Radio Ga Ga was then competing with radio as an important medium for promoting records. The video for "Radio Ga Ga" would receive a Best Art Direction nomination. Roger Taylor was quoted: Taylor originally conceived of it as "Radio " (from something his toddler son once said), which doubled as a criticism of radio for the decrease in variety of programming and the type of music being played. The song makes reference to two important radio events of the 20th century; Orson Welles' 1938 broadcast of H. G. Wells' "The War of the Worlds" in the lyric "through wars of worlds/invaded by Mars",
The Mercury Theatre on the Air October 30, 1938 and is one of the most famous broadcasts in the history of radio due to the panic which it accidentally caused, after which the Campbell Soup Company signed on as sponsor. "The Mercury Theatre on the Air" made its last broadcast December 4, 1938, and "The Campbell Playhouse" began December 9, 1938. After the theatrical successes of the Mercury Theatre, CBS Radio invited Orson Welles to create a summer show for 13 weeks. The series began July 11, 1938, initially titled "First Person Singular", with the formula that Welles would play the lead in each show. Some