THE PODCAST
The Station 151 audio drama podcast was written and developed by Andy Scearce and Steven James Scearce and is produced by Pale Matter Productions and Bear Weiter. You can listen to the Station 151 Podcast on all popular podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and you can follow Station 151 on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. For a deeper dive and even more goodies, as well as exclusive content, you can support Station 151 on Patreon.
THE STORY
Located on Alexander Island, Antarctica, Station 151 is the southernmost continent’s first and only astronomical radio observatory. Built by the Telders Corporation at an estimated cost of $200M USD, Station 151 is comprised of 50 radio antennas arrayed in a spiral configuration. Astrophysicist Wayne Robertson was hired by The Telders Corporation as the sole operator of Station 151, Antarctica for a 12-month pilot to test the station’s cutting-edge radio interferometer. Leaving behind his fiancé in the States, Wayne travels alone to Antarctica to fulfill a lifelong dream to peer deeper into the universe than ever thought possible. But after arriving at the station, Wayne’s hopes of a career defining role are dashed as he is thrust into a strange and unsettling new world.
THE CHARACTERS
WAYNE ROBERTSON
Astrophysicist Wayne Robertson was hired by The Telders Corporation as the sole operator of Station 151, Antarctica for a 12-month pilot to test the station’s cutting-edge radio interferometer. Leaving behind his fiancé in the States, Wayne travels alone to Antarctica to fulfill a lifelong dream to peer deeper into the universe than ever thought possible. But after arriving at the station, Wayne’s hopes of a career defining role are dashed as he is thrust into a strange and unsettling new world.
MICHAEL TELDERS
Billionaire and CEO of The Telders Corporation, Michael Telders is known just as much for his rants on social media and penchant for Italian models as he is for his company’s strange and controversial human experiments. Little is known about his “Antarctica Project,” but if the rumors are true, it could be his most expensive and appalling exploit yet.
YUMI SATO
Yumi Sato, Wayne’s partner, fiancé, and anchor back in the States, was engaged to Wayne mere days before he departed to Antarctica. Now separated by vast distances and unexpected turns of fate, will Yumi be able to protect Wayne from one of the most powerful corporations in the world?
WILKINS
Developed in secret by the Telders Corporation, Wilkins is the world’s first true artificial consciousness. Linked by a mysterious bio-tech device, Wilkins is Wayne Robertson’s perpetual companion on the ice–whether he likes it or not.
ASTRID
Created in secret by Wayne, Astrid is a precise copy of Wilkins’ consciousness without all the pesky directives installed by The Telders Corporation.
BUZZ
Wayne Robertson’s only living companion in Antarctica, Buzz is a good boy and one of the few things provided by the Telders Corporation that gives him any sense of comfort at the bottom of the world.
RICHARD JOHNS
Antarctic bush pilot. Hates the cold. Loves his Bell Jet Ranger twin-engine helicopter. Specializes in flying cargo, scientists, and their gear to remote locations across the icy continent. Known for courageous navigation in severe weather. Divorced (twice). Likes solitude and Kentucky bourbon.
DR. ALFIERI
Dr. Alfieri is a doctor of ███ ██ veteran, ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████ █ ███ █ ████ ███████ medical officer ███ █ █ ██ ████ █ ██ ███ psychological ██ ███ ███ ███████ ██ █ █ ██ █ ██ ███████████ ██████████████ ██ █████ ████ ███ .
MAC
Mac is the somewhat naive and less advanced AI who communicates between Station 151’s “Core” and the station’s resident artificial consciousness (Wilkins).
MAXIM AKIHIKO BROUSSAD
Communications Satellite Continuance Managing Project Officer L2 and Acting Captain of the Shinkai Maru 5.
SPEGG
A mysterious creature from the distant future, Spegg has been described as a “violent and unpredictable fish-like humanoid who should not be approached or engaged for any reason other than to dissolve the goddamn thing with extreme prejudice.”
SERGEI
A mysterious associate of Pilot Richard Johns.THE BACKSTORY
Brothers Steven and Andy Scearce created the web-fiction blogs Station 151 and Unknown Transmission in 2009 with the idea that each blog would tell one side of a larger story that culminated in a clash between the two main characters in each. While both blogs contain enough content to fill a novel, the story wasn’t completed, but never truly abandoned. The Station 151 podcast offers a new medium, and a fresh take on the events at Station 151 and the central characters from both original blogs–astrophysicist Wayne Robertson, billionaire Michael Telders, and JAXA communications officer, Maxim Akihiko Broussad.
RADIO INTERFEROMETRY
Station 151 is a fictional radio interferometer, or radio telescope array, similar in nature to the Very Large Array (VLA) located in Socorro County, New Mexico, and the planned Square Kilometre Array in Australia and South Africa. Instead of creating one massive dish, radio interferometry works by combining the signals of multiple antennas to simulate the resolution of a dish with a very large aperture. For example, the VLA’s 28, 25-meter dishes are equivalent to one dish 22 miles in diameter!
Very Large Array, New Mexico, USA
ALEXANDER ISLAND
Named after Tsar Alexander I of Russia, Alexander Island is Antarctica’s largest island, and the second largest uninhabited island on Earth. Alexander Island is home to only one (real life) research station, the British station Fossil Bluff, constructed in the 1950’s and set into operation in 1961. Pinned below is the approximate (fictional) location of Station 151.
CREATORS
STEVEN JAMES SCEARCE
Series Co-Creator, Voice Actor (Wayne, Dr. Alfieri, others), Contributing Writer
Steven James Scearce is a writer, voice actor, and one of the creators of the speculative science fiction web series Unknown Transmission. He is also a contributor to the companion series Station 151. His printed work appears in a number of anthologies including Rigor Amortis and Cthulhurotica. Mr. Scearce has just completed work on his first novel-length manuscript, a supernatural horror story called Cottonwood. You can follow him on Twitter @ShinkaiMaru5. He lives in the suburbs of Kansas City.
ANDY SCEARCE
Series Co-Creator, Lead Writer
Andy Scearce is a writer, software engineer, and one of the creators of the speculative science fiction web series Station 151. His fiction most recently appeared in the online publication The Fabulist. You can follow him on Twitter @andrewlscearce. Andy lives in Kyoto, Japan.
BEAR WEITER
Series Co-Creator, Producer
Bear Weiter is an illustrator, animator, podcast producer, and writer. He’s also the art director for Monte Cook Games, where he oversees the visual design and production of the various tabletop roleplaying games, crowdfunding campaigns, and more. His fiction appears in a number of magazines and anthologies including Black Static, Atomic Age Cthulhu, and LORE. You can follow him on Twitter @bearthw. He lives in the suburbs of Kansas City.
