2000 A.D. Radio Documentary (1966)

The 1966 radio documentary 2000 A.D.: A documentary on life in the universe in the 21st century, hosted by Chet Huntley, covers some very interesting topics. Government, energy use, leisure time, electronics, use of the oceans, and private enterprise were among the many issues discussed by Mr. Huntley and those he interviewed.

You can listen to the introduction here. A transcript of the program's introduction appears below.

Year 2000!

Now, here is Chet Huntley.

We'll be celebrating a special New Year's Eve. Bells will ring, orchestras will play "Auld Lang Syne," boys and girls will embrace and the new century will be upon us.

It will be the year 2000. Or, if you prefer twenty-hundred. But what shall we call it? Two-triple-oh, perhaps.

A baby born tonight could not be president of the United States in the year 2000. He would have not yet attained the constitutional age of thirty-five years.

Statistics indicate that about three-fourths of the people listening to me at this moment will live to see that year, which is no further in the future than the election of Franklin Roosevelt is in the past.

What do we know about year 2000? Well, ecologists tell us that in that year we will have run very nearly out of food, that half the world's population will be on a starvation diet. We can project the so-called electronic revolution and predict that the number of workers engaged in actual production will drop to only 18 percent of the workforce. At the same time, the number of people in all the various service occupations will almost double.

Experts tell us that we will cluster more than ever into cities, drive electrically powered cars, work less, and retire earlier. But what about these things? What will they mean to you and me, to the average worker and to his family?

See also:
Closer Than We Think! Monoline Express (1961)
The Population Bomb: Scenario 1 (1970)
The Population Bomb: Scenario 2 (1970)
The Population Bomb: Scenario 3 (1970)