There really isn't a lot of info out there regarding what has become known as The Peoria Plague - like the recording says, it was produced by WUHN in Peoria, but that really wraps it up. Some copies say it was recorded in '71, some say '72. Providing a document I came across is correct, the station started in '72, so from that one would assume the recording would have been made the same year. This is, of course, providing you can believe what you read on the internet.
Now I find this listed a lot as a "War Of The Worlds" spoof. This annoys me a little, as it's not a humor piece and it is an exceptional audio drama. Calling it a spoof is woefully inaccurate. Yes, it's one of the few recordings to use the fake news cast as a vehicle to drive their plot around in, but this is zombie fiction at its finest, and an really early example of a Romeroesque zombie tale, only a few years after he recreated the genre. Considering few people do the zombie genre well, such a label might make listeners think twice about giving it a listen.
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Now I find this listed a lot as a "War Of The Worlds" spoof. This annoys me a little, as it's not a humor piece and it is an exceptional audio drama. Calling it a spoof is woefully inaccurate. Yes, it's one of the few recordings to use the fake news cast as a vehicle to drive their plot around in, but this is zombie fiction at its finest, and an really early example of a Romeroesque zombie tale, only a few years after he recreated the genre. Considering few people do the zombie genre well, such a label might make listeners think twice about giving it a listen.