Murder On The Air

Almost There

Roaring Twenties, Nineteen twenties

Radios.

Those were the devices that Alastor had used and loved, from his young adulthood well into his afterlife.

From listening and playing music, telling jokes on the air, to broadcasting his murders in both worlds, radios and microphones weren't just his favorite items to use every day.

They were a part of his livelihood.

Radios first had their origins in the eighteen nineties when in eighteen ninety two, Nikola Tesla proposed that radio frequency energy could be used for telecommunication. Several years later, Marconi had built a wireless system capable of transmitting signals at long distances.

The Radio Corporation of America was formed in nineteen nineteen and in nineteen twenty, the first radio news program was broadcast. The National Broadcasting Company was formed in nineteen twenty six as the first national network. FM radio would be invented by Edwin Armstrong in nineteen thirty three.

The radio industry would later suffer in the nineteen forties and fifties due to the arrival of television.

The novel idea of programming began in nineteen twenty when one of the leading radio manufacturers, Westinghouse came up with a way to sell more radios. On November second, nineteen twenty, the Harding-Cox presidential election results was the first commercial broadcast. Alastor had read about it in the newspaper at his home, wearing round glasses connected by two black chains. He was amazed that an event could be broadcast to so many people in different places.

Many older people thought that radios and receivers would merely be a fad for young people. After all, there had been amateur radio builders, poor reception and only experimental segments of speech and music.

Alastor glanced around at his small living quarters that made up his apartment. A single bedroom, a bathroom, kitchen, living room and a spare room. The previous house he lived in had begun to fall into disrepair. Without his parents around, it was empty and hard to maintain. It was a tough decision, but he eventually decided to sell the house in the spring of nineteen nineteen. He gathered his clothes, personal belongings and other items...and remembered to cleanse all the areas to get rid of any previous evil influence. The money he had, allowed him to get a decent room in an apartment complex near the city, and even helped him pay rent. But his jobs organizing the newspaper office and cleaning studios would only last him for so long. However, Alastor still had the family's red car and the cabin in the woods.

Alastor thought that radios and broadcasting would only be a one-time thing...

Until March thirty first, nineteen twenty two when Louisiana's first radio station, WWL, started broadcasting. It was something brand new that was unheard of. WWL had been founded by the Catholic Loyola University to help raise funds to build six new campus buildings. The speech started at ten fifty two AM with Father Cummings encouraging people to support his campaign. Piano music played afterward.

Alastor and a bunch of people were outside, listening to it on a newly presented radio, a bulky rectangular device with large knobs at the front. The radio was on a table on an outdoor podium. Several representatives of the university were demonstrating how it worked. There was even a little girl in a white dress who was brought up to the table. She turned the knobs with her small hands as the crowd looked on in curiosity and wonder. Alastor peered through his rounded glasses at the presentation.

Alastor fantasized about people all over the country hearing him and his band play. He thought about all those times at school when he would sing, dance, and act out different characters. Suddenly, just having a crowd of people in an auditorium didn't seem like enough in his mind. What if he could somehow reach a bigger, broader audience? His name would be in the newspapers as well as on the airwaves. He would not only be famous, but would also be respected and loved by so many. Music, entertainment and being in the spotlight were the only things left for him in this crazy world.