Armenia - Inexplicable Երևան

OK, we want to apologize for that St. Kitts station. That was awful. Let's forget that ever happened and continue our journey around the world via radio waves and visit Armenia!

squeezed on in there in midst of the crazy.

Located in those politically boiling Caucuses, Armenia is a small nation of only a little over 3 million. They've got a HUGE and very vocal diaspora of about 8 million folks who've contributed a lot to modern culture. From color TV and the first cloned mammal to moon rovers and plastic surgery, including astrophysics, economics, x-rays, artificial intelligence, the Kardashians, chess masters, and so much more. There's so much that has come from the populace and descendants of such a tiny country!

 armenia's representatives to the world...

Armenia was the first nation to officially adopt Christianity as their state religion, decades before Constantine did his thing with the Roman empire and the conversion of the masses. The Romans did rule Armenia for a while there and were only one in a long string of other empires to do so. Other empires who held Armenia under their thumb: Assyria, Greece, Rome, Byzantine, Arabia, the Mongols, Persians, Ottomans, and most recently Russians.

 

armenians trading with mongols before things (inevitably) take a turn for the worse.

That diaspora we mentioned earlier is the result of encroachment by those empires. The two biggest diasporas were the most recent. The Armenians lost so much of their land to the Ottoman empire around WWI that the modern state ended up being about a sixth of its previous size. There was a nasty genocide of around a million people starting in 1915, before Mustafa Kemal Ataturk founded the modern state of Turkey.

yup, we've totally talked about this guy before, except we liked him the last time around.

The Armenian genocide was the first modern genocide and is the second most studied mass killing after the Holocaust. It's a major friction point between Armenia and Turkey. Turkey refuses to acknowledge that it occurred and gets pissed off when other nations officially recognize that it happened. The powerful Armenian diaspora lobbies the governments of the countries that they live in to recognize its occurrence. Boy does Turkey get PISSED when that happens. America is getting really, really close to acknowledging it, and Turkey is none too happy.

 get it? it's a mad turkey? ha ha.. hum. uhhhh, it's a pun.

That diaspora has a lot of sway and is integral to understanding modern Armenia. Unfortunately, we've got a lot of shit to do and can't dive into it much further. We hate that cop out, but it's true.

Briefly, we're in the capital and largest city in Armenia, Yerevan (Երևան). The city was founded in 782 BC and have been going strong for 3000 years. Sure puts American's oldest continuously inhabited city of St Augustine to shame; they're only 446 years old!

We sincerely hope you enjoy the tunes and make sure to try the apricots while you're there!

 

Radio Aurora

Get ready for some hardcore American and EuroPop - Listen Here!

.

Lithuania - If Only We'd Made it to Kaunas

OH SHIT! We totally overslept!! Looks like our post-holiday coma went a little longer than expected!

It's time to get on the plane and get ourselves back into the swing of things. Y'all wanna tune in to Lithuania? Let's go!

dark green dot, here we come!

Pinky and Kesi spent a brief time in Lithuania about a year ago. After a nervous moment at the border crossing, they were let through. Ever used a bus station bathroom lit by black-light? They did, and it was weird. At that same bus station, Kesi ate one of the grosser meals Pinky's ever seen and he's eaten some bizarre shit. Pinky got a sub-par chicken sandwich and Kesi was a little jealous. This bus stop also had the exact same picture of Monument Valley in Arizona covering every surface of the wall. Poster-sized, like 40 of them. That was weird.

It was night time and they thought the bus station would be closer to town, so they weren't able to walk around Vilnius. Bummer too, cause it's supposed to be the kind of place that's just up our alley and one of the weirdest countries on earth. For example, they have a statue of Frank Zappa that was unveiled with a military band and fireworks! It's outside a gynecology clinic. Zappa never visited the country and has absolutely zero connection to it. 

"stupidity is the basic building block of the universe." - frank zappa

When the Lithuanian basketball team unexpectedly beat Russia and won the bronze in the '92 Olympics, they wore tie-dye t-shirts donated by the Grateful Dead to the awards ceremony! 

1992 was the best year ever!

