Zoomradiofm in Antigua
October 28, 2011.
At 6.30am, I fly from JFK airport ahead of the earliest bad snowstorm in recorded history. My favorite Dominican Jean Joseph is on the plane. I tell her it is her fault I am going to Antigua, I had thought about going to Dominica. Next time, she said!
At 10am I land in Puerto Rico, and spend the day enjoying watching palm trees sparkle and wave in the tropical sunshine and island breezes. At 10pm I land in Antigua, and am greeted by Mali Olatunji, who is a host of Zoomradiofm, and an artist with a long career as a photographer of fine art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan; and Patrick Dore, station manager of Zoomradiofm, who had a long career as a telecommunications engineer in New York City.
October 29, 2011
I am in the studio of Zoomradiofm, chatting with Mali on air about social issues. At 11am, I introduce the weekly health program of African Views, African Health Dialogues. We have some technical difficulties because I dont know how to seamlessly integrate live blogtalkradio with the mixer and sound equipment at Zoomradiofm. I have difficulty interacting with the guests and co-host Dr Ladi Owolabi, later I listened to the Afican Views podcast. My voice sounds distant, but all the other callers are loud and clear.
In the cool afternoon, I walk to the beach, past cormorants and horses, and wade in the warm Caribbean Sea which washes onto pink sand.
In the evening I am back in the studio, and get to chat with hosts Austin and Mali, and Mali's guest, journalist Frank. We have a spirited discussion about the many uses and criminalization of hemp. Frank claims that deforestation could be eliminated with use of hemp for paper manufacture. Go for it, I say!
The night winds down with Austin's beautiful calypso music. Every 30 minutes he says something, like who won the football game being played in St John's, or a comment on how New York City alerts has told residents to stay away from parks because branches have been broken by the heavy snow and are falling down.