Behind the scenes of a drive-by display

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Wednesday, December 21st. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: Christmas lights.

Not just any old Christmas lights. A multimedia presentation of Christmas lights. WORLD reporter Anna Johansen Brown takes us behind the scenes of a neighborhood drive by display.

WESLEY: What radio station is it supposed to be on?

ANNA: 97. No, 99.7.

BECKETT: Doodle doooo

ANNA JOHANSEN BROWN, REPORTER: It’s a cold December evening. Not late, but the sun is long set and the dark is well and truly settled. We’re driving through a quiet residential neighborhood: Me and Wesley and Beckett.

ANNA: Point two miles turning right on Venetian Way Circle.

We just got our first real snow of the season, a couple of inches lying thick on rooftops and lawns. Some houses have a wreath on the door, or candles in the window, or lights lining their eaves.

But the house we pull up to is on another level entirely.

ANNA: Hey Beckett! Can you see the lights? WESLEY: Woahhh, look at that.

It’s a two story brick house, bedazzled with twelve giant snowflakes. On the lawn: nine mini Christmas tree cones, two giant Christmas tree cones, two stars on posts, a nativity, and 20 little ground lights scattered through the snow. Each element ripples with colored patterns, all bouncing to a silent beat.

Then we turn on the radio to 99.7.

AUDIO: [RADIO STATIC, MUSIC]

When Mele Kalikimaka comes on, Beckett starts clapping, and the Christmas trees out front light up. Streams of pink, blue, and green swirl back and forth across them like grass skirts. The stars turn green and their posts turn brown, mimicking palm trees.

ANNA: Are you dancing, Beckett? BECKETT: Daaa!

Every year, synchronized light shows pop up in neighborhoods everywhere. This one in Wheaton, Illinois, isn’t the most extravagant display out there, but Brian Petrizak says he wanted it to have a purpose beyond just entertainment.

PIETRZAK: We also like to mix in like Christian Christmas songs that have a focus on Christ, His birth, what he brings to us and hope in his salvation.

Pietrzak is the mastermind behind this lights show. He’s a software developer, and he always thought the displays were intriguing.

PIETRZAK: And each year I would do a little bit more research until I got to the point where I finally was like, Yeah, I'm gonna do this.

He stocked up on lights and light controllers.

PIETRZAK: Basically, there's controller boxes out there with boards. And they control the pixels is what those lights are called. So each pixel has three little lights in it, it's red, green, and blue. And that you can basically, with ratios control whatever color you want for each individual pixel.

Pietrzak uses a software program to tell the pixels what to do. On his computer screen, he brings up a model of the house, then starts layering different effects over it. A blue-green wave of light ripples over the snowflakes and trees, each pixel lighting up in turn.

PIETRZAK: Now if I want to do that, only on the front of the house, I can basically do the group of snowflakes plus the wreath up there. There's different groups I can have with all snowflakes, only the left snowflakes, the right snowflakes…

The program also lets him sync the lights with individual songs. That’s how he can have certain light effects represent different lyrics.

PIETRZAK: I have note onsets in here when things come in, I track the vocals in different music points that I've set in here where I'd like to start different effects…

Pietrzak usually starts programming in October.

PIETRZAK: So go tell it on the mountain, which we added this year, was over 40 hours worth of programming time.

Once everything is programmed, the pixels are all hooked in, and the wiring is finished, it takes Pietrzak another 24 hours to set it all up in the yard. He has to make sure everything is wrapped and waterproofed so he doesn’t get any electrical shorts.

The brains of the operation are in the garage. Pietrzak points out a tiny computer.

PIETRZAK: It’s actually driving the show and telling all the stuff outside what exactly it’s supposed to do. Right? Here's an FM transmitter that allows you to actually send the audio coming from here out to the cars.

Radio regulations allow for hobby broadcasts, you just have to make sure no one else is using that frequency.

The lights show runs on a fifteen minute loop from five to ten PM, and people driving by stop to watch.

PIETRZAK: Thankfully, the neighbors have been very supportive. We didn't really talk to them before we started setting this up.

On week nights, it’s usually two or three cars at any given time. But closer to Christmas, traffic picks up.

PIETRZAK: As we hit this week, before Christmas, you're going to see six to 15 out there, depending upon the night, ​​there are a lot of people that still travel around looking at Christmas lights in neighborhoods.

Tonight, there are three cars, crunching over unplowed snow near the curb.

After a couple of Christmas classics, the show goes dark for a second. Then one of the two Christmas trees turns yellow, with a black zig-zag line around the middle.

WESLEY: Aw, it’s the Charlie Brown shirt.

The next track isn’t a bouncy song…it’s Linus from the 1965 TV special A Charlie Brown Christmas, quoting Luke chapter two. As the track runs, the snowflakes up on the house blaze with light, and the small Christmas trees on the lawn turn white.

ANNA: Oh those are the sheep!

LINUS: And the angel said unto them, Fear not. For behold, I mean the tidings of great joy shall be to all people. For unto you was born this day in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord…That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.

BECKETT (interrupting) Doodledoo

ANNA: That’s what Christmas is all about, Beckett.

MUSIC: [Joy to the World]

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Anna Johansen Brown in Wheaton, Illinois.

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