And, Pinky really wanted to see Grūtas Park, unofficially known as Stalin World, where some guy took all the old Soviet statues and set them up in a park. He re-created a lot of gulag scenes in it too. There's also the hill of crosses; a tiny hill that's covered with hundreds of thousands of crosses. Crosses upon crosses upon crosses. You should look it up. It's bizarre.

teeny tiny picture, but you catch our drift.

Lithuania is a VERY proud country. At one point, on the cusp of the Renaissance, they were the largest country in Europe as the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. They're fiercely proud of that fact, and though their borders today are much smaller, they'll defend them with their lives. They fought the Nazis and the Soviets when each invaded their country. Lithuanian casualties were among the highest in Europe, from a very tiny country. 353,000 people. America lost 418,500. Lithuania lost about 90% of their Jewish population, too. When the Soviets invaded in the Baltic Offensive of '44, taking it from the Germans and re-establishing the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, they fought a 12 year guerrilla war. When the USSR's demise began, Lithuania was the first nation to declare independence while all the other nations were waiting to see what would happen.

Today, we're camped out in Kaunas, which is neither the largest city or the capital! They have the most amazing coat of arms, though. It's a bull. With a cross growing out of it's head. And, a penis. We're smitten.

Hurry up and tune in! We just heard "Memory" from the Broadway show, Cats, sung in Lithuanian. It's going to be a great day! Hope you enjoy this little hot-headed nation!

Pukas Radio

Listen Here

.

Cambodia - Phabulous Phnom Penh

That Botswana station was so Americanized. If it weren't for the odd African song thrown in, that station could've been in any US metro area. We may be the dominant entertainment culture in the world, but daaaaaaamn...

Let's try something a bit more exotic today. Y'all want to head to Cambodia?

first, some orientation...

About 90% of Cambodia's 15 million people consider themselves to be Khmers, descendants of the Angkor Empire that dominated the region for a couple of hundred years back about a thousand years ago. There's still massive ruins from their empire, and it's capital, Angkor, was the largest pre-industrial city in the world! Larger than anything the Romans or Mayans or Egyptians did! It's estimated that agriculturally, it could have supported a million people. Cambodians are so proud of Angkor they put it on their flag, and are the only country to have a building on their banner.

But like the Huns and Visigoths and Vandals that weakened Rome, Angkor was crippled by lesser tribes in the region, mainly from modern-day Thailand and Vietnam. By the mid-1400's, they'd abandoned the capitol due to ecological and infrastructural collapse. The civilization continued to decline as outside powers intervened until the late 1800's. A king, who'd been put on the throne by the Thais, asked the French to spot him protection against the Thais and Vietnamese. Oooooh snap! Cambodia stayed under French control until WWII, when the Japanese empire occupied it. After the war, France started to grant independence to Indochina, with Cambodia gaining full independence in 1953.

A government was set up and ruled for almost two decades. It was officially neutral during the Cold War, but everyone thought they sympathized with the communists. They had pretty sour relations with America, sidling up to China and North Vietnam instead. In 1970, a military coup (backed by America) overthrew the government while the head of state was in Beijing.

Angkor Wat from above. Reminds Ellen of the monkey city in The Jungle Book.

The new government that was established was the Khmer Republic. Five years of civil war ensued while the height of the Vietnam War raged next door. The Americans were pretty active in Cambodia as well since the Vietnam War seeped over boarders. There were controversial massive bombing campaigns and a brief invasion as the Americans tried to disrupt the North Vietnamese. Though the US was successful in upsetting that apple cart, it really fucked up things for Cambodia. It intensified their civil war, and by 1975, the Khmer Rouge had succeeded in toppling the government in Phnom Penh. That's just a quick overview mind you. Shit's always more complicated.

The Royal Palace in Phnom Penh

OK, so now we've got the Khmer Rouge in power and over the next 4 years Pol Pot starts this insane agrarian revolution. He clears out the cities and moves everyone to the country and destroys anything Western in an attempt to recreate the model from the earlier empires from over a thousand years ago. Of course, it didn't work. DUH. And, through their unadulterated cruelty, heavy handed tactics, and ensuing disease and starvation, the Khmer Rouge ends up killing about a fourth of their population - especially the Buddhist monks. They killed off every single one of them they could find, and there were a lot at the time. The Khmer Rouge basically gutted that institution. By the late 1970's there were less than a thousand left. The Khmer Rouge tried to kill all the intellectuals, too. Just wearing eyeglasses was a death sentence. (Watch out, Ellen!)

