I first ran across a reference to numbers stations in an article about the Buzzer. The accompanying recording was full of static and grim implications. Was this a channel for secret messages to sinister agents? Part of a dead man's switch waiting to launch nuclear missiles? A military beacon of some sort? The only people who knew weren't telling.

I looked around for more information and found the Conet Project, a wonderful repository of raw numbers stations recordings. The Buzzer was there, and I was introduced to the Pip, the Lincolnshire Poacher, the English Lady, and many more. I listened and didn't sleep. Why were these so creepy, so disturbing? Maybe they were triggering old memories of growing up during the Cold War and listening to (decidedly less interesting) shortwave broadcasts on a radio I'd received as a birthday present.

49N 15E is my tribute to the secret world of intelligence, spies, and cryptography. It's also the soundtrack to my Cold War nightmares.