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The Radio Dies First: Difference between revisions
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Back before [[Can You Hear Me Now?]], the device that could really put a crimp in a plot's need to keep the characters isolated and cut off from information was the two-way radio. So in a lot of Twentieth Century media, the radio was put out of commission as quickly as possible. There were three main ways of doing this.
Many stories in the appropriate time period will have a radioman [[Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"|usually named "Sparks"]] who will be stuck trying to repair the radio or get through the interference for most of the story. His isolation often causes him to score badly on the [[Sorting Algorithm of Mortality]].▼
▲2. Interference. This was usually accomplished with the use of heavy weather conditions, which also helped isolate the characters. Imaginative writers could use interference to give only partial information to the protagonists, which they can then [[Poor Communication Kills|totally misinterpret]].
In more modern stories, this has been replaced by '''[[Can You Hear Me Now?|The Cell Phone Dies First]]'''.
▲3. Sabotage. This ranges from the subtle (breaking or stealing a single hidden tube) to the blatant (taking an axe to the radio set.) This is usually a big hint to the protagonists that what's going on is no accident or series of coincidences.
▲Many stories in the appropriate time period will have a radioman [[Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"|usually named "Sparks"]] who will be stuck trying to repair the radio or get through the interference for most of the story. His isolation often causes him to score badly on the [[Sorting Algorithm of Mortality]].
{{examples}}
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