Pol Pot dictating his crazy to the masses.

The Vietnamese invaded in the late 70's, and civil war ensued until peace accords in 1991. The last of the Khmer Rouge didn't give up until the late 90's though, and today, there are still an estimated 4 million landmines in a country the size of Oklahoma. It'll be another ten years before they're removed or destroyed. Each month, there are an estimated 300-700 amputations due to people stepping on them. Think about that... Primarily due to landmines, 1 in 236 Cambodians are disabled, making Cambodia the most disabled country on earth.

Although Cambodia is war torn, they're dealing with their past and rebuilding. It's become an incredible tourist destination, and about 4 million people come to visit Angkor every year. In recognition and as a way to learn from their country's history, the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum was established in Phenom Penh. If you had gone before 2002, you would have seen the Skull Map (yeah, it's a disturbing as it sounds... click with care). They've replaced it with a map of the killing fields and relocation camps, and we hear it's significantly less traumatizing.

Anyway, Cambodia is building up their agriculture, garment, and oil industries, too. Although there have been a few hiccups, they're pretty stable politically and are actively rebuilding their society. It's a poor nation with a poor infrastructure, but they're a resourceful people and are doing everything they can to flourish. Check out the bamboo trains! Gotta use what ya got!

Well, guess that about does it for now. Hope y'all enjoy Cambodia!

Listen Here!

.

Djibouti - We're Digging جيبوتي

Oh my gawd, y'all. Sorry to leave you stranded in Montenegro with those state speeches and spoons tapping on glasses. We got a little snowed in yesterday. Even though it was a snow day and we didn't get to travel, we were still pretty productive. Ellen did a 1,000 piece puzzle all by herself in less than six hours. Who's a super mastermind now?

OK, what say we head to Djibouti (جيبوتي)? If Bangkok invaded Djibouti, would Greece help? Waka! Waka! Waka!

it's wayyyyyy over there on the right. the one in red!

Now that we've gotten all of that silliness out of the way... Djiboutui is a tiny little country - about the size of Massachusetts -  situated on the horn of Africa at the south end of the Red Sea. This place is desert-tastic! There's only about 5 inches of rainfall a year, and as a result, only about .04% of their land is arable. Less than half a percent! They've got to import the majority of their food, which makes them trickily dependent on pretty much everyone else in the world.

There's a good bit of ocean life, though. You can find everything from Whale Sharks, which are totally sweet, to Manta Rays and Hammerheads! Those are totally rad, too. Wouldn't it be wild to ride a Manta Ray around? Djibouti is also home to the crater lake, Lac Assal (Lake Assal), which is over 500 feet below sea level and is the second lowest land depression in the world after the Dead Sea!

Average schooling for their citizens is just four years. Imagine that! You'd be going to senior prom at ten years old! Na but really, it's probably because only a quarter of their population receives any education. They still have a 70% literacy rate, though. Sounds as if they are just more efficient educators maybe.

Argh. So, apparently there's no documented history of Djibouti prior to France's arrival in the mid-19th century, beyond passing mentions of traders. We find that pretty hard to believe. Perhaps Pinky's research is a bit too shallow, but he can't find anything more substantial than a few sentences describing their history before the French arrived. Weird. You'd figure a nation situated in such a geographically important area would have plenty of documented history. There were plenty of established and powerful civilizations in the area. We really can't fathom why nothing's written. Oral history is prevalent in Djibouti's nomadic tribes, but we really can't find anything beyond the name of a sultan or two. Bizarre. We guess everyone must've been chewing khat, like they do today.

yum, illegal/legal plants to chew.

Anyway, in the late 1800's, the French rolled in and hung around for about a hundred years, naming it French Somaliland, and later the French Territory of the Afars and the Issas. These are some epic names. They eventually gained independence in 1977, and Hassan Gouled Aptidon, the first president, served until he stepped down in 1999, at 83 years old. He died a few years ago at the age of 90. His nephew succeeded him and serves as president to this day. There was a nasty civil war throughout the 90's over political representation, but it ended in 2001 with the last of the rebels signing peace accords.

nice hat, sir!

With an unemployment rate of 40-50%, there isn't a whole lot going for Djibouti economically. They pretty much capitalize on there strategic location. Strategic location of Djibouti. That's what's he said! Hoo Wah!

