The radio tower is a structure on the Island which was built by the DHARMA Initiative to relay the results of their experiments to their backers and external supporter.
History
The radio tower in the Sri Lanka Video
Built around the time the DHARMA Initiative arrived on the Island, the radio tower's purpose was to broadcast the core numerical values of the Valenzetti Equation (the Numbers) until such time that one of the research projects on the Island had managed to change one of the values - broadcasting to the their backers on the outside that "the one true way" had been found, and that the Equation can be changed. The tower was to broadcast the signal on a secret frequency in an encrypted format known only to the backers of the Initiative on the outside.
In 1988, two groups in the Pacific began to pick up the signal from the tower without any encryption. The first group was a listening post in the South Pacific where Sam Toomey and Leonard Simms picked up the signal. While their official purpose was to monitor longwave radio frequencies, it has not been established what part of the radio band the signal they picked up was on. The second was a French research ship at sea which included Danielle Rousseau. She claims that her ship crashed on the island. The members of the French team went to investigate the signal and found the radio tower "up by the Black Rock". Here, she claims to have shortly after changed the feed to broadcast her distress signal rather than the Numbers, hoping that someone might hear it.
What is known is that the new distress signal indicates that Rousseau was trapped inside something when she made it to the tower, and that something or someone that had "killed them all" was outside. She also mentions not having the key, adding that someone named Brennan took them. She presumably later escaped.
The group explores the radio tower operations room
Since that time, little is known about what happened to the tower. Rousseau says without any further explanation that it and her signal are now under the control of the Others. Rousseau claimed that "they control it now".
The signal from the tower was blocked by jamming equipment controlled from the Looking Glass station. The survivors trekked up to the tower in "Through the Looking Glass, Part 1" in order to get a clear signal to call for rescue. Inside, Rousseau removed the CART from the player and turned off the transmission. Naomi was then able to call her ship for rescue from outside the tower. ("Through the Looking Glass, Part 1")
Structure
The radio tower sign seen briefly on the door.
The symbol seen on the door of the radio tower.
The radio tower area is comprised of the actual mast and a small operations room. Inside, there were multiple players in a small cabinet, as well as a speaker next to it (presumably what Rousseau used to record her message). On the door outside are the words "CAUTION - High Level Radio Frequency Energy Area", as well as the hazard symbol for dangerous non-ionising radiation.
Location
Maps with slightly different red lines showing tower @ 22:53 and 36:28 noting the location of the red lines intersection point.
In "The Moth", Sayid tries to triangulate the signal. Just before he is knocked out by Locke, the radio is displaying full strength. This indicates they were very close. However, this may simply be due to a high power output of the transmitter.
Ben also draws a map from Pascal Flats to the tower, as well as the direction from which he anticipated the survivors would be coming from. Danielle claimed that the radio tower was close to the Black Rock, yet when the group visit it in "Through the Looking Glass, Part 2", it is far away from that location. Additionally, some aspects of Ben's map are disputed.
