Line #41 Main/NumbersStations


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6	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/numbers_station.jpg]]
7	[[caption-width-right:350:[[VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps "What do they mean?!"]]]]
8
9	->''"It's said that they're hangovers from the Cold War; a way for various intelligence services to communicate with agents in the field. The truth... well, you're not actually cleared for what the truth is."''
10	-->-- '''Agent Johnson''', ''[[Radio/PleasantGreenUniverse Fugue State]]''
11
12
13	"Numbers stations" are real-life phenomena that arose in the UsefulNotes/ColdWar era and are far too bizarre for fiction to pass up on.
14
15	Simply put, numbers stations are shortwave radio stations that broadcast long strings of numbers, usually read by a synthesized voice. It is generally assumed that the numbers are messages encoded using the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-time_pad one time pad]] technique, sent by intelligence agencies to their agents in the field. No agency has acknowledged these transmissions, and decryption of a one-time-pad encoded message without the key is impossible.[[labelnote: Mostly.]]The susceptibility of an OTP-encrypted message to statistical analysis varies inversely with the degree of entropy, i.e. randomness, in the keystream. Since this weakness is a well known and elementary trait of the OTP algorithm, and can be overcome through the use of a high-quality entropy source, there's no reason to expect that it will exist in the keystreams used to encrypt messages broadcast via numbers stations. Further, anybody foolish enough to use a one-time pad for more than one message is probably going to get their message decrypted, as the strength of the One-Time-Pad system almost completely hinges on it being used only once.[[/labelnote]]
16
17	Aside from their use in SpyFiction, many works of fiction will try to explain these broadcasts as part of some secret plan by a government or other sinister organization, and the ConspiracyTheorist or radio hobbyist will be obsessed with [[HollywoodHacking decoding them]]. Beyond that, they can be used for [[NightmareFuel the creepy effect of having a static-y radio with a lone automated voice repeating gibberish endlessly]]. One popular theory has it that the creepiness is [[ParanoiaGambit their entire purpose:]] plant one next to a country you don't like, and their paranoid government will waste a lot of time and money decrypting total nonsense.
18
19	Website/TheOtherWiki has an [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numbers_station article describing numbers stations]] in more detail.
20	----
21	!!Examples:
22
23	[[foldercontrol]]
24
25	[[folder:Fan Works]]
26	* The ''Series/SapphireAndSteel'' fanfic ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/35922985 Started as a Whisper]]'' by thisbluespirit reveals that the numbers stations were created by the Elements, and are really important for maintaining Time in the usual surreal and inexplicable way of ''Sapphire and Steel''.
27	[[/folder]]
28
29	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
30	* In ''Film/BansheeChapter'', numbers stations are broadcasted which contain the chemical formula of DMT-19, a ([[FantasticDrug non-existent]])[[note]] obviously based on DMT, a real [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N,N-Dimethyltryptamine hallucinogenic drug]].[[/note]] drug that was used in the [=MK-Ultra=] experiments. [[spoiler: The numbers are broadcast from another dimension, and DMT-19 turns the brain into a radio receiver so that otherworldly beings can inhabit humans and "wear them".]]
31	* The 1982 West German film, ''Der Westen Leuchtet'' ("The West shines") [[http://www.simonmason.karoo.net/page494.htm shows]] an agent called Harald Liebe receiving a number station transmission via a Sony ICF-7800 radio. He is then shown decoding the message using his one-time pad.
32	* In ''Film/TheNumbersStation'', UsefulNotes/{{CIA}} assassin Emerson Kent is [[ReassignedToAntarctica reassigned to one such station in Suffolk, England]] for refusing to kill the daughter of a witness during a botched assignment.
33	* The {{UsefulNotes/Colombia}}ns that seize the Regis High School in ''Film/ToySoldiers'' use number stations to communicate between the school and their home base.
34	* Creator/CameronCrowe used recordings from number stations in ''Film/VanillaSky'' to "convey a sense of confusion".