Seriously, though, let's tune in and see what the Djiboutians are listening to. This is an Arab station broadcast throughout the Levant. Djibouti only has two domestic radio stations, and neither stream on the internet, so we'll have to listen to this one. It seems pretty good so far, beyond the occasional and completely out of place western song. For example, we just heard awesome Arab stuff transition into Ke$ha. 50% awesome, 50% not awesome.

Radio Sawa

Listen Here

.

Montenegro - Beautiful Беране

Whoa. Sorry about accidentally maintaining radio silence yesterday... life got away from us! Oops!

Didja have fun in Tonga on Wednesday? What's that you say? Not enough accordion for ya? Well have we got the remedy for that! Let's head over to Montenegro!

this map has the rail lines on it!

Reportedly the tallest people in the world, Montenegrin men are 6'1" on average, and women are 5'7". Must be tough to fit everyone in. Even the map gets a little cramped! Cartographers have apparently always hated Montenegro because they can't fit all the letters in it's small space on the map. Pinky's read in three places (one being a US government website) that the river Bojana is the only river in the world that flows in both directions, but we're dubious of this claim, as A) it seems impossible, and B) all the other articles about the river make no such claim. And, you'd figure that would be something to boast about. So, why aren't they shouting from the rooftops? Whatever. We're over it.

what? living here is possible? bring it on!

Montenegro translates to "Black Mountain", which is fun since we've all spent so much time in Black Mountain, NC. I wonder if they have a sister city established. We like it when cities do that. Perhaps they could shack up with Zhabljak, the highest town in the Balkans and a tourist destination. Montenegro itself has become one of the fastest growing tourist hot spots in the world!

now, those are some BLACK mountains!

Montenegro has a history of being swallowed by empires. It started with the Romans, then the Byzantines, followed by the Serbians, then the Ottomans, then became part of the Venetian Republic towards the end of that state's lifespan, then the Austrians took over. Montenegro had a run of independence in the mid-late 1800's, establishing a monarchy. It then joined the Kingdom of Yugoslavia after WWI where it apparently had a lot of say in the government; it was then annexed by Mussolini during WWII, and then joined the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia after the war, firmly under the USSR's thumb. They had a union with Serbia for a while, but referendums never really let it come to full fruition, and Montenegrin independence was firmly established a few years ago. Will it last? Who knows?

Djurdjevi Stupovi Monastery, Berane, Montenegro

Let's tune in to Radio Berane broadcasting from Berane (Беране) situated in the mountains of eastern Montenegro. Seems like there's some kind of speech going on right now, but hopefully they'll return to the fun stuff soon. Enjoy!

Radio Berane

Listen Here

.

Burma - More Subversive Radio

What did you think of our little trip to Bolivia? Yeah, we agree. We haven't had all that much luck with the South American stations.

OK, we've got a real treat for y'all today that Pinky's been working on for weeks. We're heading to Myanmar!!!!

is that corn on your flag or are you just happy to see us?

With the military junta attempting to control all information entering or leaving Burma, not much gets out. And, with a ban on nearly all foreign music, the stuff they do broadcast in the country is bizarre, especially the internationally popular songs covered in Burmese.


Want to hear a dictatorship-approved cover of Sugar Ray? We got it!


Apparently, the few radio stations in the country broadcast from 7am-9pm, and since they can't produce tons of material, the content is completely erratic, and needless to say, amazing!


This one is hilarious! It's the official website for the capital (which is down today - definitely check back later!), and apparently their web designer is a teenage girl on Myspace 5 years ago. Pinky likes the "Do's and Don'ts" section. You're supposed to be able to listen to live radio here, but we've never been able to get it to work. Apparently, the Burmese are waaaaaay into horoscopes, too. Maybe Ellen is Burmese deep down on the inside. She loves her horoscope, too! They're on all their government websites, which we find endearing.

Besides the language barrier, couldn't this have totally been a hit song in America in like 1998?

OK, here is today's radio station. We don't know much about it and have been doing some major research. But, from what we can piece together, this is a clandestine internet station run from inside Myanmar by a group of friends that really love music. There's a good bit of international music, which must be pretty tough to get in there... So, enjoy today's "top secret" radio station!

