Satellite Time

Whatever I intended to write about today has been completely preempted by one small click to XM Radio, where I found the first broadcast of Opie & Anthony. I was inspired to go check this after the countless blog reports about Stern going to XM. Though I’m not at all a Stern fan, I was a big O&A fan, and I have to admit, it’s fucking exciting to have these guys back on the air after two years of being black listed for holding a contest that encouraged sex in public, in places like.. say.. St. Patrick’s Cathedral. I can remember hearing that broadcast while I was working in Lisbon in 2002, I think I purposely chose a job where I started late so that I could stay up til 3am listening to NYC radio and programs like Ron & Fez. Fortunately R & F are still going strong in DC, and I still stay up all night listening.

Underneath it all, I’m just a big radio nerd, which actually goes back to the days when my family had a Portuguese-Community Radio show in Newark, NJ, called Voz de Portugal. It was broadcasted on WNYWK, on Sunday nights. Which I’m not sure still exists. I remember being 9 years old, and on Sundays my mom calling me into the basement recording studio my dad had built out of plywood and wall-to-wall carpeting. My brother and I shared the task of hosting the children’s show: “Jardim Infantil.” At the time I found it annoying, I wanted to play with my legos and watch sunday episodes of Abbott & Costello, not read Portuguese text and introduce songs about balloons, frogs or clowns. But looking back, that was the start of the strong bond between radio and I. (thanks internet!)Plus the coolest part was driving to Manhattan in the evening with my dad, to bring the reels to the station which seemed to be located at the tippy top of one of the tallest buildings in the city. We use to make bets as to which of the 6 elevators would arrive first, which involved a very scientific process of pressing your ear against the elevator doors.

Normally I hate linking to A-list bloggers who would never acknowledge my existence, but Dan Gillmor pointed out very simply, how weird Cheney’s lies were, the other night. The lying part is no surprise, it’s WHAT he lies about that is weird. And it’s just the icing on the cake to learn that he actual voted AGAINST a resolution to support the freeing of Nelson Mandela in 1986. True story! He claims that the ANC was viewed as a terrorist organization, which tells me this man is completely unqualified to identify who is or isn’t a terrorist.

Today’s Sounds: O & A on XM Radio