VOLT

At 622 Palmetto Drive, an old water tank on stilts overlooks a pumping lean-to. Its rectangular chamber has supplied nobody since the pipes were replaced; an interior scale still reaches “full” well above a seated person’s head. An exterior maintenance staircase provides access, with a firm handrail and an extra-wide final step. The surrounding marsh smells of warm mud and crumpled leaves. On the inventory, the tank is described as available volume. Nobody had imagined that this volume would first belong to a bass line, or that the empty chamber might acquire regular listeners.

VOLT connected its pirate setup there in December 1984. The chamber was cleaned, a dry floor installed, and a console placed on the former gauge support. The inspection opening became a window; the lean-to sheltered empty crates while they waited for a more distinguished purpose. A plaque reading “UN ENDROIT” named the studio precisely enough for regular visitors and faithfully matched the on-air phrase “a place”. The station never claimed the address did not exist: it simply felt that a tank deprived of water deserved a say in its new contents. Funk quickly won the unanimous approval of both chairs.

Early broadcasts revealed reverberation magnificent for a water drop and dreadful for a sentence. Removable panels and rugs reduced the echo; the scale stayed visible to check that enthusiasm did not exceed its regulation level. A roof seam then failed above the record sleeves, which were promptly relocated. In December 1985, the old radio at Marshline Salvage received VOLT perfectly while an aerial fastening was being changed. Ada wrote “reception correct” and sent the note over. It became the station’s first outside technical assessment, framed inside an old inspection window without being mistaken for permission to do anything whatsoever.

Today, mosquitoes wait outside the insect screen and the stilts transmit a gentle rumble of footsteps. From the chair, the view takes in a landing, reeds and a square of water where the sky appears filed flat. Records arrive with hiss, boogie and the smell of warm cable. The setting sun catches the dents in the roof; the aerial’s shadow crosses the mark labelled “empty”. The tank still contains no water. It contains exactly enough music to keep company with those who have water all around them, without asking them to explain where they are.

LITTLE STORIES

• The “full” mark sits above the archives.
• The gauge is pencilled “reception”.
• The window framing the note no longer faces outside.
• A lean-to crate is labelled “another place”.
• The pennant leans; the aerial stays straight.

THE NEIGHBOURS

• Marshline Salvage : Marshline Salvage at 618 supplied the framing window and keeps its own radio sheltered.
• Marsh Runner Tours : Marsh Runner Tours at 626 checks the neighbouring landing without promising a studio visit.
• Bayou Breakdown Garage : Bayou Breakdown Garage at 610 lends tools and points out that its diagnostics cover cars.