APYTZ Radio

Also, we found some Burmese artists that you can download. We love free!

Myanmar MP3

.

Qatar - Drumming الدوحة

How did y'all like that Belorussian station? We totally dug the "Can't Help Falling In Love" cover in the Russian accent. Perfect! Perfect.

What do you say we head to Qatar today?

While Qatar was initially part of the post-British regional federation that evolved to become the U.A.E., Qatar made the decision to go it alone and became a sovereign state in 1971. It was ruled by a fella with 53 letters in his official name until '95 when he went off to Switzerland for a vacation and his son executed a coup. Imagine that, huh? If we (more like Pinky) was that fella's dad, we'd be piiiiiiiiiiiiiissed. Especially since the son only has 22 letters in his name. His dad was in exile for 10 years, but is back in Qatar now.

what a nice oil painting of former Emir Khalifa bin Hamad bin Abdullah bin Jassim bin Muhammaed Al Thani

Anyway, so his son has enacted a bunch of social liberalization, like women's suffrage, a new constitution, launching Al Jazeera (which offers dissenting views, a rarity in the Arab world), and others. This might be a one of those coup de tat success stories! It's all good, though. Even though it's pretty liberal for an Arab country, they've still have Islamic laws ruling family and personal lives. (not that that's bad or wrong, it's just not "liberal")

Did you know they have one of the highest GDP's per capita in the world? Us either! That's pretty tough to do with oil and gas money. Those markets tend to provide a lot of national income but not personal income. Qatar does have a pretty small population and coupled with the absence of an income tax we suppose helps. 

man-made islands are all the rage! you can buy one, too!

But, we've got a caveat here! The population is only about 1.3 million and over half, if not more, of those folks are guest workers brought in for a year or two from south Asia for menial and labor-intensive jobs. Does their GDP per capita include non-citizens? We can't find an answer. These guest workers often wind up as modern day slaves in some other comparable prominent Arab countries and Qatar shares this shame.

The really bad part about living in Qatar is that it flirts with hitting 130 degrees in the summer. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck that. That oppressive heat encourages them to keep cool (and all that money allows it)  and as a result they have the highest per capita CO2 emissions in the world. Three times that of the US! And, when it comes to polluting the environment, we're tough to beat! They don't have to pay for water and electricity either so they use both liberally. With expensive and intensive water desalinization plants, we guess you'd expect to spew a ton of carbon dioxide.

OK, let's tune in to MC Doualiya transmitted from the capital city of Doha (الدوحة). However, if you're in need of the holy word of Allah (and, let's be honest, who isn't?), you can tune in to hear recitations of the Qu'ran.

MC Doualiya

.

Taiwan - The Tempo of 臺北市

Ooof. These bones are aching today! Pinky got hit by a figurative MAC truck playing rugby this weekend and Ellen's half baked after barely surviving MoofFest. If ether of us take any more ibuprofen we're gonna have to get our stomaches pumped and put on suicide watch.

We lucked out with a pretty good Venezuelan station on Friday. It was nice way to wrap up the week and get us energized for the weekend!

What do you say we head over to Taiwan today and slow things down a little with some Han love songs?

Taiwan was fought over by Japan and China for hundreds of years. Eventually, China regained control of Taiwan after WWII, but the Republic of China promptly lost mainland China in their civil war and retreated to Taiwan. The sovereignty of the island nation was never quite ironed out by Japan or the Allies, so it remains in legal limbo today, especially after the People's Republic of China (the mainland communists) got official recognition as "China" by the UN in the 70's. Sorry, dudes.

You're just to close to China to not have them all up in your business. (Frowny face)

Culturally and strategically dear to the Chinese, they'd do almost anything to get Taiwan back. If it weren't for America's support, Taiwan would have been swallowed back up long ago. Taiwan is probably the tallest hurdle of the Sino-American relationship, probably more so than even China's ridiculously undervalued currency. Well gang, this is too much of a sticky situation to delve into with our hurting bodies and minds today. 

Enjoy this kinda cheesy radio station from the capital city of Taipei (臺北市), not to be confused with the solitaire game Mahjong. We hope to be running on all cylinders tomorrow thanks to this soul rejuvenating music!

HiNet

Get ready for some sensory overload!

