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The Surrounding Geography

Closeup of the geography and campus surrounding the broadcast tower

Expanded view showing the position of Gipstein Lighthouse

The characters are living in a small college radio station adjacent to the marine science building at a coastal university. Within sight of the station is Gipstein Lighthouse.

The precise geography is not strictly relevant to the story. For episode-writing purposes it can be assumed that it is a coastal area that experiences all four standard seasons - cold, snow, and ice in winter, extreme heat in summer, moderation in spring and autumn.

Gipstein Lighthouse

Gipstein Lighthouse is approximately 1 mile off the coast and has its own set of residents, the Longs. More information about the Longs is contained in the Character section of this site. The Longs chose the lighthouse for the increased security, but they must still come ashore periodically to recover supplies. The lighthouse does continue to operate on automated systems and is powered by a tidal power plant [1], [2], although the characters do not know or understand how it works in the early episodes. For the time being (as of 2017-08-11) characters can ponder why the lighthouse is still lit, but they will find out the details at a later time.

The Building

The station is divided into two sections - the broadcast room and a lounge area. The broadcast room consists of a small sound-resistant recording booth, big enough for as many as four people if they're friendly, and a control area outside the booth. The booth does have a door that can shut, but for most broadcasts it will be left open as there is no need to close it. There isn't much room for anything else in the broadcast room. There is also a door that goes from the broadcast room to the lounge that can be shut, but, again, will be left open most of the time. The lounge area has a sofa and a few chairs, but not much other furniture. There is one small window, not big enough for a human to fit through, that illuminates the room during the day. At night the residents sometimes use candles, but mostly just go to sleep at sundown to conserve supplies.

The broadcast setup is in a small separate building with the tower antenna and is surrounded by a chain link fence topped with barbed wire. The original intent was to keep people from interfering with the broadcast equipment, but now it keeps zombies at bay. Daily, the characters will walk the inside perimeter and dispatch any zombies that have gathered nearby through the fence. Once the coast is clear, the residents will clean the bodies out and throw them into the nearby ocean to prevent them from piling up. If there are too many zombies to clear, the residents can retreat to a small outboard boat and either keep watch from a short distance off the coast or can retreat as far as the lighthouse temporarily.

The residents do have a laptop computer, but mostly leave it powered down to conserve electricity. There is no WiFi, but there is a hardline internet cable available. The off-site internet router, however, has no power and therefore the computer cannot connect. Each character has a cell phone, but there is no service.

The Marine Science Building is approximately 25 yards away from the broadcast antenna and requires an unprotected walk to access. The building is useless for shelter, as it has no outside barrier and the exterior of the building was made of a substantial number of glass panes, some of which are broken, leaving the building very insecure. The remainder of the University buildings are in a similar state of disrepair. The University is a commuter campus with no dorms and the nearest residential homes are a good distance away. Some of the buildings show signs of looting, but the marine science building appears to have been left largely untouched.

Electricity for the broadcast is supplied by a gas generator, which limits broadcasts to 5-7 minutes per day as they ration the gasoline. More gasoline must be collected from nearby abandoned service stations, by siphoning it from cars or boats, or from passers-by who are willing to make a donation of gas to keep the station broadcasting. For the purposes of this series we will assume that the gas will never actually run out, but will be a constant source of concern as they attempt to gather and conserve it. We will also assume that the gasoline doesn't break down and go bad (even though it does in real life). Perhaps if the series ever ends the final episode will focus on the degradation of the gasoline, but it shouldn't be a concern on a day-to-day basis.

NOTE: As of 2019-03-12 (Broadcast Day 522) the generator has been modified to burn methanol. At this stage it is taken for granted that all of the gasoline has either gone bad or is so scarce that there is not enough left to power the generator. The team now makes methanol from local plant matter, but their production is still slow enough that the broadcast's time restrictions (5-7 minutes) are still in place.

NORMAL Power Station

The NORMAL (Natural, Ordinary, Regular, Mundane, Average, Legitimate) Power Station is an approximately 12' windmill that was relocated from the back yard of someone's abandoned house to a cliff overlooking the ocean nearby to the station. The breezes on the cliff are sufficient to turn the windmill, which has been set up to be able to generate electricity. The electricity is stored in car batteries that people can bring by, swapping out full batteries and replacing them with empty batteries to charge. The batteries are used by the station to run the ham radio and charge the SCUBA tanks. There is insufficient wiring to be able to run the power directly to the station.

As of Day 866 (2020-02-19) the windmill is back up after having been dismantled in preparation for the zombie horde Medusa. Many of the batteries were ruined by the salty ocean air and now the station only has a couple. Electricity is still being generated, but the team's ability to actually use it is hampered. The only things they can really do are power the ham radio and the air compressor for the SCUBA tanks.

SCUBA

As of Broadcast Day 276, the team now has access to SCUBA equipment. Dr. Clark is the only one formally trained on how to do it, but there are plans for her to teach the others. The tanks are filled by a small air compressor, which does need electricity. Episodes using the SCUBA equipment should focus on things that Dr. Clark (and later the others) are doing underwater, how this new area of exploration makes them feel, and how doing this will help their survival.

Ham Radio

As of Broadcast Day 284, the team now has access to a ham radio. They scan the emergency frequency (146.520) and try to make contact with other survivors. Max doesn't know much about the radio setup, having grown up with his dad being a ham but not having much interest in it himself. He knows just enough to get it to turn on and change frequencies. As a result, the radio can only receive and not transmit. As of Day 516 the team now has batteries that are being charged from the local windmill, the NORMAL Power Station. Since the radio only receives the team chooses not to turn it on during the broadcast, but instead checks several frequencies every few nights to see if they can get a signal from anyone.

