Meet Dudley
His full name is Dudley Duke, but almost nobody uses the surname — on the air he’s simply Dudley, and that’s how callers have always known him.
Dudley hosts the way the great overnight hosts always did: warm, curious, and in no hurry. He’s an everyman at the microphone — more interested in your story than in winning an argument, quick with a follow-up question, and content to let a good caller talk. He works solo: no producer in his ear, no co-host, just Dudley, the phones, and three hours to fill honestly.
The show is his from the first second to the last. He writes and voices everything himself — the cold open at midnight, the station identifications, the resets at 1 and 2 AM that welcome anyone just tuning in, and the close that puts the night to bed at 3.
“It’s after midnight in America. Wherever you’re calling from — stay a while. We’ve got three hours, and I’d like to hear what’s on your mind.”
Time checks drift the way they do on real overnight radio — fifteen past the hour one night, about twenty-eight past the next — because the show is made the way it airs: fresh, in its own midnight-to-3 window, never banked days ahead.
How a night unfolds
Every show is a complete three hours, built the same honest way — long conversations through the night, then Radio Graffiti to close — and never the same conversation twice.
The cold open & the monologue
Dudley opens the night and walks through the news that matters — the state stories worth talking about, across the nation, and around the world — all of it researched from real reporting that evening, with sources kept for every story.
The phones open
The conversation turns to the callers. Night-shift workers, insomniacs, long-haul drivers, new parents up for a feeding — the first hour sets the night’s tone and usually finds its theme.
The first reset
A fresh station identification and a welcome for the hour-two audience — a quick recap of where the night has been, and the door held open for whoever’s just joined.
The deep of the night
The longest, loosest hour. Stories get stranger and more personal after 1 AM — that’s not a bug in overnight radio, it’s the whole point of it.
The second reset
Another identification, another welcome, and a gentle steering toward the close — last chances for the night’s running conversation to find its ending.
Last full calls
The last full conversations of the night, a look at the morning ahead, and room for the occasional gloriously odd caller — the kind who only exists in the small hours, and who Dudley treats with complete kindness. Then, at 2:30, the format changes completely.
Radio Graffiti — one line, and one line only
The last 30 minutes of every night belong to Radio Graffiti, in the tradition Alan Colmes made famous — a segment also heard on Radio Free DeLand’s Saturday morning show. Callers get one line and one line only to express their thoughts: no debate, no follow-up, no second sentence. Dudley keeps it moving, line after line, until just before 3 — a fast, funny, sometimes heartfelt roll call of America, awake and opinionated, to close the night.
The close
After the final graffiti line, Dudley signs off, the show is filed to the archive whole — all 180 minutes — and the studio goes dark until the next night.
Callers from across America
This is a national show that happens to live in Florida. The calls come in from truck stops and farmhouses, city apartments and small towns whose names Dudley learns as he goes — 99 out of 100 from somewhere in America, and every so often one from clear around the world, awake at the wrong hour in exactly the right way.
Each caller gets their own words. No stock lines passed from call to call, no chorus of catchphrases — just fresh voices with something of their own to say, including, now and then, one gloriously nutty call that lifts the whole night. Dudley stays warm through all of it; that’s the house rule.
Real news only. Nothing false, nothing imagined.
That is the show’s crucial rule, and it is not negotiable. Before Dudley says a word of the monologue, every story in it has been researched from real reporting that night and logged with its source. If a story can’t be verified, it doesn’t air — the slot stays empty rather than filled with something invented.
State
The state news of the day, from whichever state has the story — a capitol fight, a storm, a verdict — drawn from that state’s own reporting.
National
The American story: Washington, the economy, the weather systems and the human stories moving across the country that night.
International
The world beyond the borders — the headlines an American awake at 1 AM should know before the morning papers land.
The scope is deliberate: state, national, and international only — and the night’s sources travel with the show, so what you heard can always be traced back to where it was reported.
When it’s on
Five nights a week. A named night’s show starts at the midnight after that evening — so Monday night’s show is the one that begins at midnight heading into Tuesday. All times Eastern, from DeLand.
Saturday and Sunday nights are dark — Dudley rests, and the week’s five shows wait in the archive for anyone catching up.
Listen live — and listen later
For now the show lives in its private live player; when the show’s own domain is ready, this page and the listening move there together. Either way, the routine is the same — and it’s built for how late-night radio is actually heard: on a phone, in bed, through speakers.
Live, as it’s made
The show is produced inside its own air window — so you hear it unfold, not a recording of it.
- Open the live player a little before midnight. Tonight’s episode appears as its named night — Wednesday night’s show, and so on.
- Wait for the first banked segment. A few minutes after midnight the opening block lands; press play and you’re on the air.
- Join live, or start from the top. New segments queue up in air order behind you and play back-to-back until the 3 AM close. Coming in late costs you nothing.
- Put it on the speakers. Press play on your phone and the show plays like any media audio — out through your Bluetooth speakers while the 180-minute program clock keeps your place in the night.
The archive — every show, kept whole
Miss a night and nothing is lost. A show joins the archive once its full three hours have aired and been verified.
- Complete shows, not highlightsAll 180 minutes of each night, in air order — open, monologue, calls, resets, Radio Graffiti, and close.
- Listen any timeOpen any past night in the player and hear the whole show, or drop into individual segments.
- Kept in two placesIn the player’s past-shows archive, and as permanent files — episode audio saved with its script and its news sources.
- Sources travel with itEach archived night keeps the list of stories behind its monologue, linked to the reporting they came from.
- It starts with the premiereThe archive opens with the Wednesday night show, November 5 — and grows by one complete night, five nights a week.
Questions, answered straight
Why does “Wednesday night’s show” start on Thursday?
Because it starts at midnight — and midnight after Wednesday evening is, technically, the first minute of Thursday. The naming follows the evening you settle in on: you go to bed Wednesday night, you hear Wednesday night’s show, 12:00–3:00 AM Eastern.
Is the news in the monologue real?
Yes — that’s the show’s hard rule. Every factual item is researched from real reporting during the night itself, covering state news from across America, national news, and international news, and logged with its source before it airs. The fiction in the show is confined to the callers themselves — their names, lives, and opinions — never to the news.
Can I listen on my phone, through Bluetooth speakers?
Yes — that’s the way it’s most often heard. Open the live player on your phone, connect your Bluetooth speakers as you would for any audio, and press play once the first segment lands a few minutes after midnight. Keep the player page open while you listen; if your phone does interrupt playback overnight, the complete show is waiting in the archive by morning.
What happens if I fall asleep — or miss a night entirely?
Nothing is lost. Once a night’s full 180 minutes are produced and verified, the complete show moves into the archive, where it can be listened to at any time — whole, or segment by segment — alongside its script and news sources.
Does the show still happen if nobody’s watching the page?
Yes. Production runs on its weeknight schedule, midnight to 3 AM Eastern, whether or not anyone is signed in or listening at that moment. Listen live as it’s made, or catch the finished night in the archive — the show airs either way.
What is Radio Graffiti?
It’s the closing segment of every show — the last 30 minutes, from 2:30 to just before 3 AM. Alan Colmes hosted it years ago, and it’s also done on Radio Free DeLand’s Saturday morning show. The rule is simple: each caller gets one line and one line only to express their thoughts. Dudley doesn’t debate the lines — he thanks each caller and keeps it moving, so as many voices as possible get their one line in before the close.
Will the show have its own website?
Soon. A domain name for the show is on its way; when it arrives, this page becomes the show’s public home at that address, with live listening and the full archive attached. Until then, everything lives here.