Nomad run broadcasting

 

Radio Free America is a series of transmitters either using old radio towers long abandoned, or building new ones across the country.  There are hundreds of Nomad radio stations across the US.  They play music, give weather and road conditions, warn of dangers, and allow nomads to rapidly spread other necessary information.  Every major Nomad Market has their own FCC licensed station, as do most of the minor ones.  In addition, there are several mobile and stationary pirate stations that operate across the US in conjunction with the main stations at the markets.  While the stations tend to work in concert, and try to provide the most up to date information possible, there is no overriding authority or set of standards.  Some of the more isolated stations that broadcast can be… eclectic.

 

Every FCC licensed station has an up to date computer with internet, as well as Hamm and CB radios to allow nomads on the road to communicate directly with the station in case of major events like police road blocks, Raffen Shiv sightings or attacks, or weather reports.  While the main stations are officially licensed, the FCC doesn’t pay much attention anymore, with most people getting listening to radio via satellite or internet, the old AM and even FM broadcasts are all but forgotten to most of static society, at best looked on with a sense of nostalgia.  Also with the explosion of pirate radio stations in the major metropolitan areas they have their hands full anyway.  This has given the Nomad Stations a much broader range of freedom, a situation they take full advantage of.

 

In the event of an emergency, these radio stations can, and have been used to coordinate Nomad movements, nationally if need be.  During the Kansas City Incident for instance, when terrorists hacked into cell phone towers to broadcast a signal that mentally unhinged anyone on a cell phone at the time, the Nomad Radio Station was the only reliable means of information.

 

Putting up broadcasting towers or repairing old ones is a lucrative, if dangerous job for nomads who have the expertise and need the money.  The goal in the community is to create a radio network that covers the entire nation, but there are still vast stretches where no signal reaches due to isolation.  Funding for much of this comes from Meta, who have also covertly financed pirate station running from abandoned coastal and deep water structures.

 

The Radio is not the only means of sharing information, there are a few television stations, sometimes housed in the same building/  There are also countless blogs, websites,  and several nomad based newspapers.  The most famous and well respected of which is Dust In The Wind, run by a nomad named Chance who gained respect and renown both for completing Paladin training and for his efforts in clearing out the Sear Tower in Chicago as well as the massive Raffen Shiv confrontation in Kansas, reporting on it all from the back of his truck, where he distributes both electronically and in print, leaving his paper at every Nomad Market and rest stop he comes across.