The FOX TV Show--Fringe had an episode revolving around numbers station.

[Fansome]

From: dennis v <dennisp54@yahoo.com>
Subject: [Spooks] The FOX TV Show--Fringe had an episode revolving
   around   numbers station.
To: Spooks@mailman.qth.net
Message-ID: <32876.76463.qm@web51604.mail.re2.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
 
The FOX TV Show--Fringe had an episode revolving around numbers station.
 
Link to the show:
 
http://www.fox.com/fringe/full-episodes/85528898001
 
Interesting.
Regards,
Dennis V.

[cmradio]

Ripoff of "Lost"

Peace!

[Zoidberg]

The "6995 kHz" episode is fun, even if it's not entirely accurate about numbers stations.  And it's perfect for trivia buffs and OCD types.  Watch the beacon guy's computer screen closely in the opening segment - you'll notice the message alerts listeners to tune to 6955, not 6995.



Hard to tell whether the episode title was a simple typo or a deliberate plant by the producers to generate buzz.  Easiest way to get obsessive types like sci-fi buffs and radio enthusiasts nattering online about anything in pop culture is to make a technical error.  Want proof?  Note the OCD types who'll fill in an entire page of trivia and goofs in an IMDB entry, while barely bothering to summarize the actual contents of the movie.

I also suspect Fringe has fans/shills astroturfing the show by commenting about it everywhere.  During the week leading up to the show almost every preview of the "6995 kHz" episode on YouTube had the same comments from the same two or three people, particularly one guy who kept mentioning that 6955 was a pirate radio freq.

Anyway, the possibility of a deliberate typo certainly worked in my case.  I forgot to cue up the recorder while watching that episode last week and immediately pounced on the Fox site the next day to rewatch the entire episode just to be sure I'd actually seen "6955" on the computer screen, rather than the "6995 kHz" in the episode title.  What, me OCD?  Nahhh...

Ripoff of "Lost"

Closer to a ripoff of The X-Files.  It's much more accessible than Lost, and a new viewer can jump into Fringe without knowing much about the show and still enjoy it.  I tried a few times over the years to get into Lost and just couldn't do it.  But Fringe grabbed me right away.  Doesn't hurt that Anna Torv pushes my buttons the same way Gillian Anderson did.  And ya gotta love Walter, the ultimate stoner-geek.

[Seamus]

Not sure where you're getting your screen shots and program info from, but the FOX website shows all references to the episode as being "6955 kHz", not "6995 kHz" as in your images above.   

[Fansome]

About five years ago I started getting weird emails from fans of the program "Lost". Many of them were of the form "Is BigSpaceship for real?"; others asked about the relationship between Commander Bunny and Al Fansome. I was baffled, as I had never watched the show, so I asked one of the people who emailed me what was going on.

He seemed surprised that I had to ask him that question. It turned out that the producers of Lost had started a viral campaign on the net, a sort of Easter Egg hunt for clues as to which way the show was heading. The site BigSpaceship.com was involved, and they had posted some references to the Commander Bunny/Al Fansome/Pirate universe in this context. People had assumed that I was involved in the campaign, and the term "for real" was Lost jargon for a true clue, as opposed to a red herring; they were emailing me in hopes that I would give them a leg up in interpreting the clues.

I had to inform these people that I was not involved; indeed, I had no idea this was even going on. They were disappointed, but at least they pointed me at the various posts that involved me and the Commander.

http://www.bigspaceship.com/portfolio/lost/
http://www.frn.net/vines/Forum4/HTML/006107.html

[Zoidberg]

Not sure where you're getting your screen shots and program info from, but the FOX website shows all references to the episode as being "6955 kHz", not "6995 kHz" as in your images above.   

Just another case of the interweb reinventing itself.  Happens more often than folks realize.  In particular I've seen many instances of news media sites editing or altering the original stories (and photographs), rather than updating or appending the story while preserving the original context, without offering any errata notices to inform readers that the original version had been changed.

The screencaps came directly from the Fox network site, which very definitely referred to the episode as "6995 kHz".  The first JPEG screencap I posted here was made from another PNG screencap I took directly from the Fox site the day after the episode aired (Fox puts up entire episodes about 24 hours after the first TV airing.)  However, I edited the JPEG slightly to clarify what the photo refers, by adding text in "Comic" font to the right margin.  The text in san-serif font along the left upper corner that reads "Episodes / 6995kHz" is unaltered, taken directly from the screencap of the Fox page.

Also last week, immediately after the first airing of the Fringe episode, I checked more than a dozen non-network YouTube accounts that carried the episode promo or a "pirated" version of the show prior to the official TV airing.  They were about evenly divided between the original "6995 kHz" title and the revised "6955".

Google "Fringe episode 6995 khz" now.  As of this moment (11/16/10 0500 UTC) I'm still seeing many references to the original episode title.

I had considered screencapping more references, both Google search pages and YouTube search pages, but it didn't occur to me that Fox might scramble to fix a typo that most folks wouldn't even have noticed.

[Bracko28]

This was an interesting episode. I watched it last week only. I started this show way back but in between I got busy with Andy Yeatman shows. I am glad that I found this post because I need to finish it on time. So that I can watch some more shows and movies.

[Pigmeat]

"Al Fansome Check Your Tire Pressure. Hello Mr. Smolinski"

The "White Rabbit" interval music was used by the original 6950 op. I don't remember what the 6955 op used as an interval , but he couldn't remember the Code from week to week despite regular updates via phone and email from the "White Rabbit" op. The 6955 op was a dumb bunny. How do you reach the rank of Commander and be so damned airheaded?

[Pigmeat]

About five years ago I started getting weird emails from fans of the program "Lost". Many of them were of the form "Is BigSpaceship for real?"; others asked about the relationship between Commander Bunny and Al Fansome. I was baffled, as I had never watched the show, so I asked one of the people who emailed me what was going on.

He seemed surprised that I had to ask him that question. It turned out that the producers of Lost had started a viral campaign on the net, a sort of Easter Egg hunt for clues as to which way the show was heading. The site BigSpaceship.com was involved, and they had posted some references to the Commander Bunny/Al Fansome/Pirate universe in this context. People had assumed that I was involved in the campaign, and the term "for real" was Lost jargon for a true clue, as opposed to a red herring; they were emailing me in hopes that I would give them a leg up in interpreting the clues.

I had to inform these people that I was not involved; indeed, I had no idea this was even going on. They were disappointed, but at least they pointed me at the various posts that involved me and the Commander.

http://www.bigspaceship.com/portfolio/lost/
http://www.frn.net/vines/Forum4/HTML/006107.html

Wasn't the looped opening bass line of "White Rabbit" also the interval signal for "Radio Al Fansome" during this time period, Al?  Care to explain that coincidence, Spaceship-Boy?

[Josh]

A minute of the commander's shows would turn any rational adult against pirate radio for life.