35	[[/folder]]
36
37	[[folder:Literature]]
38	* In the novel ''Literature/AsSimpleAsSnow'' by Gregory Galloway, the narrator's girlfriend Anna is obsessed with codes of all sorts and spends hours at a time listening to numbers stations on a shortwave radio. After she vanishes under mysterious circumstances, the narrator starts doing it too, and he's convinced that one of the voices reading the numbers is her.
39	* In the John Gardner Literature/JamesBond novel ''Literature/{{Icebreaker}}'', Bond gets rescued by a contingent of Finnish spies who unbeknownst to him are working alongside MI 5. They send coded messages by shortwave via {{Blipvert}}. (Also unknown to Bond until the rescue is that his girl-when-he's-in-Helsinki is a top Finnish spy.)
40	[[/folder]]
41
42	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
43	* In the ''Series/TheAmericans'' episode "Mutually Assured Destruction", Elizabeth (a [[UsefulNotes/MoscowCentre KGB]] agent in the US) is seen listening to a numbers station and decoding sequences with a code book to receive orders.
44	* ''Series/CovertAffairs'' episode "Walter's Walk". Annie is assigned to talk to "walk-ins" aka conspiracy nuts. The one story that she takes seriously is from women who says that her son cracked a hidden code from listening to numbers stations and now believes his life is threatened.
45	* The ''Series/{{Fringe}}'' episode "[[Recap/FringeS03E066955KHz 6955 kHz]]" involved a numbers station that transmitted a BrownNote that erased peoples' memories, and the number code translated to coordinates for the location of the components to the [[DoomsdayDevice Wave-Sink Device]].
46	* In ''Series/{{Lost}}'', the Island has a radio tower that broadcasted a man's voice reading the {{Arc Number}}s 4 8 15 16 23 42 over and over, until Danielle replaced it with her distress call. [[spoiler:The AlternateRealityGame ''ARG/TheLostExperience'' explains that the numbers are the core numerical values in the Valenzetti Equation, an equation that predicts the amount of [[DoomsdayClock time remaining until the human race destroys itself]]. The DHARMA Initiative built the broadcasting tower to transmit the numbers to their backers and if the numbers changed it would prove that DHARMA's work on the island could manipulate the equation.]]
47	-->[[spoiler:A radio transmitter has also been erected on the island broadcasting in a frequency and encryption known only to us. The transmitter will only broadcast the core numerical values of the Valenzetti Equation. When, through your research, you manage to change the numerical value of any one of these factors, when you have created through science the ''[inaudible]'' ... We will know that the one true way has been found.]]
48	* Briefly appeared in flashback in the ''Series/PersonOfInterest'' episode "[[Recap/PersonOfInterestS01E15 Blue Code]]". Reese thought UsefulNotes/{{CIA}} could update his orders, but his partner was skeptical.
49	** The Machine's "voice", individual words taken from recorded conversations and strung together, was inspired by recordings of numbers stations.
50	** In Season 5, it's revealed that Samaritan is communicating with its operatives via FakeStatic in radio transmissions, forming an encrypted morse code.
51	* ''Series/{{Scandal}}'': In the "Spies Like Us" episode, Huck contacts his former colleagues from the secret UsefulNotes/{{CIA}} agency, [[GovernmentAgencyOfFiction B6-13]] via a coded message sent over a numbers station after he finds out that someone is going to make their identities and what they did public.
52	* ''Series/SeventeenMomentsOfSpring'' features the protagonist spy, Stirlitz receiving orders [[http://youtu.be/DCH9XgyyzqA through numbers broadcasts and decoding the messages using a book]].
53	* ''Series/{{Spooks}}'' episode "Nuclear Strike". A numbers station is used transmit a message to a Russian [[DeepCoverAgent sleeper agent]] to detonate a nuclear bomb in Grosvenor Square.
54	* ''Series/TruthSeekers'': Gus has been listening to one (which uses the well-known 'Lincolnshire Poacher' musical tag) for the last twenty years. Surprisingly, it's explained in only the second episode as a case of HauntedTechnology that's resolved without much trouble.
