David Kaye wrote:
(1) The story wasn't done live. It was recorded on a wire recorder and the
commentator, Herb Morrison, asks a couple times of his assistant, "Get this,
Charlie, get this, Charlie" to make sure he was getting a recording.

Actually, it wasn't a wire recorder; it was recorded to lacquer disc.
The engineer, Charlie Nehlsen, had to work quickly to ensure the shock
wave of the explosion didn't cause the cutting stylus to dig into the
disc's aluminum base. If it had, the stylus would've been ruined, and
there wouldn't have been anything recorded after Morrison said, "It burst
into flame...".

The following is a link to a discussion of the recording and its later
broadcast (apologies for the line wrap):
http://web.archive.org/web/200708141...indenburg.html

The version of the recording that most people have heard runs at too
high a speed; poor Herb Morrison almost sounds like a chipmunk. A
corrected speed version of the recording is a revelation; it can be
found about halfway down this page:
http://www.wlshistory.com/WLS30/

-shawn