What I found most interesting about the Numbers Station episode from 99% Invisible was the eerie fact that many of these numbers stations can still be widely heard today. Despite knowing that their message could be intercepted by a wide array of individuals and agencies, the transmitters of the numbers are confident enough in their encryption strength to broadcast their message on an open channel. The podcast producer kept the audience interested in the content in a variety of ways. They brought in other speakers to help analyze these seemingly-random messages, and most importantly employed seemingly-off/creepy music and other sound effects when talking about the number stations. This music helped keep the listener alert and interested in the material; this strategy particularly paid off when the producers began discussing the more technical aspects of the material.

When discussing the history of numbers stations or why they existed, the producers would have multiple people put forth their ideas and debate, and then intersperse bursts of odd music or a numbers station message. This helped provide a sense of variety to the reader, kept them alert with the odd music and seemingly-random messages, and provided them with more technical information on numbers stations. Based on this episode, I am interested in making a podcast that deals with some mysterious facet of cryptography, whether that be a specific example of cryptography gone wrong or just the secrecy behind encryptions. I would like to use multiple media, viewpoints, and stories to narrate my podcast, thereby keeping the content “fresh” with variety as well as offering more useful information and informative debates to my audience.