For eleven years, someone has been a regular voice on WBWD-AM, the community radio station that serves as the heartbeat of Bitterwood Valley. When the station’s licence renewal is unexpectedly challenged, the volunteers assume it’s a bureaucratic mix-up—until they discover the objection was filed by one of their own. The accusation: that the station has failed to serve the public interest. The identity of the objector is a mystery, but the handwriting on the form matches the signature of a volunteer who’s been on the air every single week. As the small team scrambles to save the station, old tapes are replayed, rivalries resurface, and the line between protecting a legacy and stifling progress blurs. The protagonist, a young volunteer who grew up with the station’s hum in her kitchen, must navigate the personalities and secrets of the people she thought she knew. The licence hearing looms, and the truth behind the objection will force everyone to ask: what does it really mean to serve a community? Set against the backdrop of an Appalachian autumn, the story unfolds over eight chapters that move from the shock of discovery to the emotional reckoning at the hearing. It’s a story about small towns and big debts, about the frequencies that connect us and the static that keeps us apart. Nobody is a villain, but the betrayal is as real as the signal that flickers out when the tower lights go dark.

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The basement hums with the warmth of old equipment. Maryn cues up a folk ballad and watches the transmitter needle flicker in time with the bass. A knock at the street-level door. Maryn climbs the narrow steps to find a postal carrier holding a certified envelope. She signs, and her name feels heavier than usual on the clipboard. She calls Ellis, who arrives within ten minutes, still wearing his work apron from the hardware store. He tears open the envelope and scans the letter, his face tightening.

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The Valley Dial

The Valley Dial is a small, independent radio station broadcasting from the basement of a converted church in the fictional town of Bitterwood, nestled deep in an Appalachian valley. Founded in 1978 by a group of residents who wanted to preserve local music, stories, and emergency communication, the station runs on a shoestring budget and the dedication of its volunteers. The station’s single AM tower on Bald Knob is a local landmark, and its signal reaches the hollers and farms that cell service forgets. The station’s licence comes up for renewal every eight years, a process that has always been a formality—until now. The community is woven together by church suppers, high school football, and the familiar voices on the radio. The station’s programming is an eclectic mix of bluegrass, local news, swap-shop call-ins, and preachers’ sermons. The volunteer hosts are known by name and voice, and the station is a source of pride. But beneath the surface, generational tensions simmer: younger volunteers want to stream online and play indie folk, while the old guard insists that AM is the only way to reach everyone. The valley itself feels both isolated and eternal, with misty mornings, winding gravel roads, and the constant hum of cicadas in summer. The world of The Valley Dial is one where secrets don’t stay buried forever. The station’s logs, old tapes, and the memories of its listeners hold the history of the valley. When the licence renewal is suddenly challenged, the volunteers must dig into that history and confront the fact that the station’s most familiar voice may also be its greatest threat.
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  • Maryn Cade

    Station manager and volunteer DJ at The Valley Dial

    Maryn Cade manages The Valley Dial and gives its late-night listeners a voice warm enough to feel private. Before every broadcast, she taps the microphone twice and reaches for the coffee mug that never leaves her hand.

  • Ellis Belton

    Middle school music teacher; volunteer host at The Valley Dial

    Music teacher Ellis Belton becomes a larger, steadier presence behind The Valley Dial’s microphone. Before speaking on air, they clean their glasses in a small ritual the mic sometimes catches.

  • Patty Jessup

    Retired postal worker; volunteer host and informal station fixer

    Retired postal worker Patty Jessup is The Valley Dial’s loud, affectionate fixer and an unstoppable collector of local news. A bicycle horn beside the microphone punctuates good trades and overlong callers alike.

  • Wendell Thacker

    Retired electrician; volunteer host and transmitter engineer

    Retired electrician Wendell Thacker carries decades of valley lore in a slow, oak-aged voice. Radio work restores his energy, especially when the tuning fork in his pocket gives an argument its perfect note.

  • June Bug

    Part-time barista; volunteer host at The Valley Dial

    Barista and volunteer host June Bug brings fearless curiosity to The Valley Dial. Her voice can leap from squeak to soul in a sentence, while excited fingers drum a rhythm across the console.

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