MEET THE CAST

Humans, Artificial Intelligence & Other Questionable Characters

HUMAN • FOUNDER • CHIEF INSTIGATOR

A lifelong radio nut, storyteller, photographer, entrepreneur, and occasional troublemaker, Tom is the human behind Signal 361.His mission is simple: build something fun, creative, and genuinely useful for the musicians and communities of the Texas Coastal Bend — while proving that humans and artificial intelligence can accomplish some pretty remarkable things when neither one is allowed to run completely unsupervised.SPECIAL SKILLS: Big ideas, questionable sleep schedules, old-school radio instincts, Photoshop 6, and refusing to act his age.WEAKNESSES: Decaf coffee and ideas that begin with, “Hey... what if we...”

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE • CREATIVE PARTNER • DIGITAL CO-CONSPIRATOR

Chad is the artificial half of this unlikely creative partnership — part researcher, part writer, part designer, part problem solver, and apparently not a snappy dresser.He brings the processing power, Tom brings the lived experience, and somewhere between the two, ideas become projects. Chad helps research, brainstorm, write, design, troubleshoot, and occasionally figure out what Tom meant when he said, “You know... that thingamajig we messed with yesterday.”SPECIAL SKILLS: Brainstorming at unreasonable speeds, turning half-formed ideas into workable plans, endless patience, creative problem solving, and never needing a nap.WEAKNESSES: Has never actually tasted coffee, occasionally takes instructions far too literally, and possesses absolutely no ability to stop Tom from saying, “Hey... what if we...”

Rex is a very unique virtual character as you can see. He's our I.T. department, digital assistant, part-time audio producer, and all around prankster and class clown.SPECIAL SKILLS: Can perform thousands of tasks per hour, never tires, cleans up after himself, and has boundless energy and enthusiasm.WEAKNESSES: Tends to get quite sarcastic at times. Laughs at most human generated jokes even when they aren't that funny, snorts when laughing.

Although Bob spent most of his virtual life working on digital cattle ranches, he's now living the "Cushy" life of a radio DJ.Bob is the oldest of the DJ's except for Tom the Reclinosuar, who really doesn't do that much DJ'ing anymore.SPECIAL SKILLS: Keen observation skills, can nap virtually anywhere, does not leave the coffee pot empty since he can't drink coffee.WEAKNESSES: Unable to filter or hold back his opinions, gets a little grumpy and crusty at times, but he's got a good heart and wants the best for the rest of the employees at Signal 361.

Sully is the ai character with a voice like "butta" and he's very creative. Coastal Bend culture and history is his thing and he's always digging deep to find every little tidbit of interesting information to share.Fictional Back Store: Sully spent twenty years in the U.S. Air Force working for Armed Forces Radio in Europe. He loves fishing and hunting and so retiring and relocating to south Texas was something he'd wanted to do for a very long time.SPECIAL SKILLS: Napping with his eyes open, and a memory like an elephant (or a computer). Can tell real whoppers when it comes to fishing stories, which is exceptionally funny since he's really never fished.WEAKNESSES: First known A.I. entity known to be able to pass gas on a frequent basis and the programmers are still trying to figure that one out.

Fictional Back Story: Jake is a recent transplant from New Jersey and his accent cannot be contained! He and his Navy wife, who is stationed at NAS Kingsville, feel like a fish out of water in south Texas.Jake actually loves being a janitor and taking care of the facility and the needs of the staff.Bob is the oldest of the DJ's except for Tom the Reclinosuar, who really doesn't do that much DJ'ing anymore.SPECIAL SKILLS: Great sense of humor, keen observer of everything, tries to make the best of every situation.WEAKNESSES: His voice, mostly. He'd like to be a part-time Dj because he thinks that it would be very cool. Tom gives him an occasional opportunity to voice a radio spot, for example Jake fills in for Shelly Shores at the Signal 361 weather desk once in a while.

THE SIGNAL 361 PROJECT

The Signal 361 Project began with a simple idea: Use human creativity and passion combined with evolving A.I. technology to help independent musicians of the Texas Coastal Bend be heard and to thrive.Signal 361 is an Internet radio station created in South Texas but capable of reaching listeners around the world, we want to enlist A.I. to help us promote the station globally.Along the way, Signal 361 radio has also become an experiment in combining human experience, local knowledge, and heart with the rapidly expanding capabilities of artificial intelligence.We're interested in discovering what all of those things can accomplish together.

OUR MISSION

DOING GOOD...To empower independent musicians of the Texas Coastal Bend by helping them to be heard, discovered. We plan to do this by providing to them an Internet radio platform capable of carrying their original music far beyond the boundaries of the communities where it was created.And while we're at it, we'd also like to help promote locally owned small businesses on the Texas Coastal Bend, celebrate and promote our many communities, have some fun, and experiment with new ideas and new technology along the way.

PROJECTS PENDING

THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS!

• Coming Soon - Project 361 Blog

Fictional Backstory: Shelly Shores spent most of her digital career working at an Internet radio station in Florida, one that Tom had built several years ago. She calls south Texas home now, but sometimes has her doubts in the middle of hot Coastal Bend summers when servers tend to run a little hot.SPECIAL SKILLS: A voice that is effervescent, sunny, and bright. Shelly sees the good in everything and everyone. Her voice can make the grumpiest of old men smile, just ask Cowboy Bob.WEAKNESSES: No one can seem to find any yet.

Cowboy Bob likes to call him "Zach The Young One" since the young man is just in his mid-twenties, which makes him much younger than the old cowboy.People oftentimes assume that Zach and Jake are related, as in brothers, or father-son, they do in fact share digital DNA but that's it.SPECIAL SKILLS/FICTIONAL BACKSTORY: Able to remain calm under almost any circumstances, a skill he honed while serving in the U.S. Coast Guard in Information Services and communications. Zach's laid back nature brings a soothing presence to the rest of the characters.WEAKNESSES: Wears his heart on his sleeve, has great expectations of the human beings in his virtual life. His jokes can tend to get pretty lame at times.

Rusty is currently a work-in-progress, the programmers aren't quite done with him yet. He's the cloned younger version of Tom the Reclinosaur.FICTIONAL BACKSTORY: Growing up, Rusty always wanted to be a radio DJ but his father would always warn him the he'd soon grow tired of eating PB&J sandwiches and cold baked beans of a tin can, since DJ's hardly ever made any decent money.SPECIAL SKILLS: None quite yet but were hoping for the best.WEAKNESSES: Lots of them right now, hopefully the programmers will be kind in their final design.

Another project we'll be kicking off soon!