Don't know what to click on? OMG, we don't either! 

Listen here

.

Greenland - Nuuk, Naturally

Man, that Cuban station ended up being fantastic, huh? We think it could give that Namibian station a run for it's money as one of our favorites.

OK, we're aching for some cooler weather. Let's continue our journey around the world by heading to Greenland, which is decidedly cooler than Cuba.

With only 57,637 people in the entire country, Greenland the least densely populated country in the world. The city of Asheville is larger! And, Asheville is rinky-dink.

Their parliament, Kalaallit Nunaanni Inatsisartut, only has 31 members. Talk about getting stuff done! This is there parliament. They can all fit in there! We both had classes in high school that required larger rooms!

We never knew, but apparently it's under Danish rule. The US tried to buy Greenland after WWII, but the Danes politely declined. And, thank goodness we didn't get it. Where would we put that 51st star?

Greenland is edging towards independence though. They have been granted domestic self-governance last year. We know what you're thinking and we agree. Last year was 2009 and that's basically the future! Not being free at this day in age is mind boggling. Oh boy did that sound American....

You know what's really cool? They have a 100% literacy rate! When do you EVER hear that?!

So, let's get down to business. Pinky really wanted to stream this station from Hans Island,  since it looks like it's run by his kind of people (whatever THAT means), but they won't stream it to you unless you have a Hans Island ISP. (Ellen's note: This has got to be a hoax. According to Wikipedia, which doesn't lie, there are no inhabitants of Hans Island. And, this guy looks like he's fresh from the funny farm. He also looks like he doesn't know how to use a toothbrush, much less a computer. So, I'm highly skeptical that there even internet there.) Pinky thinks this is pretty awesome. Those guys must be CRAZY. And, trust us, we love the crazy.

View Larger Map

Hans Island is waaaaay the fuck up there. Way the fuck.

The only non-news streaming station we could find broadcasting in Greenland that wasn't boosted from Canada or Denmark was this classical station, and even though it's in Danish, it ought to be a nice change of pace, and kind of apropos for how we imagine Greenland to be.

Let's escape the cold and tune in to the capital city of Nuuk, Greenland and chill out - both literally and figuratively.

DR P2 Netradio

.

The Gambia - Killa Kololi

Well, our little trip to Micronesia didn't work out so well when the station went dark at midnight, huh? Time zones are so annoying. It sucks 'cause that was a pretty rad station. You ought toeck it out again another time. Pinky ended up having streaming problems (the radio, not prostate cancer) and gave up on streaming the previous day's show and just went back to that awesome Namibian station we heard recently.

Since some of us are already in Africa, how about if we just go ahead and ride up to The Gambia for today's trip.

Oooooo, tropical!

It's Africa's tiniest country at only 4,000 square miles. That's even smaller than Jamaica, which is pretty small. One time, Pinky rode a bus clear across Jamaica in a single afternoon. The driver blared Celine Dion the whole way and had coke spoon fingernails. Great hair though. 

Gambia's identity is dependent upon the river that runs through it. The tiny nation is literally built on the banks of the Gambia River. At the widest point, the country is still less than 30 miles wide. 

That river's brought them a lot of pain, though. Being nice and deep, (not to mention the only river in West Africa navigable by ocean-going vessels) the Brits were able to sail right in and set up a slave trade. In the end about 3 million people were forced into slavery. Their population today is less than 2 million. Woah. 

The current president Yahya Jammeh said that The Gambia "is one of the oldest and biggest countries in Africa that was reduced to a small snake by the British government who sold all our lands to the French." Ouch. 

Yahya Jammeh looks like he means business...

They've had a pretty stable democracy ever since independence, except for a coup attempt in the mid-90's.

Let's tune in and take a listen. They're supposed to be well-known in Western Africa for their exceptional music and dance. And, if this DJ ever shuts up, maybe we'll get to hear some tunes. 

Once you open the page, it will automatically start streaming... get ready!

Paradise FM

.

Azerbaijan - Blaring from Baku

So, that Chile station was pretty meh, eh? There sure were a lot of accordions – which we love, don’t get us wrong – but it was so early in the morning!

