The empty broadcast

Source: an original fiction extract.

“The radio station had been closed for a year when the music began. Sal heard it through the speaker in the reception office while measuring the windows for replacement blinds. The tune was cheerful and old-fashioned, interrupted every few seconds by a soft click. She called to the caretaker, who was checking the meter cupboard. He said there was no power to the studio equipment. The office lights were working, which made his certainty less helpful than he seemed to think.

Beyond the reception desk, the corridor narrowed into a blue-grey tunnel. Foam panels clung to the walls in dusty squares, swallowing the scrape of Sal's shoes. The music drifted through the silence with a bright, ridiculous politeness, like a guest determined to enjoy a party after everyone else had left. At the studio door, the tune stopped. The sudden quiet seemed to lean against her.

The caretaker came behind her with a torch. Through the glass they could see an empty chair, a microphone and a mug turned upside down on a newspaper. He unlocked the door. Nothing inside appeared to be working. Sal noticed a red light beneath the desk and pointed. The caretaker crouched, then stood holding a portable radio no larger than a sandwich box. Someone had left it connected to a battery pack. He switched it off.

They laughed, more loudly than the discovery deserved. The caretaker said a former presenter sometimes returned to collect old recordings. Sal went back to her measurements. She had written the width of the first window when a voice came from the reception speaker. 'And that was for everyone still listening.' She put down the pencil. The caretaker was beside the cupboard again, the small radio in his hand. Its switch was still off.

For a long moment, neither spoke. Then the caretaker opened the cupboard fully. Behind the meters, an old cable disappeared through the wall towards the next building. Sal could hear the same voice, faintly, through the open window of the café next door. He began explaining the wiring. She nodded, but when she packed her tape measure she made sure to take the pencil too. She did not want a reason to come back.”

Refer only to the second paragraph. Analyse how the writer uses language to present the uneasy atmosphere outside the studio. Support your ideas with quotations from that paragraph. You could consider words and phrases, language features and techniques, and sentence forms.