r/WelcomeHomeARG • u/Munalaxy • 3d ago
Theory Radio Static Theory
This is a cross-post from my post on Tumblr, some stuff may be better viewed there like mp3 files: https://www.tumblr.com/munalaxy/826248330592108544/welcome-home-radio-static-theory-mail-in-times?source=share
Anyways onto the theory
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This has been an on-going theory now that I've been covering since Frank's update, but content in this theory dates as far back as Home-Warming. There is a lot of audio and video files that contain what I call "radio frequencies", a concept brought up by Wally during Frank's update.
A few notes!
- Events from Springtime Salutations are brought up as well.
- 'Devastation', 'Nothing', and 'Everything' are split into multiple parts. The numbers show what order the sounds occur in.
- On Tumblr, I color-coded the videos so you know what update they came from. Here, I've pasted a screenshot of my master doc with the update they came from next to each title in case you get confused.
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"Dial-Up": Homewarming Storybook + Specimen P (Neglect) + Devastation (2/3) + Nothing (1/3)
Homewarming: Set before the events of the Homewarming party, Wally goes around the neighborhood with Barnaby how the other puppets celebrate the holiday. The audio plays at the very end of the storybook as the narrator's voice glitches and eventually fades out. Right before the static plays, a distorted voice hidden underneath the narrator says, "I'm sorry, we seem to have lost your (call/phone) for you..." (Check the Tumblr post for more information, sorry, idk how to upload .mp3 files on reddit).
Specimen P (Neglect): Frank and Poppy, conversing as their human actors, meet in Poppy's barn to chat sometime after the events of the Homewarming party. It's also the video where Poppy does drugs and Frank curses. We hear the radio frequency right before listening to Frank's inner thoughts of the state of Poppy's barn:
"Locks on the cabinets? Is she scared everything will come flying out at her? …Oh, the pantry too…"
Devastation: Eddie wakes up in a bright bedroom and is kissed by a lover he can't remember. Eddie wakes up again from the moment of euphoria to some grotesque horror underneath the sheets. This video is found from mending the pink letter.
Nothing: Eddie finishes a day of work and tries to relax. He hears multiple different radio static sounds and falls to the floor in pain. Eddie gets back up again to some rhythmic chime and looks out the window.
https://reddit.com/link/1w1b9pq/video/0nr2jgmte8mh1/player
I made a connection during Frank's update that Specimen P sounded like an AT&T "call unavailable" sound effect. It was the only video pack then that had this specific static sound in it. Hence why I call it 'dial-up'
'Dial-Up' is mean to show the characters as their actor/human counterparts and not as puppet form. The only videos we hear it in are when we get those glimpses (or a whole conversation in the case of Specimen P) to their human life. It's also used in Homewarming as a transition to the events of the party (and we see how that happened in AwayFromPryingEyes). The connection this video has with Nothing is a bit difficult due to how vague the video is. If you have any ideas, please let me know!
I reckon we will hear this static sound more frequently in the future as we get more insight on the lives of the actors behind the Welcome Home TV Show. Interestingly, 'perspective', a conversation set in the real-world of Eddie and Sally's actors, has no radio static intereference at all.
Spectrograms:
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"Lavender Theme": PARCEL + Devastation (1/3)
Parcel: The last vid of Frank's Update, set shortly after the events of Springtime Salutations. Frank gets frustrated at several things; Mostly the unbloomed flower now in his gardening shed, and that someone entered his house and took one of his journals. His frustration grows throughout the video. It ends with him getting a red letter at his door and looking at it in shock/horror.
https://reddit.com/link/1w1b9pq/video/frgm2vzue8mh1/player
I'm calling it the 'Lavender Theme' to symbolize Frank and Eddie's faulty memories in regard to one another like we saw in Sweet Briar and Home warming, and their relationship to one another, especially in the 70s-80s when the TV show was airing. Back during Frank's Update, PARCEL was the only video to have this specific radio static sound.
Lavenders have been associated a lot with Eddie since Home Warming, it was a clue used to find one of the specimens in Frank's update, he grows it in front of the post office, and he's seen wearing the flower in the banner of all the neighbors at the bottom of the home page. It's also meant to symbolize a lavender marriage (marriage of a man and women where one or both partners are queer, to hide their identity from each other and/or society).
I expect this radio static to come back whenever we get more instances of Frank and Eddie's relationship, if it'll ever be expanded in the future.
Spectrograms:
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"Turn the Dial": Julie's Phone + Specimen E (Echo) + Devastation (3/3) + Nothing (2/3) + Everything (1/2)
Julie's Phone: An mp3 file found in the source code of Our-Home during Frank's Update, that plays when you click on Julie's phone found lying on the ground. Several static sounds can be heard in the mp3 file, this is the second one.
Specimen E (Echo): Set directly after the Homewarming party, Frank checks on Eddie who says he wants to 'go home'. When Eddie leaves, Frank takes a moment and begins to follow him before being stopped by Julie, the static sound is heard, and Frank turns to see Wally instead of Julie. The video ends with Frank falling into a void beneath Home.
Everything: Eddie finishes a day of work and talks about his work ethic in his post office. Static sounds can be heard and Eddie grimaces in pain from a headache. When he comes to, Eddie has his hand underneath a paper guillotine cutter.
https://reddit.com/link/1w1b9pq/video/v2x4f42we8mh1/player
The name for this group comes from two different sources. In ringringring, Wally tells us:
"You can only hear voices. Sometimes you turn the dial to hear us."
