Daniel Esperanza

Daniel Esperanza is the 29th Operator of the Pinehaven Emergency Broadcast Station, and the secondary main character of the Lonely Broadcast series. He is the best friend and co-host of Evelyn.

## Daniel Esperanza

### Relatives

Unnamed mother, unnamed father, several siblings, at least one living grandparent.

## Description

Daniel is in his early 30s. He is described as being tall and "mostly leg" with curly black hair, very dark eyes, brown skin, and a prominent gap between his front teeth. He is Hispanic, with parents originating from Mexico. He has a hearing aid in his left ear and is completely deaf in his right. Daniel is often seen wearing dress shirts, bow ties, a pair of oxford shoes, and suspenders.

His personality is described as being outgoing, talkative, goofy, fiercely loyal, and friendly to everyone. He is emotionally expressive and sweet, always showing his friends verbal and physical affection. Although he is always trying to be the most cheerful person in the room, he is also plagued by an anxiety disorder and intense feelings of insecurity, depression, and self-doubt due to his many failed goals and efforts. When things go wrong, he has a tendency to put the blame on himself.

## Early Life

Daniel grew up outside of Pinehaven. Although not much is known about his childhood, he has a very close-knit family and was an energetic and outgoing child. He keeps in touch with both of his parents, his grandmother, his cousins, and siblings on a regular basis. On New Year's Eve, Evelyn remarks that Dan's leg cast has been doodled on by several of his younger siblings, implying that Dan may have been the eldest. One of very few memories of his childhood involves him sleepwalking naked and crawling on top of a fridge.

## Acting Career

Daniel studied Performing Arts in college and tried for several years to break into a career as an actor for advertisements and commercials. Although he had a successful college experience on the stage, his hopes to move onto the screen were not very successful. While talking to Evelyn about his failed career, he referenced a lengthy audition for a commercial that put the nail in the coffin for his goals of becoming an actor. He applied for the position at 104.6 FM as a final, desperate effort to have his voice be heard before giving up on his dreams completely.

## At 104.6 FM

When Daniel first arrived at 104.6 FM, like Evelyn, he was unaware of its unsavory hidden importance. On his first day on the job, Dan took an incoming call from an unknown number that blasted a harmful drone into his ears, bursting both of his eardrums. Only one was able to be partially salvaged, leaving him mostly deaf with a hearing aid in his left ear.

Regardless, Daniel chose to come back to work a couple of weeks later. According to him, he refuses to leave the station because of how much he has grown to care about his coworkers, and that he isn't sure he could ever adjust to "normal life" again. Alongside Evelyn, he owns the spot of being the second longest employee to survive at the Pinehaven Emergency Broadcast Station.

## Sleepwalking and Daniel's Shadow

Dan's time at 104.6 FM becomes more dangerous when he attracts the attention of a doppelganger and a mysterious pit in the forest that is trying to get him to sleepwalk to his death. Although he manages to kill his doppelganger, Daniel has not resolved his sleepwalking.

Although Dan's attraction to the pit has not yet been realized, he first noticed something suspicious when he began having dreams about drifting towards a supernatural light that was picking people off one by one, leaving him for last. During these dreams, he would always wake to find himself walking in the same direction. When he, Evelyn, and Finn find the pit for the first time, Daniel is immediately drawn towards it and tries to throw himself in, hinting that this has been his subconscious destination all along. The pit and Daniel's doppelganger both appeared at the same time, and both serve the same purpose: attempting to get him to destroy himself and tear apart the trio of Operators.

## Relationships

### Evelyn McKinnon

Evelyn is the primary host of 104.6 FM and Daniel's best friend. He initially found her to be grumpy and difficult to get along with. When Daniel lost his hearing, he saw Evelyn's softer side when she tended to him for several hours until an ambulance finally arrived from around the mountain. Aside from their shared sense of humor and love of pestering one another, they also have a deep well of shared trauma that they trust one another to understand. Their opposite personalities inspire one another, with Dan inspiring Evelyn to be more emotionally available and Evelyn helping Dan realize his self-worth. They have several rituals, such as giving each other new, insulting nicknames every day and frequently hanging out after work hours.