Notable Visitors
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| Picture | Name | First visit | Last visit | Reason for Visit | ||||||
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Jack | "Through the Looking Glass, Part 2" | "The Beginning of the End" | Led the survivors to the radio tower along with Danielle and Naomi. | ||||||
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Kate | "Through the Looking Glass, Part 2" | "The Beginning of the End" | Traveled with the survivors to the radio tower. | ||||||
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Locke | "Through the Looking Glass, Part 2" | "Through the Looking Glass, Part 2" | Threw a knife at Naomi, giving her a nearly-fatal wound, to prevent her from contacting the Kahana. He held Jack at gunpoint, demanding that he destroy the sat phone, but he refused. | ||||||
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Claire | "Through the Looking Glass, Part 2" | "The Beginning of the End" | Traveled with the survivors to the radio tower. | ||||||
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Sun | "Through the Looking Glass, Part 2" | "The Beginning of the End" | Traveled with the survivors to the radio tower. | ||||||
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Ben | "Through the Looking Glass, Part 2" | "The Beginning of the End" | Encountered Jack prior to his arrival at the radio tower. He wanted Jack to bring him the sat phone, and they would both go their seperate ways. Ben staged the deaths of Jin, Sayid, and Bernard in an attempt to make Jack get the sat phone. | ||||||
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Rose | "Through the Looking Glass, Part 2" | "The Beginning of the End" | Traveled with the survivors to the radio tower. | ||||||
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Aaron | "Through the Looking Glass, Part 2" | "The Beginning of the End" | Traveled with the survivors to the radio tower. | ||||||
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Alex | "Through the Looking Glass, Part 2" | "The Beginning of the End" | Traveled with Ben across Pascal Flats and to the radio tower. Alex met her mother for the first time at the tower. | ||||||
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Karl | "Through the Looking Glass, Part 2" | "The Beginning of the End" | Traveled with the survivors to the radio tower. | ||||||
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Danielle | "Through the Looking Glass, Part 2" | "The Beginning of the End" | Led the survivors to the radio tower. She reunited with her daughter Alex for the first time in sixteen years. | ||||||
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Naomi | "Through the Looking Glass, Part 2" | "The Beginning of the End" | Went with the survivors to the radio tower. She wanted to contact the freighter so that they could find the Island. She was stabbed by Locke, and Naomi was badly wounded. | ||||||
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Craig | "Through the Looking Glass, Part 2" | "The Beginning of the End" | Traveled with the survivors to the radio tower. | ||||||
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Jerome | "Through the Looking Glass, Part 2" | "The Beginning of the End" | Traveled with the survivors to the radio tower. | ||||||
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Doug | "Through the Looking Glass, Part 2" | "The Beginning of the End" | Traveled with the survivors to the radio tower. | ||||||
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Blonde casualty | "Through the Looking Glass, Part 2" | "The Beginning of the End" | Traveled with the survivors to the radio tower. | ||||||
Trivia
- According to the Sri Lanka Video, the tower broadcasts to DHARMA's headquarters. The Hanso Foundation headquarters is in Denmark. Based on the assumptions that the DHARMA headquarters is located near the Hanso headquarters , and that the Island is located at the expected crash site in the Pacific, the radio signal would need to have a very long range to be useful. While shortwave broadcasts of only a few watts ("flea power") can sometimes reach that far by reflecting off the ionosphere, longwave broadcasts such as those Sam and Leonard were meant to be monitoring would require extremely large amounts of power to cover that distance—potentially nearing 1 million watts. While such stations do exist, they generally are operated by state-owned or large commercial broadcasters, with masts around 1000 ft (308.4 m) high.
- The signal seems to be broadcast on multiple frequencies. Sayid picked it up with radio equipment and somehow Naomi's phone picked up the distress signal audio as well.
- Radio stations that broadcast a voice reciting streams of numbers, known as Number Stations and Letter Beacons, actually exist. They are thought to be broadcasting coded messages using one-time pads.
- The tape in the deck is labelled Makee Ailana, Melveen Leed. Melveen Leed is a Hawaiian country singer. The song title Makee Ailana refers to a small Hawaiian island off the shore of Kapiolani Park, and the lyrics describe romantic memories of the island.
- The map Ben draws on is shown twice @ approx. 22:53 and approx. 36:28. These two maps are not the same prop. The red lines drawn on the two maps differ slightly.
- there are similar radio towers in DC comics,DC universe "In the Elseworlds graphic novel Superman: The Dark Side (1998) Darkseid raises Kal-El as his own (evil) son and later finds that Krypton had been in possession of the Anti-Life Equation before it was destroyed and Jor-El had sent it with his son so that he could use it to subjugate Earth and create a new Krypton. Naturally Darkseid finds it and builds a series of towers which broadcast "...the ANTI-LIFE EQUATION which obliterates free will and individual identity". ANTI-LIFE EQUATION... or Valenzetti equation!!!!!
Unanswered questions
| Unanswered questions |
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- For fan theories about these unanswered questions, see: Radio tower/Theories
- Why did Danielle claim the radio tower was being controlled by The Others when, in fact, it was actually abandoned?
