On May 25th, 2021, Instagram user @space.age.canine would go on a tour of Creative Engineering. Among the surplus of new information discovered, one thing in particular stuck out. On an unsuspecting tape sitting in a box in front of Aaron’s stage, something crazy, alarming, even…sinister lurked.
Upon opening the tape revealed a Show Selector layout dated 9/1/98, and location specified for Wonderland Golf & Games in Spokane, WA. The tape mostly contained your run of the mill late Show Selector songs — but two in particular stuck out. The shows “Adia” and “Free Ride” had never been heard of before.
Adia is a song by Sarah McLachlan released on her 1997 album “Surfacing”. It was then released as a single on March 2nd, 1998. The song is sung from the perspective of someone who has messed up a relationship with someone they deeply care about. The song reminds us that even when we falter, at the end of the day we were born innocent. While the Rock-afire has always sang rather sad songs from time to time, this one stuck out in particular. Not only is the subject matter a bit mature for toddlers that had become the main demographic at the time, it’s also a song that you would never guess would be programmed.
A fan would reprogram Adia mere weeks after it was discovered, a small glimpse of what this show could be. And so the years went on, the need for this show coming off and on between months. The yearning for this show got so bad to the point that on February 1st, 2026, an instagram account was created with the username @adia.nation. This account was, well…us! It was originally intended to be a satire account, making a big deal out of what was such a nothing burger show. It was also created in hopes that it would spread the word about Adia and lead to its release.
Then the faithful day of February 10th, 2026 came, a mere 10 ten days after Adia Nation was founded. What seemed like an uneventful Tuesday spiraled into something much bigger. An instagram user would post a story featuring Adia — but we at Adia Nation put on our detective caps and realized the audio used sounded as though it came from a tape. The Instagram user oh so graciously sent us the .shw file. The moments leading up to playing the show in Retromation were excruciating. Was it just a reprogram? Were we being royally trolled? The second the music hit and Mitzi raised her arm, it was clear this was indeed the real Adia. Even Jack Turner of @animatronicswarehouse responded to the Adia craze, posting a clip of the show on his story. The Adia show file that was shared within the fandom came from a tape that was for the East Barborsville Billy Bob's Wonderland location. Turns out, that tape was just sitting in the tech room...for nearly 20 years! Who knew!
About a month after having the show, a member of Adia Nation was watching Somewhere Over the Rainbow when a striking case of Deja Vu hit — until they realized it wasn’t Deja Vu at all! It was realized that Adia’s programming was copy and pasted from Somewhere Over the Rainbow — it’s quite uncanny really! About the first 5 seconds of Adia is IDENTICAL to Over the Rainbow. It was then discovered the entire show uses copy and paste routines originally made in the early 90s. You can see Mitzi do the same arm raise routine at the beginning of Hot Rod Lincoln that she does as she sings “Adia, I’m empty since you left me”. It is clear that Ms. McCracken did not care at all when producing this show!
While Adia at its core is simply a half-assed awkwardly cut and "programmed" lip sync thrown onto few tapes in the late 90s, to us it is a symbol of yearning and pining, a reminder that when you’re passionate and persistent about something, it will come to you. Perhaps that’s what Adia Nation is really all about!
Thank you for being a part of Adia Nation.