Adventures In Story Research

Me: Hey, it would be nice if this story had a brief scene where someone turns on the radio and hears a desperate broadcast from a local late-night DJ who locked himself in the booth when he noticed people acting weird. Sort of a Pontypool shoutout. I’d better check what real-life stations were active on Long Island in the late 1940s.

Internet: The nearest radio stations to the town you’ve picked as your setting were WHLI and WHNY, sister stations both located in Hempstead.

Me: (checks distance on Google maps) Hm, that’s 12 miles from my story location. Maybe it would be better for the broadcast to be perfectly normal, establishing that the problem hasn’t yet spread to the surrounding communities.

Internet: WHLI was a daytime-only station. WHNY was full-time.

Me: Well, this story takes place late at night, so I guess the broadcast had better be coming from WHNY then. What sort of programs did they run overnight?

Internet: Want to know about WHLI? Who sponsored them? Their music programming? Local news stories that put them on the map?

Me: No, I need to know about WHNY.

Internet: Tough luck.

Me: This is for ONE PARAGRAPH.