Radio Sweethearts

I was browsing through our incoming links while my mom thought I was listening to her on the phone, and I noticed something odd. One of the links was in German. I’d been thinking about our audience lately, wondering who all reads. I wasn’t thinking they’d be German.

Given that our topics (save when Kerry goes all dewy-eyed over Eurovision) are oh, I don’t know, American Public Media, National Public Radio (based in Washington, D.C.), and Public Radio International, and… wait. No. Scratch that last one, and then the networks we cover will all be U.S. based. I’d assumed our readers were all here, too.

Why, our readers are as American as, oh, driving a hotrodded Pontiac Firebird:

But here comes Cohu to prove me wrong:

Der verlassene Hörer tröstet sich mit Garrison Keillor und Ira Glass, und findet es schade, dass das deutsche Radio seine Stars so wenig zu feiern weiß. Vielleicht müsste ihnen hierzulande auch mal jemand einFan-Blog widmen.

[Dabei fällt mir auf, dass sämtliche Schlaubi-Radiosprecher und ihreFans Brillen mit schwarzen Kunststoffgestellen tragen; Cohu eingeschlossen. Ein unwillkürlicher Geheimcode?]

Now, my German is EXTREMELY rusty – I haven’t said a word more than “Wollen Sie ausgehen, mein klein Hund?” (I’m extremely polite to the puppy, I think it breeds good manners) – and I will therefore not hesitate to destroy the message Cohu wants to get across:

The woebegone listener consoles herself with Garrison Keillor and Ira Glass, finding it heartbreaking that German radio and its stars are not more widely known. Maybe they, too, should have such awesome fan blogs.

(It made me happy, by the way, that all these radio hosts and their fans wear glasses with black artistic vision; and Cohu counts himself among their ranks. Is it some kind of unwitting secret code?)

Okay, so I flatter myself a bit with that translation, which I have room to do, because I really just sort of decided what about half of those words were all about.

I defy you to tell me I’m wrong.

But don’t think we haven’t noticed the thing with the glasses and the public radio. Brooke Gladstone has them, too. I’m pretty sure about half of KCRW is nearsighted.

Note that I actually verified my translation with Google Translate, and it made less sense than what I came up with on my own, so I went with what I think it says (or should say).