Answers to other arcana of REM can be found here at Pop Songs 07. a website that is dedicated to writing about every song on every REM album.
The background of; “whats the frequency…” (not found on Pop Songs 07) According to the theory (and Rather agrees), William Tager (the Dan Rather attacker), was/is apparently mentally disturbed, was convinced that the news media was beaming signals into his head. It is further alleged that he demanded that Rather tell him the frequency of the signals. Speculation at the time was that Rather received his communications from the CIA on a particular radio frequency while he was in Vietnam, and that his operational code name then was “Kenneth.”
According to R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe, It remains the premier unsolved American surrealist act of the 20th century. It’s a misunderstanding that was scarily random, media hyped and just plain bizarre.