They do find someone speaking into the airwaves every so often and use a portable recorder, with rechargable batteries, to record the transmission and will play some back on the air from time to time.

Submission Guidelines For Ham Radio

In the real world the Mercury writing team will write some episodes for this format and will put out a call for guest voices. Guests for these episodes do not have to come to ARTC Studio to record like the rest of the team or in-person guests do, but can record their lines on their phones or whatever other recording devices they have handy. It is asked that you do your recording somewhere away from modern sounds like cars, air conditioners, construction equipment, and the like. This is still the zombie apocalypse, after all.

Contributors are also encouraged to write and record their own monologues on the subject of survival during the zombie apocalypse. You have a lot of freedom here because, since you aren't on-site at the station, you do not have to conform to many of the guidelines of settings, nor do you have to worry about writing for the existing characters. You can be from anywhere and be doing anything. We do ask for the following:

• The series is about hope. Please do not do a broadcast about a town getting wiped out by zombies unless you can make that hopeful.
• Please do not introduce new infrastructure. Small things like methanol-burning generators and solar arrays are ok, but no gas refineries and the military didn't come save you.
• The series works best when it's about stories and emotions. Talk about your survival journey. Use the zombies as a metaphor for some other, real-world, hardship you overcame. Tell a story about a time when you learned a lesson the hard way and turned that into something to build on for the future.

Email finished audio to mercury AT artc DOT org or you can upload them to a Google Drive and share to that address. Target length is 5-7 minutes, roughly 800-1000 words. The team will write introductory and closing material and edit your audio into the broadcast. Not all submissions will be used, depending on the content and how many of these we get.

Medusa

Medusa is the name given to a massive horde of zombies that came through the area. The exact number of the dead in it was never definitively determined, but it was estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands. Introduced on Day 661, 2019-07-29, the horde menaced the team and the surrounding area with its impending arrival until Day 774, 2019-11-19 when it arrived. Many people evacuated, but there were also heavy casualties. See the note about Communities below. On Day 782, 2019-11-27, it was revealed that Medusa's final fate was to march up to one of the nearby cliffs and plunge into the ocean. Many things that the team had relied on up to that point were destroyed and most buildings that had been cleared are re-infested with zombies. The main team was off the air for 5 day.

Chrysaor

Chrysaor is the name given to the group of survivors following in the wake of Medusa, looking for people who need help. The group came out of a band of three people whose original purpose in following Medusa was to loot supplies and take advantage of people who had left things behind in their evacuation, but over time their mission changed. Members of Chrysaor helped the Mercury team put the NORMAL Power Station back together. The group has an unusal leadership dynamic in that a new leader is elected each day. Chrysaor stayed in the area for several days and then moved on. Episodes written about them at this stage should take the form of letters received or memories the characters have of the time when they were still here.

The Broadcast of Hope Network

During the 5 days the main team was off the air, having evacuated to Gipstein Lighthouse, Jamey Bristowe, along with Mary Striker and Adam Allen, cobbled together a small transmitter and filled in for them. When the main team got back on the air the Broadcast of Hope Network left their gear behind and set off into the world.

Communities

NOTE: As of Day 796, 2019-12-11 the team has heard from all communities affected by Medusa. All were wiped out and are currently uninhabitable by the living.

Deerfield

"Deerfield" is a small community of about 100 people situated about 30 miles northwest of the station. They are within broadcast range and tune in when they're able. Periodically Jamey Bristowe will drop by with news and information about what's happening in the community. Short stories about what happened recently to characters who don't typically make the journey.

Tales From Deerfield

This is an homage to the "News from Lake Woebegon" segment of "A Prairie Home Companion". Jamey will stop by occasionally with a story that might need different characters than the ones who typically come on-air or that might be too complicated to try to tell with multiple characters. Each segment will begin with "Well, it's been busy in Deerfield, my home for the last few months up there in the hills." and will conclude with "But other than that, not much happened." He should be introduced by one of the Resident Characters (Max, Agnes, Dr. Clark) but otherwise the broadcast should be a monologue with the only interaction being at the beginning and end.

Characters in Deerfield

Starr's Mill High School

Starr's Mill High School is the education facility that has been set up by the residents in Deerfield for the variously-aged children. The students are named as follows (after the students who contributed to the series in 2016-2017)

Community Leadership

Community Leadership is made up of particularly engaged fans on Twitter

Community Residents

Community residents are made up of Patreon supporters. As new supporters come on, they can move into the community. If a Patron stops supporting the show, the resident will move out to a different community.

Saint Eloise Row

To the south of the station. A group of farmers down the 20 mile stretch of County Road 65. Excellent food production. Led by Bobby Blue.

Rockport Community Project

About 40 miles north. It’s a culmination of some former subdivisions with a total number of around 120 people. Think upper class, upper middle class folks — attorneys, web developers, doctors, engineers — those kinda people. They are near the coast and have an impressive 20-foot steel barricade that covers the perimeter. Led by James Kingston. Rockport and St. Eloise have an uneasy trading relationship due to an incident that left Bobby Blue's son with a gunshot injury, although the boy survived.

Music on site

While WEHG is a college radio station, the primary format was talk, therefore there is not much music on site. The equipment necessary to interface with the broadcast tower was disassembled and parts were used to repair the broadcast equipment, so no music will be part of the broadcast. Furthermore, to conserve power the characters will not listen to much music off-air either. That said the characters do have access to a small handful of CDs that include the overplayed classics - Ravel's Bolero, Pachelbel's Canon in D, and a few other orchestral works.