Howsabout we head over to the politically seething Caucasus where the next world conflict is most likely to occur. Let's stay out of Russia for the time being. Also, Pinky is feeling kinda passive-aggressive against Georgia right now because he drank some crappy Georgian wine a week or two ago which was probably his own damn fault for automatically buying it because it was the slightest bit exotic even though he knew good and well that it was cheap wine (plus he’s a beer guy anyway), and we’re just gonna go ahead and stop this run-on sentence right here.

Moving on.

Want to do Azerbaijan today? Good! Us, too.

Although after WWI they established themselves as the first modern republic in the "Muslim World," granting women suffrage before the US and UK, Azerbaijan was invaded pretty quickly by the oil-hungry Soviets and ended up supplying a lot of the oil that Russia consumed in WWII.

Just to give you an idea of where in the world Azerbaijan is... right in the thick of the crazy.

All that oil has kind of defined what we think of Azerbaijan today. The area is so saturated with oil and natural gas that spontaneous fires erupt. This is simultaneously awesome and terrifying. Imagine walking your dog when SHAZAM! The park bursts into flames? Like we said: awesome and terrifying. During the Soviet period they definitely suffered through some extreme environmental degradation because of it, but there's a whole lot to offer here beyond liquefied dinosaurs. For example, there have been folks living there since the Stone Age! There's even a village that's been inhabited for 5,000 years! It's called Khinalug (Ketsh Khalkh as locals call it) and you definitely need to check it out:

PS: we'd totally live here for 5,000 years!

Let's head over to Baku - the capital city nestled on the coast of the Caspian Sea (more like PRINCE Caspian Sea) - and see what's emerged from all those ancient cultures and empires and forgotten names. 

Baku is the largest city and port in all of Azerbaijan and all of the Caucasus! Also, it's nightlife is supposed to be pretty hoppin'.

Seems like there might be a good bit of DJ chatter on this station, but we'll see...

ANS ÇM Radio

Click on one of the "__K" numbers at the top of the page to correspond to your internet speed.

Also, this station has a one-hour program that seems like it might be interesting. We LOVE the 1998 site design, especially the flames.

Radio Odlar Yurdu

Just click on the "Yeni" icon in the left menu bar

.

Chile - Chords from Chonchi

Man, that Namibian station turned out to be awesome, huh? The stuff late in the day kinda sucked, but that was their Friday night "party jam mix" show or something like that, so we gotta forgive them for it. However, we might be able to forgive them for their "Abortion is a Crime" reggae jam. Ellen was totally traumatized - minding her own business, jamming out, when WHAM! She was slapped up side the head with someone else's religious/political views. Keep 'em to yourself, y'all.

Keeping that one aural assault aside, we'll definitely keep that station around!

Ok, today let's head down to Chile! Like 'ol Kilgore Trout once said, "It must be nice to be from such a long and narrow country." And, honestly, who could disagree?

We're gonna head to Chonchi on Isla Chiloé. 

ooooooooooooooooo, prettttty

Pinky's ex-boyfriend spent about a month on this island. A giant volcano erupted while he was down there. Pinky read about the explosion in the paper thinking it was way further south, but when he looked it up he found out it was only a few dozen miles away! --insert panic here-- Not the kinda thing you want to find out when your lover has limited internet access. It's a fucking VOLCANO. Anyway, they weren't close enough to be in any real danger, but he did bring back a bunch of pumice rocks made when the ash hit the water. Their weight completely belies their size. You can float them!

This may or may not be THE volcano... but isn't it stunning?

Moving on.

Although the food is supposed to be bland and horrible (mostly unseasoned mutton and potatoes), everyone we know that's visited says that you've gotta make it down there. Pinky's brother says that Santiago is one of the coolest, hippest cities he's ever been to, and he's seen just about every city with a concert venue. There's supposed to be a pretty libertine sexual revolution going on there as well. Good food, good music, good sex? Sign us up, please!

With a fat demographic dividend almost of working age, and with the fantastic way they're managing their copper exports (nationalized, and Chile is by far the world's largest producer. It has admirably avoided the resource curse while maintaining a dynamic economy), Chile stands to become a much bigger name in the coming decades. Just tell folks you heard it here first.

So, with out further adieu, let's tune in and see what they're up to now...

Radio San Carlos de Chonchi

Una Radio de Hoy Inicio

(Click on the gaudy "San Carlos on line" headphones button right under the menu bar and to the right.)

.