The Conet Project

Fernandez begins systematically recording numbers-station transmissions off the air, a hobby that grows into a five-year archival project as he tapes the voices, tones and tunes crossing the shortwave bands.

Irdial-Discs releases 'The Conet Project: Recordings of Shortwave Numbers Stations', a four-CD set compiled by Akin Fernandez from recordings begun in 1992. It is the first time the public hears these voices collected together, turning a hobbyist mystery into a cultural artefact.

Fernandez compiles his recordings into 'The Conet Project', a four-CD set with a thick booklet of station lore. It becomes the single most influential public documentation of numbers stations, cited by researchers, artists and journalists ever since.

The band Wilco releases 'Yankee Hotel Foxtrot', whose title and the closing distortion of 'Poor Places' come from a Conet Project recording of a woman reading the NATO phonetic alphabet. Irdial-Discs sues for the uncleared sample; the case settles with a share of royalties.