Radio Host

"For years everyone looked toward the demise of radio when television came along. Before that, they thought talking movies might eliminate radio as well. But radio just keeps getting stronger."

-- (Casey Kasem)

The Radio Show Host is a gimmick job available to latejoiners. On space maps, the radio ship is located in the debris field, a good bit west and a good bit north of the Mining Outpost, and it contains all the machinery you need to run a radio broadcast. On Oshan Laboratory, you have a cozy radio lab right by arrivals.

Putting On A Show

Starting Up

Before you can subject the crew to your noise pollution, there's a couple of things you'll want to do. First, make your voice heard by clicking on the Broadcast Radio and enabling the microphone. You'll know it's working if your speech shows up in the log in a fun pink color and with a lil Broadcast Radio icon next to it.

Songs, Ads, & Other Audio

Now you've got your voice on the airwaves, but what if you want to play an advertisement or play a song? Go through the beautifully designed record sleeves (you interact with them like boxes), and you'll find vinyl records for you to play with the Record Player . There should also be some tapes around you can use with the Tape Deck .

Just click on the players with record/tape in your hand to play them. For records in particular, once they're in the player, you'll get a prompt to make up a name for the track, which everyone will see when they receive the PDA message telling them a song is being played. If you don't put anything there, it'll just say "cool sounds". Note that there's a roughly five-minute cooldown between every record play; there's a separate one of similar duration for tapes. Try playing the tapes between records to minimize dead air!

The radio station starts out with quite a few records. You can spend Spacebux to start with one, and there're record sleeves with, naturally, more records in the Debris Field and Trench in a few medium-danger-level areas.

Making New Voices

Trying to put on a radio play but don't have any other cast-members? Click on the Mixing Desk in-front of you to gain access to some voice-changing tools that'll allow you to play other characters.

Show Ideas

Basically, if you've heard it on the radio or a podcast before, or, to some extent, seen it on TV/the Internet, and it's within the Rules, you can make a radio host gimmick out of it in SS13. Here's some ideas:

• A music show. Play records and such, and during record player downtime, talk about what you liked about the track, what you didn't like, what you think about the artist, the things that inspired them to make the song, etc. Yes, there's no actual/official lore about the records--that means you are bound to no authority and are free to carve out your own story.
• A talk show in the vein of The Oprah Winfrey Show or Larry King Live, where you invite interesting people and have them talk about their interesting lives. Invite a husk who became a Cyborg and ask them to talk about what it's like to have all their fluids sucked out. Invite the Changeling who drank them on too and see if you can get them to reconcile...or not.
• A quiz show where you offer fabulous prizes towards anyone who can answer questions about game mechanics, lore, and other subjects. If you can get the Head of Personnel, Captain, or similar aboard to provide cash rewards or access upgrades, the better!
• A supernatural-themed show where you investigate Ghosts, Wraiths, and other spooky stuff that haunts the station and elsewhere. Is that ghost really a ghost or just a Staff Assistant running around with a bedsheet over their head? Is there a logical explanation for all the living objects and skeletons being created by the Wraith? Find out!
• An occult-themed show where you do Tarot readings, Ouija consultations, and similar for people who call in. If you genuinely know Tarot and such, all the better. If you don't, don't be afraid to interpret things your own way or play it comedically--say, doing a divination with Spacemen: the Griffening Cards.
• A history-themed show in which you discuss the lore surrounding the Solarium. Talk about recent developments and discoveries in the field and offer or analyze some general theories about what it all means. You don't have to explain in exact detail how to get a certain ending or anything; if you can get people interested in this alternate reality game, you've done a fine job.
• A heart-warming children's show with huge adult appeal, a la Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. Do happy songs about mercy and controlling one's anger and remind everyone that they're special and don't need to do anything spectacular to be loved.

News Shows

Want to put on a news show where you discuss what's happening on the station/ship? Don't forget: you start with a portable camera viewer, and the radio station usually has Security Cameras so you can watch events right as they're happen. The game and its players make the news, you have to tools to find them and the chance to report them, in many different ways:

• A crackpot who believes there's something nefarious behind anything and everything, no matter how innocuous. Cargo Bay suddenly full of birds? Claim they're actually spy drones sent by the Space ATF to confiscate contraband. Captain vapes a lot? Accuse them of putting mind-controlling drugs in the smoke to make people subservient to people who are in green and look like pickles. (Why pickles? That's the point.) The more ridiculous the claims, the better (and the less chance you'll draw unfortunate comparisons between actual radio crackpots.)
• A pro-NT propagandist who always tries to put a positive spin on things. Did Security fail to catch a criminal after a heated chase? Try to frame it as a deliberate act of mercy. Did someone blow up Medbay? Praise the new "renovations", claiming you see a lot of potential in what the bombed out remains could become after repairs. Is there a Traitor on a shotgun rampage? Remind the crew that the bullet dodging training NT provided will come in handy!
  • In a similar vein, an outrageously out-of-touch manager who's hilariously prone to comically missing the point. Wizard making black powder golems? Congratulate the crew on encountering a powerful living explosive. Changeling making loads of buttspiders? Commend them on meeting NanoTrasen's butt quotas. Just say "no comment" when someone asks why there's butt quotas in the first place.
• A pro-Syndicate propagandist who exaggerates every minor setback, NT or Syndicate, as some sort of victory for the Syndicate. Nuclear Operatives lost the bomb and now it's heading to Cargo Bay to be sold? Claim it was only a distraction from a far larger attack on another major NT holding--don't bother to mention which one, because it's supposed to be secret, not because it doesn't actually exist. Someone bought out all coffee from a machine? Boast that the station/ship is more vulnerable to Syndicate attacks now that they have less coffee to keep their guard up.
  • Obviously, this isn't an excuse to do crime and behave like an Antagonist, unless you actually are one.
• A stoic reporter who reports everything with a straight face.
• A forensic psychologist or detective-type who analyzes the crimes that occur on the station/ship. Let's say a Traitor murders someone. What weapon did they use? How did they use them? Where'd the murder take place? What does it say about the perpetuator--and their relationship to the victim? What could their motives be?
• An earnest narrator who genuinely likes to look at the positives and help people out. Someone got shot up at the Bar? Call the medics in! Security get flooded? Remind the Sec personnel to get flippers and swimsuits. Chemistry somehow intact? Praise the Scientists for not blowing it up. Chaplain holding a wedding? Remind the crew when it'll occur; don't forget you have an announcement computer for these sorts of things too.

---