Why is This Fire Alarm Playing Mexican Music?

You're not imagining things, this fire alarm is actually blasting Mexican music.

Walking down the hallway this morning near the WPDH studio I heard some loud music playing. At first I assumed it was coming from one of the other studios, but as I got further down the hall I realized the music was actually coming from our fire alarm.

I wasn't quite sure if this was a warning about that 3-alarm chili in the kitchen or some sort of salsa dancing emergency so I asked our engineer, Chris Swarner, why this was happening.

Swarner explained that it was something called induction that was coming from our AM station. The Spanish station broadcasts off the two towers that are right behind our studios. At 5,000 watts each we have essentially 10,000 watts pelting the south side or our building all day long. Swarner says the radio waves are absorbed by long runs of wire in that side of the building, turning electronic devices into speakers. The engineer even claims that he's heard the radio station playing out of light fixtures.

We've run into some instances where we could hear the radio station playing while talking on the phone and sometimes there is some interference with our computer speakers, but I've never heard music playing out of a fire alarm before.

Apparently, it's no cause for concern. Swarner assures us that the fire alarm's functionality isn't affected by the music. Although if that alarm actually goes off, I wouldn't be surprised if it sounds like the Macarena.