Killer Frequency is the Best New Game You Haven’t Discovered Yet

Killer Frequency isn't generating the same buzz that, say, Starfield is. But it's my favorite new game. For obvious reasons.

I have to shout out Fred Jacobs from Jacobs Media Strategies for putting this on my radar. Earlier this year, he devoted one of his daily blog posts to The “R-Word” (Radio, of course). In talking about how "Radio" (the term, as opposed to the actual medium) still has juice in 2023, he brought up the example of Killer Frequency. I hadn't heard of the game yet. Now, it's all I want to play.

As described on the game's website: Killer Frequency is a first-person horror adventure that puts you in the shoes of a late-night radio host. Solve puzzles, save lives and run the switchboards, all while listening to a jukebox of retro ‘80s tunes! As you can probably imagine, as soon as I read this description, I was scrambling to see how and where I could play this game.

When I say watching the trailer gave me a jolt of nostalgia, I'm not just the Whistling Man. The studio spaces created in the game are eerily similar to a lot of the radio stations I've worked at over the years. Ditto for the equipment. I started my radio journey at WRBB in 1996 and my professional career at WFNX in 1997. I trained on boards like these. I played actual records on record players. I'm old.

The gameplay is what you'd expect from a game of this ilk. First-person, puzzle-solving, some cool scares and some good, corny, era-appropriate comedy. And speaking of appropriate, it's fine for kids, too (rated 12). The website has all the info on what platforms you can play it on. If you're a fan of 80's nostalgia or horror or a radio nerd like me, it's a must-play.

Gather 'round, one and all, as the middle-aged radio man attempts to share a bit of car radio history. Oh, and a few killer tunes, too.

This all started innocently enough. I took in my mail recently, and there was my quarterly copy of Your AAA, The Official Magazine of AAA Northeast. Yes, I am a AAA member. I've been a member for years, and that membership has bailed me out of quite a few auto-related emergencies. Come to think of it, now that my 18-year-old is driving, I'd better add him to the family membership, too.

Anyway, with my membership comes the aforementioned magazine. And I like that. I realize that magazines, like newspapers, are in the process of being replaced with digital media. But I'm a Gen-Xer. I grew up on MAD Magazine and Rolling Stone and Thrasher and punk zines of all varieties, so I appreciate the novelty of having an actual, physical piece of media to pick up and leaf through.

Kinda like how I appreciate the car radio. Not just because it's existence has, quite literally, allowed me to make a comfortable living (at times) supporting my family and doing what I love. But because the car radio has been my friend, a constant companion and source of endless entertainment during the thousands of hours I've spent behind the wheel or as a passenger.

So it was pretty cool to see "A Timeline of Car Radio History" in my copy of Your AAA. Funny enough, there's an online version of the article, too. I've taken some of the parts I feel to be the most important and shared them below, along with my thoughts. And appropriate tunes, too. Because I'm the middle-aged radio man, after all. On your car radio weekdays from 11 a.m. 'til 4 p.m.

Back in 1928, brothers Paul and Joseph Galvin were producing battery eliminators. The Great Depression hit, and Galvin Manufacturing needed a new product to produce. The brothers and their engineers got to work on building a radio that could be installed in automobiles. The car radio was born. It debuted at the 1930 Radio Manufacturers Association Convention. This song might have played on it.

Becker debuted their Mexico car radio model this year. It was the first to feature FM stereo and a station-scanner, features that would become standard in future car radios. Bet this one sounded killer.

Just two short years later, Chrysler introduced an in-car record player. And here I was, blaming tape decks and CD players and the aux cord for cutting into people listening to me on the radio. Turns out it's been happening a lot longer than that!

Oh, wait! I forgot the 8-track player. That debuted in 1965 and sat alongside car radios throughout the '70s. In mono, of course.

Tape decks supplanted 8-tracks in cars in the '70s. Then, in 1984, the relatively-new technology of the CD player became available in automobiles. The first factory-installed CD player came in the 1987 Lincoln Town Car. Boss ride, especially when you were cranking this one.

The 2000s are here and so is every damn audio option you can imagine. USB, aux cords, Bluetooth, Apple CarPlay, Android Audio, you name it. But it's all good: you can still listen to ROCK 92.9 on your good ol' car radio or via any of the aforementioned options when you use the FREE ROCK 92.9 app. And I'm still ridin' shotgun with you weekdays from 11 a.m. 'til 4 p.m. Thanks for reading, and thanks for listening.