XM made it official today: The Theme Time Radio Hour with your host Bob Dylan will debut on May 3rd — at 10 a.m. Eastern Time.

Take a trip back to the golden age of radio. With music hand-selected from his personal collection, Bob Dylan takes you to places only he can.

The theme of the first show will be “weather,” and some of the tunes Dylan will spin include “Blow, Wind, Blow,” by Muddy Waters, “Come Rain or Come Shine,” the Harold Arlen classic, sung by Judy Garland, and “California Sun” by Joe Jones. Can’t wait.

And, yes, there is some less than galvanizing news about “special guests” in some of the press reports that have accompanied XM’s announcement:

The show would also include contributions from special guests that include Elvis Costello, Charlie Sheen, Penn Jillette, Sarah Silverman and Jimmy Kimmel.

Three comedians, one over-exposed singer and a buffoon. Well, make of that what you will — I’ll wait to hear the show.

XM has a promo audio clip on this page. It’s mostly fluff with quotes from all and sundry saying what a big influence on them Dylan has been. Yeah, yeah, blah, blah. The money part is the spoken word promo for the show by Dylan himself:

Join me, Bob Dylan, for “The Theme Time Radio Hour,” the finest hour in American broadcasting, an hour of themes, dreams and schemes. We make the rules, and we break the rules. Join us and see how we do that. Right here on XM.

He’s definitely got a radio voice going; he’s shooting for sleepy, seductive and mysterious. (mp3 clip here).

I think it’s going to be fun.

Now I guess I have to bite the bullet and subscribe. Paying money to listen to the radio! May I never get used to it.

….

Addendum: The full press release that various media outlets are quoting from is located here. Some other details from there:

The first episode of “Theme Time Radio Hour with Your Host Bob Dylan” will be devoted to the theme of “weather,” with a song list that spans “A Place in the Sun” sung in Italian by Stevie Wonder, “The Wind Cries Mary” by Jimi Hendrix and “Keep on the Sunny Side” by The Carter Family, among many others. Song lists for future episodes will be built around themes such as “cars,” “dance,” “police,” and “whiskey.” Complete track lists from each “Theme Time Radio Hour” show will be posted on a dedicated Bob Dylan page on XM Satellite Radio’s website (http://www.xmradio.com/bobdylan) that will also include a link for users to purchase select songs heard on Bob Dylan’s show through Napster, XM’s digital music partner, as well as photos and information on encore broadcasts. Fans also can e-mail their questions and music requests directly to Bob Dylan at bobdylan@xmradio.com.

“With ‘Theme Time Radio Hour’ Bob redefines ‘cool radio’ by combining a sense of intellect with edginess in a way that hasn’t been on radio before,” said Lee Abrams, chief creative programming officer, XM Satellite Radio. “Bob has put a lot of work into his XM show and it’s clear that he’s having a good time behind the mic.”

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