On this day: ‘We begin bombing in five minutes’ – Reagan’s accidental broadcastOn this day, 11 August, in 1984, a risqué joke from Ronald Reagan accidentally made his weekly radio broadcast, writes Eliot Wilson in his latest history instalmentRonald Reagan was an old pro. The start of Reagan’s radio broadcastsLet us go back 20 years. He was due to begin his weekly radio address at 9.05 am and would talk about the Equal Access Act which he had signed into law that day. Read more On this day: the birth of press freedomBefore he began his address, he was joking with the sound engineers. They went out on polling day with all they’d got, and won one for the Gipper.