Iwas supposed to be testing the broadcasting software. Load a recording, send it through the stream, and make sure everything sounds right. A perfectly reasonable plan. Then I put on an old interview with Pastor Jim Wilhelmsen, and an ordinary equipment test turned into something I hadn’t expected.
First, the good news: the audio quality is next level. So good! Hearing that conversation coming through software Linda and I have been building made my heart beat a little harder. I love broadcasting. I love making things. Apparently, combining the two is how you keep me occupied until six in the morning.
We’re building a broadcasting console and a desktop receiver, with working audio, music decks, meters, and that wonderful feeling of tuning in to something happening somewhere else. We’re still testing and refining it. I have no announcement of a station relaunch. Right now, we’re programming because we’re nerds, and because seeing an idea become something you can actually use is pretty damn cool!
Now, let me get the order straight, because even I have to stop and look at it. First, I wrote the novel Midnight Radio. Then I had a YouTube show and podcast called Midnight Radio. After that, I became the owner of a licensed online radio station named Midnight Radio, with five DJs.
Now the book is finally out, and my editor Linda and I are designing and programming next-level broadcasting software based on Midnight Radio, the broadcast inside the novel. An idea I wrote into a story has become something I can sit down and operate. You might understand why I’m excited. I’ve apparently been taking the scenic route to Alex Knight’s studio.
We’re also building a little Midnight Radio receiver that sits right on your Windows desktop. It has that warm amber glow, and with Wake when Live enabled, it can start playing automatically when a broadcast begins, as long as you’ve left the receiver running. You don’t have to keep checking whether we’re on. Leave the radio open, and let the signal find you.
And yes, that Wormhole button is a tribute to Art Bell. We’re building it as a way for listeners to send messages to the DJ. A little nod to the late-night radio tradition I love, with a few ideas of our own.
An Android version is on its way, too. Future Midnight broadcasts are in the queue, so stay tuned.
While testing that signal with our old interview, I went looking for Jim and learned that he had passed away.
Jim was a minister, the author of Beyond Science Fiction!, and a man whose interests could take a conversation a long way from the weather. He explored UFOs, reported alien encounters, and biblical interpretations of the extraordinary. He had also been involved in Christian motorcycle ministry and had operated a bookstore and museum in Roswell, New Mexico.
Our interview wandered through his childhood around Detroit, his faith, and his ideas about aliens, fallen angels, and a hollow Earth. Just the kind of conversation Alex would have on his show. You could settle in for a quiet evening and find yourself discussing who might be living underneath it.
My conversation with Pastor Jim
Listening again reminded me how much work it had taken just to have that conversation. I’d spent months trying to reach Jim. He seemed to get harder to find every time I looked. Once we finally connected, my broadcasting software decided to contribute its own mystery. The programmer gave me another program to test, and we managed to get the video broadcast out.
There we were then, trying to make a program work. Here I am now, testing one we’re building ourselves, with Jim helping again through a recording neither of us knew would become this particular memory.
At the beginning, I needed help pronouncing his surname. I explained that the problem was me: I was from Texas and trying to talk without an accent. Jim had his own sense of humor. At one point he explained his version of a PhD: prayer, healing and deliverance.
But the part that stayed with me was his account of reassuring a frightened mother who was worried about her children. For all the strange territory our conversation covered, there was a person on the other end trying to offer somebody comfort.
I would have liked another conversation with him. I tried to find him again over the years, and it never seemed easy. I’m grateful we managed this one, grateful it was recorded, and grateful that an evening spent testing software gave me a reason to hear his voice again.
Thank you for the conversation, Jim. I’m glad we got the signal through.
Thursday, October 29, brings a journey to Amarillo, where I’m scheduled to sit down with Mya Clark for Four More Pages at KAMR Local 4. This time I get to be the guest and talk about Midnight Radio. I’m grateful for the invitation, and I’ll share the link here when the interview goes live. A road trip and a conversation about books. That sounds like a pretty good day to me.