55	[[/folder]]
56
57	[[folder:Music]]
58	* "Gyroscope" from the Music/BoardsOfCanada album ''Music/{{Geogaddi}}'' contains samples of a numbers station, sampled by Sean Booth of Music/{{Autechre}}.
59	* "Secret Message" from the third Music/DoctorSteel album, ''People of Earth'' ends with a number station recording.
60	* "Transmission" from Creator/NeilCicierega's second mashup album is a sort of StealthParody of numbers stations. The song is nothing but radio fuzz followed by the countdown from Music/DavidBowie's "Music/SpaceOddity" spelling out [[spoiler:"[[Music/SmashMouth SMASH MOUTH]]" in alt key code]]. The riff from "Space Oddity" is used to indicate the space between the two words.
61	* The Music/PorcupineTree song, "Even Less" from their fifth album ''Music/StupidDream'' ends with the numbers, "0096 2251 2110 8105" read aloud by a woman. This is taken from a numbers station recording.
62	* Music/TheProtomen album ''The Cover Up'' has a mock numbers station as HiddenTrack exclusively on the cassette version after "[[Music/PhilCollins In The Air Tonight]]" (which is the last track on side 1), which decodes to [[spoiler:"We can hold out through the endless dark, all a fire needs is a single spark. Oh, and [[AChristmasStory remember to drink your Ovaltine."]] ]]
63	* The Music/{{Silverstein}} song "In A Place of Solace" off the album ''This is How the Wind Shifts'' begins with sounds from a numbers station. Since the lead singer is the ghost a murder victum [[AttendingYourOwnFuneral witnessing his own funeral]] confused and afraid, the inclusion of the numbers station may have been used to further convey the sense of confusion.
64	* Suicide Dolls' "Drive" starts with an eerie music box tune sampled from the numbers station known as "The Swedish Rhapsody".
65	* The title of Music/{{Wilco}}'s fourth album, ''Music/YankeeHotelFoxtrot'' comes from a number station recording that is {{sampl\|ing}}ed in the song, "Poor Places". This led to the singer, Jeff Tweedy being [[http://archive.wired.com/entertainment/music/news/2004/06/63952 sued]] by the company who had originally recorded the numbers station for MediaNotes/{{copyright}} infringement and he settled out of court, reimbursing them for their legal fees and paying royalties for use of the recordings.
66	[[/folder]]
67
68	[[folder:Podcasts]]
69	* "Decrypted", Episode 144 of ''Podcast/TheMagnusArchives'' deals with one of these which inexplicably broadcasts to the subject's iPod. [[spoiler: [[GeniusBonus Fans have decrypted]] the numbers using a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polybius_square Polybius square]] cipher: [[TheWorldIsAlwaysDoomed THE WORLD IS ALWAYS ENDING]].]]
70	* ''Podcast/WelcomeToNightVale'': The "[[Recap/WelcomeToNightValeEp6TheDrawbridge The Drawbridge]]" episode reveals the city of Night Vale has its own Numbers Station, WZZZ, broadcast from a mysterious antenna on top of an abandoned gas station. [[spoiler:In the "[[Recap/WelcomeToNightValeEp42Numbers Numbers]]" episode, the computer program reading out the numbers gains sentience and takes the name Fey. Cecil is unable to help her gain her freedom and she is [[DownerEnding reset to her original state]].]]
71	-->Take WZZZ, our local numbers station, broadcasting from that strange and tall antenna built out back of the abandoned gas station on Oxford Street. Did you know that it broadcasts a monotone female voice reading out seemingly random numbers interspersed with chimes twenty four hours a day, seven days a week? As you can imagine, that kind of work doesn't bring in a lot of money—unless it does. To be honest, here at Night Vale Radio we don't know exactly what that station is for, or what master it is serving.