During the events of "We're Always on the Air at 104.6 FM", Daniel's view of Evelyn began to change when he took her to his cousin's wedding and got to see a funnier, more casual and sweeter side of her personality. That night, when they were attacked in the woods, Daniel suffered a back injury and blamed himself for years for not being able to save his friend before her eye was gouged out. Later, in "Dead Air", he reveals that he still has nightmares about that night, so much so that his self-hatred forms a brand new anomaly.

During "Dead Air", it is revealed that Evelyn and Dan are still very close friends (and neighbors). While she is sick and struggling with her relapsing alcohol addiction, Daniel refuses to abandon her, in stark contrast to friends and family from her past. He makes her a scrapbook of their memories together so that their friendship will be immortalized. As the broadcast tower is toppling down, Daniel throws Evelyn off the fire escape and into a snowbank to save her from being crushed, sustaining near-fatal injuries in the process.

### Steven Finn

Daniel's first real run-in with Finn was when the former officer arrived at the station to arrest Evelyn. From then on, he regarded him with respect and a healthy amount of fear, worrying that he would get on his bad side. However, when Finn began working at the 104.6 FM Emergency Broadcast Station, Daniel treated him with the same joyful, friendly attention he first gave Evelyn when they became co-workers.

He respects Finn and treats him like a superior, both due to his age and knowing that he's far more skilled and knowledgeable than he is. In "Dead Air", after Daniel and Evelyn save Finn from the amalgamate known as The Hydra, Finn begins showing Daniel more respect and appreciation as his equal. While accompanying Finn at the hospital, Finn apologizes for keeping secrets and finally reveals his first name to him before anyone else. Dan realizes that Finn is a secretive person, so any amount of personal information shared between them becomes a meaningful piece of their friendship.

Finn is supportive, responsible, and encouraging to Daniel. He regularly recognizes that beneath Dan's insecurity, there is a person with a lot of courage and potential, and he attempts to bring this out of him by acting as a sort of mentor. Although Finn has a serious and more subdued personality, he sees Daniel's bleeding heart as a strength instead of a weakness, complimenting his caring nature. In return, Daniel takes Finn's opinion seriously and does his best to learn from him whenever he gets the chance.

### Elijah

Daniel met Elijah when the former boyfriend of Jennifer Cook was making an attempt to break into the broadcast tower to threaten Evelyn. When they first met, Daniel tried to calm him down and Elijah responded by immediately punching him in the nose. After a fog day locks them all in the tower together, Elijah pulls a gun on the room and both Finn and Daniel work together to get it out of his hands. Much to the surprise of his coworkers, Daniel decides to sit alone with Elijah on the fire escape and have a conversation with him, convincing him to leave Pinehaven and move on with his life. Although they never meet again, this interaction is evidence of how Daniel's heart is his greatest weapon.

### Dan's Family

Daniel's family lives over an hour away on the other side of the mountain, but he remains very close with a large amount of his relatives. The only relative of his that has been named is his cousin Adriana, whose wedding he attended with Evelyn. He describes his family as "naturally loud, talkative, and energetic", much like himself. During this event, he references his grandmother, both parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and at least one great aunt as being present. He also has several siblings. Dan is the only main character who has not lost any immediate family members.

## Trivia

* Daniel's last name, "Esperanza", is the Spanish word for "hope".
* In "Dead Air", Daniel reveals that he knows how to swing dance, as evident by him attempting to each Evelyn.
* Although Dan loves animals, he is afraid of insects.
* Dan has suffered the most injuries of all the cast (ruptured eardrums, lacerations, a broken leg, broken ribs, stabbed in the spleen, at least one concussion, a back injury, and a punch to the nose.)
* Daniel speaks fluent English, Spanish, and both American and Mexican Sign Language.
* Evelyn describes Dan's apartment as being "intimidatingly clean".
* Dan and Evelyn both share the experience of dying temporarily: Evelyn when she drowned and was revived, and Daniel when he died at the end of "Dead Air" and was revived during surgery.
* Each of the Operators represent a different aspect of heart, brain, and soul. Daniel, being the emotional center of the trio and the one most driven by love, represents the heart.

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1. ↑ During "We're Always on the Air at 104.6 FM", Daniel takes Evelyn to his cousin's wedding and introduces her to dozens of very friendly relatives.
2. ↑ In "Dead Air", Evelyn offers Daniel the decision to quit his job, but he refuses.
3. ↑ In "Dead Air", while talking to Evelyn, Finn comments on Dan's affection for her and his nurturing role.