The Fabricator
Cabal releases station after demands met
Police are investigating reports that a local radio station was taken over and held for ransom last week by an obscure cabal of employees and accomplices.
Reports indicated that the station, WPLN, the local National Public Radio affiliate, suddenly refused to broadcast its normal slate of programming last Monday and began to demand money from listeners, saying that it would free the hostage programs as soon as its demands were met.
The cabal’s strategy to win the public’s loyalty involved what a law enforcement source called ”low-level bribery,“ including the offering of trinkets such as coffee mugs and T-shirts. An apparent ringleader of the hostage-takers, a woman using the name ”Rebecca Bain“ on the air, was apparently persuasive at attempting to make such future yard-sale fodder sound desirable.
”We’re not sure if holding a radio program hostage falls under the kidnapping or extortion laws,“ one local law enforcement official said. ”But whatever it was, it was annoying for listeners, and I’m sure terrifying for the programs, some of which were reportedly locked in a dark closet and left for hours without food or water.“
Late last week, the hostage-takers relented after a reported payment of more than $200,000, and released the programs. All the hostage-takers, including ”Rebecca Bain,“ were still at large at press time.
Sources in the mental health community said counseling had been offered to all the kidnapped programs. It was reported that one of the affected broadcasts, the weekly financial palaverfest Sound Money, had been crying uncontrollably since it was wrenched from its usual time slot, but this proved difficult to confirm.
”That’s a pretty whiny-sounding show, even under the best of circumstances,“ a source said.
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