SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
When CNN signed on in 1980, its founder Ted Turner famously declared, we'll be on and we will cover the end of the world live. And when the end of the world comes, we'll play "Nearer My God To Thee" before we sign off. Well, this week, Michael Ballaban, a former intern at CNN, posted a copy of a video acquired from a source that he says demonstrates that Ted Turner wasn't just being colorful. Mr. Ballaban says the video comes from CNN's archives, filed under the title "Turner's Doomsday Video." It shows an unnamed band in front of an identified building with a pool and pillars. And, as Mr. Ballaban puts it, this is the way the world ends - not with a bang, not with a whimper, but with one melancholy little band.
(SOUNDBITE OF VIDEO, "TURNER'S DOOMSDAY VIDEO")
SIMON: I don't know if this doomsday video is any more than an old joke put together by people on the night shift, but it caused us to look around NPR's archives. And sure enough, deep in the vault of reel-to-reel tapes, we discovered our very own recording to play in the event of the apocalypse.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
ROBERT SIEGEL, BYLINE: This is special coverage of the end of the world from NPR News. I'm - well, who cares? I won't be for long. An asteroid is speeding toward the earth and will soon destroy it. Of course, NPR News will have the best analysis of it all the day after the world ends. But there is still time for you to become a member of this local public radio station.