Radio Caroline, the tacitly approved “pirate” station, got in trouble by announcing the death of King Charles. A technician was debugging one of the control computers and came across the digital “tape” prepared for the event. Hmm. What is this? Let’s listen to it and find out… He thought he was listening privately but instead blasted it out over the air.
Nice to know that broadcasters still have those prepared tapes, though the format has changed. In the 50s all stations had tapes ready for the mythical nuclear war. After the catastrophe the now-dead president’s voice would reassure the ruins that we had won the war, and the Godless Commie Soviet Russkies were no longer a threat.
My uncle Don Burley worked at KMBZ, quietly owned by the Reorganized LDS church, operated as a secular station with one exception. KMBZ had the standard nuke tapes plus a unique set ready for the second coming of Jesus. RLDS is based in Independence and believes Jesus will return to the KC area, so the station was prepared to be the primary info source for Jesus. Seems right to me. Given the choice I’d rather return to KC than most other places!
Polistra's Mill 