Freedom Radio does not appear to be working

[PZ]

Anyone have any ideas what might be wrong?  It is not even listed in the menu of quests.

[Dweller_Benthos]

Is that the one from the Minutemen? Don't you have to clear out the fort (forget the name) and set up the radio station for it to start broadcasting? Or have you already done that? Otherwise, I have no idea, might be another bug with the new update, I hear a lot of things are broken.

[PZ]

Thanks for the tips, D_B - yes it is with the Minutemen and I've not done anything with the fort nor set up the radio station. I'll do that today.

I ask because I have a mod that I used a long time ago that replaces the audio on the Freedom radio station with commercials out of the 1940's or so.

[PZ]

UPDATE: I think the first part of the process is a quest called Taking Independence in which you need to talk with Preston Garvey who tells you about the former Minutemen base called The Castle, has a powerful radio tower you can use. However, you first need to help the Minutemen retake the place.

First however, one needs to present the Minutemen with at least four settlements or something like that to even be presented with Taking Independence.

[Dweller_Benthos]

Yeah taking back the castle is a far ways down the Minutemen quest line as I recall. I also recall there being a lot of mirelurks and a queen or two that I used a ton of mines set in strategic places.

Then once I had it as a settlement, built a maze of barriers around the doors to delay any invaders long enough to be mowed down by laser turrets. Making a maze to an open door is better than just blocking the door entirely, as they will just spawn inside if you do that, so giving them a path to follow that gives your defenses a chance to clear them out before they even get inside is the way to go, and works for any of the settlements but works best at ones with already existing walls or barriers.

[PZ]

Great tips, D_B 

I'm just now learning how to craft things for the settlements, move things around, and start building confidence in the inhabitants.

I'd not done any settlement activities when I first started the game years ago, and now it seems like a good diversion from the run-and-gun activities I usually like.

[fragger]

Yeah, you first need to rescue Preston's gang in Concord, then once you get he and his gaggle of refugees settled in Sanctuary he'll start telling you about settlement sites that you need to discover and secure. After a few of those quests, he'll bring up retaking The Castle and says he will meet you there (he'll have a few Minutemen with him when you do). You'll need to clear out all the Mirelurks and a Mirelurk Queen from The Castle, then get power hooked up to the radio in the center of The Castle's yard. Then one of the Minutemen that Preston brought along will man the radio and Radio Freedom will begin broadcasting.

In my last few playthroughs, I've deliberately avoided Preston by staying away from Concord until I've secured all the settlement sites myself, including The Castle. If you clear the critters out of The Castle before meeting Preston, when he brings it up there's a dialog option along the lines of "I've already done that". He'll say "That's great news", then, when you meet him there, you can all just walk in and set up the radio. You won't lose any Minutemen that way, and you can assign them all to guard duty (or any other settler jobs once you have food, water and beds etc set up).

Securing all the settlement sites before meeting Preston will also greatly limit the number of times he'll point you towards settlements which "need our help". On one such playthrough (after securing The Castle before meeting him) he only asked me that once before bringing up The Castle.

Securing all the settlement sites before meeting Preston is a much more time-consuming way to go about things, though - and tricky if you aren't greatly leveled and perked up. But I like taking my time

Incidentally, The Minutemen doesn't have to be the first faction you meet. Usually I leave meeting Preston until last, after meeting the Brotherhood of Steel and The Railroad. I just stay out of Concord until I'm ready for Preston.

[PZ]

Very nice, fragger! 

You've given me lots to consider - this game is way more open world that I realized. I've only done cursory things in the game, and now that I need to do settlements there is plenty more to do in this very large open world game.  I'll probably go through the vanilla way first, then start experimenting.

UPDATE: I want Freedom Radio to w0#k so I can listen to the 1940's era commercials, but I've come up with a compromise. I downloaded the commercial radio mod and another that allows one to use one's own music. I just added the commercial sound tracks to the custom radio mod and now Diamond City plays all my favorites. I have the mods listed in this post