1634: Turn Your Radio On by Eric Flint

or prayed and left. Glancing again at the new commercial, he grinned, "Looks like 'Der Kronz' has had a busy sales week. Five new advertisers this morning."
    Marc Kronzburg had recently seen his first episode of Happy Days and decided that everyone should now refer to him as 'Der Kronz.' It was most entertaining to see the expression on his face when no one would go along with it.
    A note from Jennifer informed him that the new transmitter improvements had been tested, and this morning's broadcast would be at double its previous power. After reading through the new copy, Franz briefly went back downstairs to start the interval signal recording. This was a five-minute recording that Gayle made to be played before sign on each morning. It gave the listening audience a chance to get their receivers adjusted to the correct frequency before the first commercial. It was a recording of the West Virginia University Marching Band playing "Almost Heaven, West Virginia" followed by an announcer proclaiming, "This is the Voice of America, Grantville," followed by a pause, repeated over and over.
    Gayle had also taken a series of notes from some up-time record to use as the station identifier theme song, which was played at the top of each hour. Although what exactly "Ina-gada-da-vida" meant, no one seemed to know. He then ran back upstairs to fill his cup again.
    Franz was half way up when he heard the knock at the station front door. He hurried up the stairs to the station door and encountered his first surprise of the morning.
    Standing outside the station was not just the new minister that he was expecting. Instead, there stood three men, three women, and a large number of half-awake children.
    "Franz in the Morning?" one of the adults finally said, seeing the confusion in the face of the sandy haired young man who was making no movement to get out of the open doorway. Franz nodded.
    " Guten Tag ! I am Brother Dieter Fischer; I'll be substituting for Brother Chalker this morning. These—" Fischer waved at the entourage behind him, "—are members of our congregation who came to help me feel comfortable in front of your microphone."
    Finally understanding the purpose of the unexpected audience, Franz welcomed the church group inside. After offering the adults coffee and the children water, he grabbed his morning paperwork and escorted them all downstairs to the studio. The interval recording still had plenty of time left before he had to go on the air himself, so he gave Brother Fischer his first lesson in how to perform on the radio.
    "I'll wave to signal you to start . . . That red light over there will come on when you are on the air . . . Make sure you stand directly in front of the mike, and keep it no more than six inches from your mouth . . . Speak slowly and clearly . . . Speak as though you're only talking to one person . . . For some reason, a smile on your face comes over the airwaves to the listener . . . When you have one minute left, I'll give you a hand signal to wrap up and another at thirty seconds . . . Relax and have fun!"
    Finishing now with his orientation, and having helped arrange the children and their parents in a semicircle on the floor around the seated Fischer in the main studio, Franz went into his broadcast booth, and waited for the tape to end.
    ****
    "And now with our morning devotional, the Reverend Dieter Fischer of the Grantville Pentecostal Church." Franz flipped on the microphone and pointed at Fischer.
    "Good morning, Franz, and good morning to you listening in! I'm Brother Fischer of the Grantville Pentecostal Church and I'll be chatting with you in German this morning." Switching languages, he continued, "I have some of my favorite people with me this morning. Say hello, children."
    The children were well coached and shouted out in almost harmony, "Good morning, Europe!"
    "Very good! These are some of the children from our church. I thought I'd get them up this morning to tell them