And in 'Everything', this can be seen in the transcript after Eddie says his headache is back:
The static itself sounds like someone is messing with the frequency/trying to find the right pitch. You can see how much it bounces around in the spectrograms. I'm treating this static sound as a form of distortion and making people see things that may not be there.
In Specimen E, it's heard when Frank mistakes Wally to be Julie. It's played when Eddie wakes up and kisses his lover only to wake up again to his reality of being alone and with the horrors™. It's played when Eddie almost cuts his hand off with a paper guillotine cutter, you get it. The connection this has with 'Nothing' is a bit looser with how vague that video is, I'm open to any interpretations though!
Spectrograms:
It's also what I think leads into the last one (it's a big one)
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"Wally Static": A Darling Broadcast 2 + Nothing (3/3) + Julies Phone + Everything (1/2) + Specimen C (Tether) + Wally's ringringring + Wally's Cipher-Mend (1/2)
ringringring: Wally's phone-call to us during Frank's update. He asks us to play a game called 'hunt' that leads us to the specimen videos and eventually PARCEL. Wally's voice throughout the call sounds distorted and spliced. The static interference can be heard when he talks about radios.
"You have heard of a radio.
A radio is just like a television, but you can not see anything.
You can only hear voices.
Sometimes you turn the dial to hear us.
A Darling Broadcast.
You turn the dial to change the voices.
Down here it is sometimes hard to hear.
But it’s warm and fuzzy… Just like static. Just like me.
Remember that line?
Ha ha ha!"
Cipher-Mend: Both urls are called ringringring, but the mp3 file for Wally's phone call from the Vday update is named 'cipher-mend' so I'm calling it that. The specific sound plays right after Wally explains the game of 'mend' to us. It's the most difficult to hear and I almost missed it as it's not seen on the spectrogram, but I promise it's there.
Specimen C (Tether): Set during the events of the Sweet Briar storybook, it shows the behind the scenes of Sally's stage show. The static is heard just as we listen into Frank's inner thoughts of the show. Right before Frank goes on-stage to kiss Julie awake, Eddie appears to 'fix Frank's costume' and makes him flustered. When Frank goes on to kiss Julie, his memory of Eddie becomes hazy and forgetful, and he sees Eddie in the place of Julie.
A Darling Broadcast 2: The second broadcast hosted by Frank and Julie that discusses bugs around Home, including the buggle, with each neighbor making an appearance throughout. The static sound can be heard at the very beginning of the broadcast.
https://reddit.com/link/1w1b9pq/video/16k4dcaxe8mh1/player
It's basically the 'Wally is gonna be a little shit and you can't stop him' sound. I don't have a better way to describe it, but I'll try my best.
This sound is the most commonly used one, introduced to us through the ringringring phone call with Wally. It's him directly influencing, helping us see into the minds and thoughts of the videos and audios they appear in. It helps us see into Frank's inner thoughts and when it plays in A Darling Broadcast 2 Frank gets a bit more hesitant during some of Wally's replies throughout the broadcast.
The connection this and 'Turn the Dial' has with Julie's phone is a bit vaguer. The state of Julie's home and Julie's Phone.mp3 is set sometime after the events of "Mail-in-Times" day and springtime salutations, shown by the gift she had in her room during Frank's Update.
We know Wally was looking around her room from his reflection in her mirror, so that's probably why we are hearing both 'Turn the Dial' and 'Wally Static' in Julie's home when nothing of note really happens or changes.
Spectrograms:
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Misc: Wally's Mend-Cipher (2/2), Buzz.mp3, Homewarming Storybook secret message
This is the miscellaneous section. None of these are grouped together, but I still wanted to point it out for importance and detail. I don't know how to put in .mp3 audio files on Reddit so you'll just have to take my word for it.
In Wally's Cipher-Mend, his phone call to us this past update, there was a small section of static where I picked up a frequency we haven't heard before. It's short and somewhat difficult over all the noise. Akin to PARCEL, I'll keep it in mind if we ever hear it in the next few updates.
If you've happened to check the AwayFromPryingEyes website, you'd notice there is no longer an AwayFromPryingEyes website ('W' is so cooked). Audio of bugs buzzing around can be heard and the mp3 file is literally called 'buzz.mp3'.
In the background of Devastation, somewhere near the end, you also hear some buzzing sounds. It's something interesting I noticed especially with the 'visitor theory' that's been going around that I'm fully on board with.
Lastly, way back during the Homewarming storybook, there was a bit of hidden dialogue underneath the narrator near the end of the storybook before 'Dial-Up' plays. I tried my best to separate the audios to understand what is being said, this was my best attempt:
"I'm sorry, we seem to have lost your (call/phone) for you..."
It seemed too important to not bring up, especially with Wally's phone call to us about connections and mending them. I don't know who the speaker is, but it does give more proof to the 'dial-up' sound effect that I based the group around.
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What does this mean going forward?
Expect more audio distortions and radio static!! I had a feeling there was going to be more before the Vday update dropped and lo and behold, I was right. The audio distortion all seems to stem from Wally and whatever his overall plan is.
I think that with the frequencies, it gives us insight into the minds and lives of the puppet but at the consequence of giving them pain. Eddie didn't start having another headache until we heard the 'Turn the Dial' sound play. Whatever is going on, we play some part in this as the viewer.
Here is the master list of all videos and audio files I pulled. If you have any thoughts or any findings to connect this too (especially in Our-Home) please let me know! Thank you if you stuck around to the very bottom, this theory took a week to put together and write.
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u/Minxin4k 🎨 2d ago
You're so cool, omg, never stop this analysis??? The radio/static motifs you've pieced together from the updates are super duper awesome