North Pacific showing the location of Rain Island
(Cartography: Taral (modified by K.Fletcher))
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Rain Island
Radio: Communications in the North Pacific
By Walter D. Reimer (With thanks to E.O. Costello for technical assistance.) Being a rather large collection of islands straggling up the northwest coast of North America, Rain Island faced several problems in communications since its foundation in 1885. While these obstacles were not insurmountable, they could be irritating. Newsworthy events or urgent notices might take days to reach their destinations by boat or sailing ship. Telegraph lines were installed as early as 1887, and eventually connected all the islands in the archipelago (Rain Island boasted, and still boasts, a large number of submarine telegraph lines). However, it was radio that finally welded the scattered islands into one cohesive union. The first radio station in Rain Island, Station One (later named ZYPR) went on the air on October 1, 1920. It was a low-power AM station and was originally owned and operated by the Governing Syndicate. By 1925, however, the station had switched to cooperative management. Stations proliferated, and the Rain Island Radiocast Collective was established to supervise operations and regulate programming. However, with the low-power transmitters of the day, establishing any sort of network proved problematic. Telegraph lines were first used, but the sound quality proved to be poor; telephone lines using the technology at the time were prohibitively expensive. Using prerecorded disk records of various shows (the so-called “chainless chain” method) enabled stations as far north as the Aleutians to broadcast news and other programs (albeit with delays of up to seven to ten days owing to transporting the recordings by plane or boat). These recordings did have some drawbacks in sound quality which were eliminated with the advent of improved technology starting in 1927. As of Proclamation Day (June 12) 1937, there were ten radio stations operating throughout Rain Island, providing coverage to the entire nation. Technology had by that time advanced to the point that the transmitters were connected by telephone lines, replacing the earlier and less reliable telegraph and transcription recording systems. Signal strength had improved to the point that receivers in Tillamook could pick up Rain Island programming, while sets as far away as Spontoon were able to detect a signal based on a frequency 'skip' off the ionosphere. All Rain Island radio stations are identified by the prefix Z to distinguish themselves from American stations that usually identify themselves with a W or K, and from Canadian stations that usually follow the American classification system. Contrary to some opinions, Rain Island does not overtly broadcast propaganda; instead it offers a variety of news, entertainment and educational programming. The Radiocast Collective superintends most of the broadcast content, but a large amount of the air time throughout the network is reserved for the individual stations to develop their own programming. This programming is of varying levels of quality, using local talent. Station ZYPR, being the oldest and largest in the network, provides much of the ‘network-wide’ programs. Its budget is based partly on subscription, licensing fees, advertising and a small government subsidy. Radio serials are popular, notably the "Highwayman" series, based on a series of silent films produced in Hollywood. Rain Island bought the scripts to these movies from the Hollywood studio that created them, and uses domestic talent in performances. Some shows have had surprisingly long runs; the “Who’s Your Friend?” comedy variety series has been running for over six years, to general public approval. One notable aspect of Rain Island's radio programming is the inclusion of a slightly "adult" programming venue, usually starting at 10.30 PM. These programs are used as a forum for off-color jokes and sketch comedy, but are not allowed to go too far (while not as stringent as the Hays Office, the Radiocast Collective's Standards Office does keep an eye on things). The Four Fools, a stage act on Seathl's theater circuit, briefly offered a series of shows to fill this "adult" venue. The Fools are a comedy troupe specializing in anarchic physical humor, bawdy puns and jokes, and occasionally scathing criticism of Rain Island's government and society. However, finding that their physical humor lost something in the translation into radio, they only produced eight shows (recordings of these are now highly prized as collector's items). Interestingly, nearly sixty percent of the programming found on the Trans-Tillamook Broadcasting (TTB) service is Rain Island-based. The TTB is a quasi-private, quasi-public network that uses transcription disks flown in from Seathl. Due to the distances involved, telegraph and telephone lines for an expanded radio network are too expensive. The remainder of the programming is local news and religious services. It is ironic that, as a result of its use of transcription disks, Tillamook has a larger collection of Rain Island programming from the 20s and early 30s than Seathl does. As technology advances to even more powerful transmitters and the exploration of new media, the Anarchcracy’s Radiocast Collective will still reach out to its citizens and beyond its borders to those willing to listen. |