One Minute After Sunrise, the story of the 1955 explosion and fire at the Standard Oil Refinery in Whiting, is now available in audio book form.

You can purchase it on Amazon as an audio book, as a Kindle e-book, or in its original paperback form. The audio book is also available by scanning the QR code. You can purchase the paperback and/or a video of the story on the website of the Whiting-Robertsdale Historical Society.

One Minute After Sunrise was written by Historical Society member John Hmurovic. The audiobook version is narrated by Alan Blazek. Alan lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, but has Whiting-Robertsdale roots. He grew up in Hammond, and one set of grandparents lived on Superior Avenue, while the other lived on Birch Avenue.

While visiting an aunt in Northern Indiana, he came across a copy of the book. In the past, Alan did some audio work, but after being out of his regular job due to the pandemic he thought about pursuing it more aggressively. So, he contacted John and asked for permission to record the book.

“Neither one of us,” Alan said, “had created an audio book, so we worked together to figure out how this worked.” Alan also got busy with constructing a 1,200 pound, four-foot square recording booth in his home.

The completed audio book runs seven hours and fourteen minutes in length. Although it was Alan’s first audio book, it opened the door for him to the world of voice over and narration. “I have completed several other audio books and commercial voice over work since then and owe it all to that opportunity.”