Ritmo Latino

a brief history

Ritmo Latino started out as El Ritmo Latino in August of
2003 on the small island of Saipan in Micronesia.

Shortly after arriving on Saipan, Neil began to miss the
Latin music he heard on the radio back in Denver.

So he decided to ask the local public radio station
director, Carl, if he could start a show.

This was during dinner one night.

Neil: I'd like to host a Latin music show.
Carl: Uh, okay. How many CDs do you have?
Neil: Five.
Carl: Can you pass the salt?

So, Neil started ordering CDs online. And soon they
began arriving by cargo ship, most of them caked in sea
salt and smelling of old men wearing black knee-high
socks with their sandles.

After he had acquired every Buena Vista Social Club
spin-off imaginable, he felt ready.

Neil: I'm ready.
Carl: For what?
Neil: You know, the show.
Carl: You were serious?
Neil: Yeah.
Carl: Can you pass the salt?

But being the nice guy that Carl is, he showed Neil
around the studio.

Neil: What's that button for?
Carl: Don't touch it.

Finally he allowed him to sit down and rotate a few dials
and even pretend to speak into the microphone.

The rest is history.

The name was changed in February of 2005 when one
too many native Spanish speakers said the "El" in El
Ritmo Latino was just plain stupid. They didn't really say
it out loud, but you could tell. (So says Neil.)

Since August of 2006 the show has been produced in
Warsaw, Poland where Neil lives with his attractive wife,
2 dogs, and 3 cats.

He can often be found outside sweeping while his elderly
neighbors look on with approval.

He decided to move to Poland because he heard the
weather was nice.