>lathe, which would actually cut into the lacquer disc, and an amplifier. It
>was important that these recorders be perfectly level and that vibration be
>avoided. Ultimately, the complete broadcast would be recorded on four 16"
>Green label lacquer discs.
>
>Herb MorrisonAs the zeppelin arrives, Morrison is describing the mooring
>when suddenly it bursts into flames. Morrison is shocked, but keeps talking
>though breaking occasionally overcome by the tragedy unfolding in front of
>him. Later the broadcast continues after the tragedy as the victims are
>being brought in and survivors are interviewed.
>
>An interesting side note is at the moment of explosion, when Morrison is
>heard yelling "It burst into flames!" the vibrations from the explosion
>caused the recorder to bounce on the disc creating deep grooves until
>Engineer Nehlson is able to momentarily lift the lathe from the disc and
>place it back down. The discs, which are contained at the National Archives
>reflect the grooves and the force of the explosion.
>
>It was radio news at its finest; news events reported as they happened. The
>description is brought home to radio's listeners and we in turn grieve for
>the dead and injured. This event reflected the potential and power of radio
>broadcasting immediately before and, later, during World War II as the
>Murrow Boys and others would bring the war home to America via the airwaves.
>
>While the event was not aired live, it did air later. In those days radio
>reporting of events was always broadcast live only since the networks had
>policies forbidding the use of recorded material except for sound effects.
>But Herbert Morrison, the reporter, was not there to report disaster and had
>no facility for broadcasting live. Instead, he was there at the behest of
>his radio station, WLS, Chicago, to record a report on the grand airship.
>Later that day, Morrison and his sound engineer, Charlie Nehlsen left New
>Jersey with the transcription discs and headed back to Chicago. The morning
>after the disaster is when parts of the recording first aired over WLS. Logs
>of when it first appeared over NBC are not known to exist. It is known that
>at least five minutes of the recording did broadcast on May 7th at 11:38 AM
>in the New York area and over the Red Network. It was later in the day that
>the longer sections were played to a national audience. This was one of the
>few times that the networks allowed a recording of an event to be broadcast.
>
>http://www.otr.com/hindenburg.shtml
>
>
>Steve, K8SP
>Lansing, MI