One by One

Despite having listened to One by One a week ago, it’s been hard to shake the memory of this very powerful and accomplished piece of audio from Darker Musings Anthology.  Jack J. Ward is the author of this multi-layered horror story, part zombie-apocalypse, part homage to War of the Worlds (and the several other shock-hoaxes that came before it, such as Marémoto in France, Hörspiel-S.0.S. in Germany, and the winter 1926 London hoax); it elevates the radio listening experience on about four different planes of references, which is a pretty impressive thing to do.  Like in Night Talker, the hero is a DJ, namely the “Old Timey Man” of a Halifax, Nova Scotia radio station in the present day.  A widower, he’s ready for retirement, and by the sound of the crunch-down on his radio station, there may not be much of one after he goes.  He is beloved by his audience, and he is the benevolent professional.   It’s Halloween, and as a treat, the Old Timey Man is playing a radio play from the 1980s, which is of course a retro revamp of the popular stylings of the first half of the 20^th century.

You’ll forgive me for thinking the “radio play” within the radio play had been written and recorded specifically for this story (the stings, alerts, and sound effects definitely had the ring of truth to them, as if we really were listening to a radio station).  It was an authentic horror story from the 1980s and was so graphically disturbing I was wincing throughout it.  However, “reality” began to intrude as a series of catastrophic events began to blur the boundaries between rumor, reality, homage, and actuality.  One by One highlights the connection between radio listeners and broadcasters which, from the earliest days up til now, has been one of casting your net into a sea of static, trying to connect with other human voices in a more immediate and sometimes more desperate fashion than almost any other media invented.  In the early 1920s, it was called DX-ing:  you were listening as far as you could, almost like a radio-voyeur; some even thought you were connecting with the spiritual world. 

However, One by One is tied to the present, not to the fears of yesterday.  The gruesome sound effects and use of “mobile phone footage” brought the grisly truth right home.  With a tragic and frightening conclusion, One by One critiqued (as if it needed more critiquing) the Top 40 radio station format which dispenses with human contact in lieu of computer-generated playlists, an automated time bomb going off on the airwaves, with no one left to listen.   This was really powerful and really well-done.