What Happened to the Radio Station in Kito?

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The radio station was in the same building as the biggest newspaper in Kito at the time, El Camercio. Its printing machines were completely destroyed. People threw rocks and shouting down with the radio. They did crazy things like confessing to their partners that they were unfaithful or getting married.

On a Saturday night, in February 1949, the music programming on one of the most popular radio stations in Quito, Ecuador, was interrupted with an urgent news bulletin: strange objects in the sky that looked like large disks with bright lights were using a powerful ray to destroy a nearby city. And they were heading right for Quito.

Thanks to Lisette Arévalo for sharing her tape and her reporting. In 2020, she reported this story for the Spanish-language podcast Radio Ambulante – it’s called “The Extraterrestrials.” You can listen at https://radioambulante.org/en/audio-en/the-extraterrestrials.

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