72	[[/folder]]
73
74	[[folder:Radio]]
75	* The [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Mi-go]] have a thing for these in the ''Radio/PleasantGreenUniverse'', as numbers stations feature prominently in all the installments involving them, presumably as a SpiritualSuccessor to the creepy wax cylinder recordings in the original ''Literature/TheWhispererInDarkness''. The ''Lovecraft Investigations'' series even makes reference to the real "Lincolnshire Poacher" station when describing them. [[spoiler:The station isn't broadcasting numbers, but Enochian letters spelling out "Babalon" - it's not a communication system, but an automated magical ritual.]]
76	[[/folder]]
77
78	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
79	* ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening'': "Summoners" features as a potential plot hook mysterious numbers stations that seem to be broadcasting an arcane signal. While it would ''seem'' they're serving some nefarious purpose, it's the opposite - they generate a signal that's keeping gigantic worm-like entities from entering from the realms beyond, and if the mages try to interrupt the signal, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero well]]...
80	* ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'': The 4th edition "Spy Games" discusses Numbers Stations and gives a few suggestions to the possible origins and purpose of the mysterious transmissions. Possible explanations include: an attempt by {{Artificial Intelligence}}s to manifest in our world, communications [[OminousMessageFromTheFuture from the future]] or AnotherDimension or even the thoughts of being formed from the entire [[TheAlternet Matrix]].
81	* Issue 18 of ''The Unspeakable Oath'' had an article called "The Branchly Numbers Edit" for modern ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'' settings like ''TabletopGame/DeltaGreen''. The titular edit is a compilation of number station recordings made by a man before he burned everything else in his mansion, including himself and his servants. Those who listen to the edit can glean unearthly knowledge but at the cost of their sanity.
82	[[/folder]]
83
84	[[folder:Toys]]
85	* According to his 2007 ''Franchise/GIJoe'' Collectors' Club filecard, Sparks runs number stations for the team.
86	-->While he serves many vital functions, his specialty is operating so-called "secret numbers stations," sending shortwave radio transmissions to covert operatives throughout the free world in English, Spanish, German, French and Slavic languages in a variety of electronically-altered voices.
87	[[/folder]]
88
89	[[folder:Video Games]]
90	* ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'' has three, left by Scarecrow. The numbers can be deciphered into the messages: [[spoiler:"I Will Return, Batman"]], [[spoiler:"You Will Pay For What You Have Done To Me"]] & [[spoiler:"Fear Will Tear Gotham City To Shreds"]].
91	* In ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps'', Alex Mason is forced [[spoiler:by the CIA]] to decrypt the message from a numbers station and reveal the location of the transmitter. He was implanted earlier with the ability to understand the numbers and is the only surviving person on the good guys' side with the ability to decode them.
92	* ''Videogame/CounterStrike [[Videogame/CounterStrike Global Offensive]]:'' One map has numbers and phonetic alphabet coming out of a computer that can be deciphered... [[spoiler:It's part of [[VideoGame/Portal1 "Still Alive"]].]]
93	* ''Videogame/TheConduit'': One of the channels on the radios you can listen to is a numbers station and the last two transmissions of the hippie, [[GranolaGirl Autumn]] [[StrawFeminist Wanderer]] turn into a stream of numbers that are a simple substitution code.
94	* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}''. There is a somewhat bizarre UrbanLegendOfZelda, that says under the [[http://www.gamesradar.com/is-this-the-most-elaborate-gaming-hoax-of-all-time/ right circumstances]], Galaxy News Radio would turn into a numbers station and the numbers could be translated into predictions of events in RealLife.
95	* The ''VideoGame/KillingFloor2'' map "Farmhouse" has a radio in the basement tuned to a numbers station in Czech.
96	* The "Living Ship" update of ''VideoGame/NoMansSky'' adds random encounters that can occur while cruising in planetary space, one of which is a Numbers Station, an alien satellite that beams random numbers at the player for no discernible reason.
97	* ''VideoGame/{{OMORI}}'': The ambient track "Numbers" includes samples from a German numbers station.
98	* ''VideoGame/PhantomDoctrine'': Your team suspect that the villainous Beholder Initiative are using a numbers station to coordinate terrorist groups in Europe.
