No-one could have foreseen that a project, which started as nothing more than a means of passing coded messages to resistance cells in Downtown, would grow to be one of DarkNight's most powerful tools in its propaganda war against SLA Industries on Mort.
The seeds for Bad Fiction Radio have been present in Downtown as long as there have been DarkNight agents present on Mort. Equipped with primitive but powerful transmitters, the DN Espionage Agents would take advantage of the near-impossibility of triangulation caused by the downtown landscape to send short radio messages to cells of civilian converts. These primitive lash-ups would take only 15 minutes or so to hook up; and were mobile enough to me moved with some speed once the transmission was made.
Pinning down these transmissions was like chasing fog, and after the first few attempts, SLA and Station Analysis simply gave up trying to get SHIVERS or Ops to the possible sites of transmission; by the time they even got into the neighbourhood, the DN operatives were long gone. Station was powerless to do anything except monitor and record the transmissions.
As the volume of agents and converts in Downtown grew, so too did the transmission time; by 704 SD, radio traffic between the agents and cells had become a continuous stream of transmissions. The breakthrough which turned this information exchange into Bad Fiction radio came 100 years later. In 816SD, a communication between an espionage agent and his team of converts was bungled; the agent gave away the location of the teams next arson target without talking in code.
When the concert cell arrived at their target, they found a waiting squad of SLA ops ready to take them into custody. But what they also found was a large crowd of downtown denizens who had turned up to watch the show.
Due to the power of the DN transmissions, and the unpredictable transmission vectors created by downtowns unique architecture, it seemed that not only were Station monitoring the transmissions, but that a large section of the Downtown population had discovered the transmission channel as well, and had tuned in much like some American families listen to the police scanner (do people actually do that?).
As the Espionage agent watched his cell being lead away; and the crowd, now convinced that the show was over, disperse. After reporting what had happened to their superiors, plans were made...and Bad Fiction radio was born.
Realising that, while unable to reach beyond Downtown, their radio transmissions could be and had been listened to by ordinary downtown dwellers, the emphasis on the station was changed for information exchange to propaganda with great speed.
Bad Fiction began as a true 'Voice of the Resistance' station. Transmitting short soundbites, never longer than 30 minutes at a time before handing over to a second broadcast team somewhere else in Downtown, 'Radio Truth', as it was called then, purported to give the facts that 'Slayer doesn't want you to know'. And while they were able to give additional exposure to their subversive efforts; Radio Truth soon found that they rarely had more than an hours content to broadcast per day. As a result, and to fill dead air time, DarkNight broadcasters would often be forced to invent from whole cloth stories of DN successes.
People turned off in droves; While people enjoyed the voyeurism of listening in on the transmissions of an subversive organisation; no-one was particularly interested in listening to the more and more blatant lies of the DarkNight broadcasters. By 830SD, Radio Truth had gained a new name in DownTown; Bad Fiction Radio, in reference to DN's over the top, self promoting lies.
That all changed in 876SD, with the arrival of Albus Joiner to the ranks of DarkNight. Joiner was an SIC executive involved in production. Disgruntled and bigoted, Joiner had been affiliated with DarkNight after becoming upset when an Ebon colleague was promoted above him. Joiner had been covertly assisting Channel Resistance; but when a Channel Resistance Transmission Team got busted, Joiner decided he might become implicated, so fled into the waiting arms of his comrades in Downtown.
DarkNight had no idea what to do with Joiner; his only value had been as a link to the media - now, even that was gone. Stuck for inspiration, Joiner was assigned to one of the Radio Truth transmission teams.
Joiner had never heard of Bad Fiction before; and after 3 months of working with them, he had learnt a healthy contempt for their operation. Joiner knew that Radio Truth was a joke; that it was reaching no-one, and said so. Joiner gave his DarkNight employers a long list of ways it could be improved. Not knowing what to do with it; Joiners supervisors passed it up the chain of command. Up and up it travelled, until one day a month later, the response came from on high. Joiner took over control of Radio Truth, and went to work changing it to meet his demands.
Joiner, for all his faults, knew entertainment. Gone were the long ramblings about the latest DarkNight success; instead, Joiner worked hard to convert the transmissions into the core of a commercial radio station. Joiner had access to a large store of popular music, easily obtainable in bootleg form from the black market, and went to work selecting charismatic broadcasters to front the Radio Truth transmissions. Sticking with the 45 minute to 1 hour format (which was about the longest transmissions could go without being pinpointed and attracting SHIVER or Slop attention), Radio Truth dropped its old name, embraced the street name it had inherited, and Bad Fiction Radio re-launched on New Years Day, 878SD.
In 904SD, Bad Fiction Radio is DarkNight's 'Voice of Downtown' commercial radio success. Gone are the days of endless propaganda; BFR now plays up-to-the-minute new music, interspersed with a large selection of charismatic broadcasters who mix news of any events in Downtown, follow the Complex Killers on the Contract Circuit, and of course, mention a variety of successful DarkNight Operations.
No longer seen as a DarkNight controlled station, despite that fact that very little has changed as regards control of the station, BFR is perceived in Downtown as 'their station', telling the residents of Downtown what Slayer doesn't want them to hear. Its become something of a banner of rebellion for all those in Downtown who resent SLA Industries, and as such, has an exceptionally healthy listenership from amongst every walk of life who works or lives in Downtown.
BFR has a wide variety of 'DJs', recruited personally by Joiner, who, now aged 66, still guides BFR. These DJ's have total control of their output, can play whatever music they like, and are required only to issue 2 'news updates' per 45 minutes of show. As BFR's popularity grew, people from amongst the ranks of Downtown's residents actually applied to become part of BFR's broadcasting team. BFR's current 'roster' of DJ's includes 3 gang members, one cult leader, two props, one complex Contract Killer, and the Serial Killer known as 'PlayMisty', who's late night show is the most popular BFR transmission.
BFR has grown in technological expertise as well, due to its partnership with the audio-equipment producing Soft Company known as KnapStar. Dedicated to the free transmission of music, KnapStar not only produce cheap Black market radios to allow Joe citizen to listen in on the latest BFR transmissions, but have also been instrumental in tapping into transmission towers all over Downtown and upgrading Bad Fictions existing equipment, giving them a much wider coverage of Downtown.
Bad Fiction's transmission teams are now 3 man units, who can hook up or dismantle their equipment in less than 5 minutes. With just over 100 of these teams working 1-day-in-three shifts, all that they need to do prior to broadcasting is to let their 'DJ' know where they are setting up for transmission before the show. That's not to say teams haven't been busted, or that BFR doesn't periodically fall off the air for various reasons; but the transmission frequency and quality is very high for such an ad hoc set-up.
I was gonna run down a few of the 'celebrity DJ's' who work for Bad Fiction, as well as try and come up with a few plot hooks for using it as part of a BPN, and finally, to explain BFR's links with the Tynes Complex and the Complex CK's (I mean, its me, there has to be a CK angle in there somewhere, right?) but its getting late.
If anyone would like me to do any of the above stuff as another post, I will; I'd welcome any suggestions re: the above as well.
I'm also aware that Slayer could probably stomp BFR into the ground if he wanted too; I'm working on a reason why he hasn't yet - but I liked the concept too much to let a little niggling detail like 'the facts' get in the way of a good story :P
Any feedback appreciated. Apart from flames; they are nasty :P
Rich
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