This installation of the Franklin Stove Blog is a departure from the usual format.

It’s fictional, based on accounts of actual events.

It might even be considered a ghost writ post.

This is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events, is purely coincidental.

I thought I’d been in every part of my new home away from life Bryant Denny Stadium. I’ve been haunting the stadium ever since Tutwiler Hall was demolished on July 4th. I was really surprised when I discovered this huge area in the north end of the stadium. It’s for audio-video stuff.

There’s a lot of territory to cover in the stadium but this broadcasting complex should have been hard to miss. There’s a newsroom full of equipment. I’m insubstantial and it’s very hard for me to even use a computer’s keyboard. I haven’t dared try to use the knobs and sliders on the equipment. I’m not even sure if I could.

I’ve stood beside some of the anchors in the broadcast set while they’re on the air. It’s pretty chilly in the studio so I doubt if any of the personnel can feel it when I pass through them. That can sometimes happen when I’m around the living. The Autoscript teleprompters go right over the cameras. The type is white on black and easy to read. I’ve always wondered how newscasters remembered all of the details of what they’re saying.

One stroke of luck is that some of the students bring issues of the campus newspaper The Crimson White with them. Sometimes I’ve found copies in the trash cans. They do keep the place really tidy. I noticed that Coach Saban got a new contract but I’ve got a feeling he’s not really in it for the money. I was surprised that I didn’t see any coverage about the filming of the HBO sorority documentary in the copies I’ve read. Maybe I didn’t get the right one?

I’m looking forward to the being in the broadcast booth for Bama’s first game against Utah State with the play by play announcers. I want to see their setup. I’m picking up a lot about the televising thing.

I’m going to try to ride a sky cam too. It will be like flying. I can walk through walls and people and “teleport” to anywhere I’ve been. Like Caspar the Friendly Ghost, I’m invisible and intangible. But unlike the cartoon ghost I can’t fly. I once tried to jump off the edge of the stadium but I’m confined to only areas inside. I’m sure that there must be other areas of the stadium that I’ve yet to see.

I’m still searching for an easily accessible computer. For now I’ll continue to look over the shoulders of any student who is using one. Technology has changed a lot since I was a sophomore in 1968 at the University living in Tutwiler Hall. I’m actually way less bored now then I was before I blew my brains out on Christmas day!