99	* ''VideoGame/TheSecretWorld''. Number stations are mentioned in relation to the Buzzing, the mysterious force that empowers the PlayerCharacters.
100	-->'''Buzzing Lore #4:''' You've heard shards of our voice in the phantom-radio code of a numbers station
101	* ''VideoGame/{{Signalis}}'': Prevalent throughout the game as the source of coded sequences for solving the puzzles. The game makes use of every variety out there: voiced (with authentic musical tones starting a broadcast), Morse and synthesized tones. [[spoiler:Several of them, while seemingly unused, are actually the way to obtain the keys to the secret ending.]]
102	* The third episode of ''VideoGame/StoriesUntold'', "The Station Process", involves tuning to several numbers stations from a remote weather station in Greenland, and decoding them to input lines of computer code. Being a horror game, things get weirder as you go along.
103	* Radios in the ''Videogame/{{Submachine}}'' series are generally tuned in to a numbers station. The significance of this is yet to be revealed (assuming it's not just a general MindScrew).
104	[[/folder]]
105
106	[[folder:Web Comics]]
107	* ''Webcomic/DinosaurComics'': T-Rex discusses numbers stations in the strip for [[http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=789 June 7th, 2006]] and thinks that it is ''totally excellent'' that you can listen to them.
108	[[/folder]]
109
110	[[folder:Web Original]]
111	* Every episode of the podcast ''Podcast/ArsParadoxica'' ends with a stream of numbers between 1 and 26.
112	* ''Website/SCPFoundation'':
113	** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-270 SCP-270 ("Secluded Telephone")]]. On this telephone can be heard a voice speaking messages encrypted in a variety of forms, include patterns of numbers like a numbers station.
114	** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1316 SCP-1316 ("Feline Espionage Device")]]. For 4 years, every day SCP-1316 broadcast a transmission consisting of 80 numbers, making it a living numbers station.
115	** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1965 SCP-1965 ("Radio-Based Sentience").]] The entry mentions the numbers stations used by both the SCP Foundation and national governments.
116	** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-2132 SCP-2132 ("Most Dangerous Fighting Exhibition and Obstacle Resort")]]. Every 5-6 hours, SCP-2132 broadcasts the artificially created voice of a child reciting numbers and a list of colors. The reading is different each time. Between the numbers/colors readings the station broadcasts songs from the 1920s through the 1950s.
117	** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-2187 SCP-2187 ("Jugo Nova").]] The SCP Foundation has a global network of numbers stations masking the broadcasts of the artificial satellite SCP-2187-B.
118	** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-2558 SCP-2558 ("Horseshoe Beach First Baptist Church (Relocated)")]] creates one of these from a National Weather Service station.
119	** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-3034 SCP-3034 ("The Counting Station")]] is a distorted broadcast of a girl who, rather than giving random numbers, counts down from 200 and only stops if an "all is well" reply is received. Nobody's sure what will happen when she finishes, but nobody is in a hurry to find out, either, considering what happened when a researcher tried to communicate.
120	** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/the-hyacinth-hymnal "The Hyacinth Hymnal"]] is an audio recording taken from rare spoken interruptions in a numbers station.
121	* "[[https://scrivnarium.wordpress.com/2016/08/31/night-milking-preview/ Night Milking]]", a ''Webcomic/SkinHorse'' text side-story, set during [[http://skin-horse.com/comic/you-tip/ the time Unity was working for Temporary Emergency Food Assistance]], reveals that TEFA supposedly broadcasts its full mission dossiers on a radio station called Lambton Worm, but all Unity ever hears is Music/JethroTull and "some bored chick reciting numbers".
122	[[/folder]]
123
124	[[folder:Other]]
125	* ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Conet_Project The Conet Project]]'' is a five CD compilation of Number Station recordings.
126	* The white noise app/website myNoise has a [[https://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/numberStationsRadioNoiseGenerator.php numbers station page]] designed to be used for background noise, with each of the equalizer sliders representing a station.
127	[[/folder]]

Context Main / NumbersStations