Prophets of Shortwave
I spent a year immersed in the fascinating culture of shortwave radio, navigating the electromagnetic spectrum using a network of web-based "software-defined radios" (WebSDRs) located in different parts of the globe to explore a world of communication that is largely invisible in an age of social media, but still influential and very relevant in places that social media doesn't reach.
Over the course of my open-ended exploration, I occasionally stumbled across broadcasts from charismatic preachers, cult leaders, self-declared prophets, and other spiritual outsiders addressing their unseen (or imagined?) congregations. These broadcasts soon became the focus of my research, and the "Prophets of Shortwave" project is its culmination.
The piece opens and closes with a recording of the godfather of religious cult broadcasters, Brother Stair, whose global shortwave media empire at its peak boasted over a hundred stations and five satellites. His cult survived his death in 2021 and continues broadcasting recordings of their prophet to this day, albeit at a smaller scale. These could appear anywhere across the spectrum and followed no discernible schedule or pattern; I could come across Brother Stair on SDRs in any part of the world, but I was rarely lucky enough to catch a full program. He became something of a white whale in my adventure, appearing by chance and captured only by serendipity.
This is a documentary project. Although I edited the content of the broadcasts, provided a sonic foundation, and brought my own editorial bias, I did my best to preserve each broadcaster's unique voice and did not manipulate or alter the sentiment of any of their words. My intention is not to blaspheme or ridicule, but rather to shine a light on an otherwise invisible world of spiritual outsiders rippling through the ether. As Brother Stair admonished, "Do not mock that."
"Prophets of Shortwave" is available on Bandcamp, on Mirlo, or free and federated on bandwagon.fm.
