The Back Booth
WBDG 1040 AM | Broadcast Log No. 3 | Night of Saturday, October 17, 2026
Log transcript of the overnight broadcast from the booth at the Big Dog Diner. Host: Hap Larder. Transcribed by station staff; portions inaudible.
1:02 a.m.[music, brass band, up and under]
1:03 a.m.HOSTGood morning, if you want to call it that. It's past one on WBDG, ten-forty on your dial. This is The Back Booth. I'm Hap Larder. The coffee is fresh. The pie is not, but the pie is honest.
1:05 a.m.[kitchen noise, a plate set down hard]
1:06 a.m.HOSTSunday is coming in the back door. Say hello to it. It's tired too.
1:14 a.m.HOSTThe napkin census is done, I hear. Every dispenser counted, every one left full. They say the total gets published once. So I'll read it once. Then I'll put it somewhere safe.
1:22 a.m.CALLER (PRU)Hap, it's Pru, on the dock. Truck came late again. Driver says the road's fine. I think the road is just slow.
1:23 a.m.HOSTThe road has its moods, Pru. What's in the truck?
1:24 a.m.CALLER (PRU)Mostly flour. But I found a box of old paper menus behind the pallets. Kiosk names on them. The little awning drawing.
1:25 a.m.HOSTPappa Chaga's kiosks. I remember those awnings. Red, then less red. A lot of that paper got lost in the Wars. We don't go into the Wars on this show. The Organization would rather we didn't, and so would I, this early. Keep the menus, Pru. Put them somewhere dry.
1:31 a.m.ADQuick word from the pantry shelf. Almond Butter, from East Wind Crafts. Nine dollars and thirty-five cents. It's a jar. You open it, there's a knife in the drawer, and there you are. Toast helps. A spoon is also fine, I won't tell. Almond Butter, East Wind Crafts, nine thirty-five. Available through Madeline's.
1:48 a.m.[music, a slow waltz, 3 min]
2:02 a.m.CALLER (WALTER)Hap. Walter. I'm parked outside. I can see your sign.
2:03 a.m.HOSTThen you can see it needs a bulb. How's the night?
2:04 a.m.CALLER (WALTER)Quiet. Fare left a coat check ticket on my back seat. Big Dog ticket, the old cardboard kind. Should I bring it in?
2:05 a.m.HOSTBring it in. Put it on the counter. I'll tell you, there's gossip about a ticket like that. NF-GA-1998-112. Somebody presented a Big Dog coat check ticket for a coat that was already collected. That's all the paper says. Don't ask me whose coat. I only read the headline.
2:06 a.m.CALLER (WALTER)Was that around the same time as, you know. Ninety-six.
2:07 a.m.[dead air, 6 sec]
2:07 a.m.HOSTWalter. Come in and have the soup.
2:08 a.m.CALLER (WALTER)Yeah. Okay. Going in now.
2:20 a.m.HOSTI've been handed a notice. I read what I'm handed. This is from the Organization, in their words, and I'm reading it under protest.
2:21 a.m.HOSTQuote. The Organization reminds all parties that business is conducted in writing. The Organization does not take telephone inquiries. Statements made on air do not constitute inquiries. End quote.
2:22 a.m.HOSTI was told to read it. I was not told to enjoy it. If you have a question, write it down. If you have a story, call me. That's the arrangement, and it's an old one.
2:30 a.m.[kitchen noise, a fryer basket lowered, hiss]
2:36 a.m.ADOrganic Marinara Pasta Sauce. Jovial Foods, Inc. Eight ninety-nine. Warm it in a pot, and the whole kitchen smells like somebody's grandmother is about to walk in. Put it on noodles, put it on bread, put it on a Tuesday. Organic Marinara Pasta Sauce, Jovial Foods, Inc, eight ninety-nine. Available through Madeline's.
2:52 a.m.[music, brass band, a march, 3 min]
3:06 a.m.CALLER (INES)Hap, it's Ines at the east kiosk. Can you hear the wind? The shutter is rattling.
3:07 a.m.HOSTI hear it. It sounds like it's trying to get a word in. How's the dispenser?
3:08 a.m.CALLER (INES)Full. I filled it twice, just to be sure. Somebody told me the people upstairs counted chairs this week.
3:09 a.m.HOSTEleven chairs, in a room on the sixth floor. That's what the minutes say. Eleven. I'd have counted ten and then looked again.
3:10 a.m.CALLER (INES)Maybe somebody was sitting in the twelfth.
3:11 a.m.HOSTInes, that is the nicest thing anyone's said all night. Go close your shutter.
3:24 a.m.ADLast one, and it's a good one. Bourbon Barrel Aged Maple Syrup, from Bourbon Barrel Foods. Eighteen dollars. It's a bottle that looks like it has opinions. Pour it on pancakes, pour it on a biscuit, pour it on nothing and look at it a while. Bourbon Barrel Aged Maple Syrup, Bourbon Barrel Foods, eighteen dollars. Available through Madeline's.
3:25 a.m.[kitchen noise, a spatula tapped on the grill, twice]
3:40 a.m.HOSTWalter's still in the corner booth, I can see him through the glass. He ate two bowls. The ticket is on the counter by the register. Nobody has come for it. Nobody will tonight.
3:52 a.m.HOSTGetting on toward morning. Pru, Walter, Ines, and whoever's out there with the radio low so you don't wake someone. Thank you for keeping me company.
3:57 a.m.HOSTThis was The Back Booth on WBDG, ten-forty. I'm Hap Larder. Eat something. Goodnight.
3:59 a.m.[music, brass band, fades out]
Heard on the program: Organic Marinara Pasta SauceBourbon Barrel Aged Maple SyrupAlmond Butter
Earlier Broadcasts
| No. 2 | Night of Saturday, October 10, 2026. Hap takes calls on prior occupancy, fortunes, fruit and closed-door meetings, reads a stiff notice, and sells jam, tea, cheddar. |
|---|---|
| No. 1 | Night of Saturday, October 3, 2026. First Back Booth broadcast: a napkin census notice, a caller asks what the Committee eats, coat check gossip, three ads. |
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