Ascension: Invocation Read Online Free PDF Page B

block away from the radio station and saw a live performance of "The Miracle Worker". He went to the Alabama Music Hall of Fame and learned about the region's vast musical heritage. He and Mike even went fishing on the Tennessee River one Saturday, and Graham caught a fish for the first time. It was fun, and the work was rewarding.
    Graham's major market knowledge was an asset, and he soon became a mentor for the rest of the on-air staff. He had been hired to host afternoons on the Rock station, but, in time, Mike put him in change of the format. This eventually led to him also overseeing the other two stations and while he didn't see an increase in pay for the new responsibilities, Graham was content. He eventually had a small apartment in a complex not far from the stations. He could pay his bills and thanks to Mike's introductions he had a close circle of friends. It was a pretty good gig, and it was relatively quiet until recently.
    In the fall, the Rock station was coming off a lousy book. The ratings had dipped considerably and although Graham insisted that poor diary placement in the market was the cause for the slip, Mike was adamant that the station needed something to build Cume. They needed to cast a wider net. He had given Graham the responsibility of coming up with a promotion that would propel the station back to its dominant, Male 25-54 share. Without these ratings, the station would suffer financially as the regional advertising dollars would go elsewhere. Mike was confident that he could maintain the cash flow until the next ratings period but he needed Graham to make a splash in the spring book; otherwise they were all in for a grim holiday season. So, Graham began to brainstorm concepts.
    He approached Mike with a number of ideas ranging from outdoor marketing and direct mail to insured promotions, wherein the station would give listeners an opportunity to win one million dollars. Mike hated the last idea. Of course, no one ever won these things. Graham argued that while this was true, the spike in listenership might be just the thing to increase the numbers. Mike didn't want to do this with a sham so he sent Graham back to the drawing board.
    Shortly thereafter, the interference began. When Graham first noticed the problem, he immediately alerted the station engineer and Mike. It was, at first, assumed that this was just another station bleeding in to their frequency. Someone in Memphis, perhaps, had throttled up their power. It may also have been inversion. Atmospherics could sometimes be just right for a far off frequency to accidentally interfere with another. When Graham worked in South Carolina, for example, he had received a call from a listener in Florida who was able to pick up his station clear as a bell, albeit temporarily. Radio hobbyists loved this trick, but broadcasters were less enamored of the phenomenon although there was little that could be done to prevent it.
    When the interfering broadcast began to call Graham by name on the air, things changed. Mike had called Graham into his office. He was all smiles. "You sonofabitch! What have you got goin' on?"
    "Mike, I think we have a pirate in the area..."
    "Yeah, and I think that pirate is you! What have you got planned?"
    "No, Mike...”
    "Wait. You aren't changing the format up, are ya? You know I told you that we have to discuss things like that prior to going on the air with them. I've got sales packages I have to change and stuff."              
    "It's not that. The format stays. I think we've got a listener playing a gag here."
    "All right. All right. I'll let ya run with it...”
    For a time, there was no convincing Mike that the pirate broadcast was anything more than a brilliant plan concocted by his favorite employee. Graham became incredibly frustrated. His past had come back to haunt him. During his heyday in the big markets, he had become rather famous for stunts not unlike this one. Except this wasn't a stunt and, for