I’ve taken to listening to Spanish language radio on the way too and from work. This is great — I get a full two hours of language and vocabulary learning in Spanish and no time expended above what I was doing, all I do is listen as I drive around town.

Edgar “Shoboy” Sotelo is the morning DJ at La Mega Mezcla 107.5, a recently-redesigned Spanish language station which features music far from mariachi — mostly it sounds like stuff my kids would listen to, just the lyrics are in Espanol. Shakira is the biggest name I hear.   Apparently, I find now from a web search, this is a nationwide Spanish language broadcast. Shoboy himself is not here in Texas, but in California — and graduated from Cal Poly Pomona, where I also attended. Small world! No wonder I like his show, which I admit tends to the salacious — he buys his son a GI-Joe and it somehow has the middle finger sticking up; he interviews two women, a wife and mistress, who meet because the husband/lover has (not too brightly) brought them to the same hotel …

But this is nothing Howard Stern would balk at. Shoboy speaks with both a normal DJ voice and as a squeeky ventriloquist-like voice which sounds like a goat’s, a voice which seems to go by the name of  “Chabello”, Micho, which/who  plays in to adding a third character to the show along with a young woman whose name I can’t remember — perhaps because they don’t keep announcing it as they do his. Chabelo Micho makes the most colorful jokes, acts like the wise fool, as they used to call it. From listening to this show, I have learned that Miss Mexico became Miss Universe, that William Levy, Mexican telenovela star, was accused of sexual misconduct with a minor but denies it, that Nationwide Insurance will give you a group policy on your home and auto, no matter how many aunts, cousins and other relations are living in your home with you.

I look forward to listening. It’s partly scandalous and partly educational — what could be better? What vocabulary have I picked up? Oh, enganar, which means to fool someone — celosa, which means jealous — the only problem is I never have a chance to speak or write Spanish since starting listening. I guess I could sing along with the songs.

The funniest thing about it all is that I feel like I am evesdropping in on an all-Spanish speaking world. Yes, I have even heard jokes made about gringos. And if I ever met Shoboy in person, I know I would not hear Spanish, because raised in California, he speaks the same dialect of English as I do, he is, as we say in the school, fully bilingual. You can hear it on the show, as he switches in English words and phrases. I wonder if he would want to be an English language DJ if he had the chance. Well, I hope not, I’m enjoying the show in Spanish. My only question at the end of all is: what does “Shoboy” actually mean?