The 90s Are Alive and Well. Machine Bolt and Él Farto take a moment to look back on some special guests from Season 1 of KPODD 101.3 Some people (Gene) say that these are some of the most brilliant people in public radio, literary culture, or TV writers and producers simply playing funny characters in a period comedy about a Los Angeles radio station in 1997-1998. Literally, is Gene insane? Is he, like, from the future? Guests: Jesse Thorn (NPR’s Bullseye, “Jordan, Jesse, Go!”); Laurie...

Él Farto and Machine Bolt have an announcement. Super Caller Mike is milking a venomous spider into thimbles and condoms after the spider was smuggled to him in a Band Aid box. The competition is out of their coma and you’ll never guess what jump-started them. Plus: Listener Review! Also: The phone line is sponsored by Fruitopia® and everyone in the world is filled with deep regret and painful awareness with regard to this. God save us all.

Radio consultants Genevieve Haas and Andrew Walsh, hired by Gene to whip the morning show into shape, give on-air advice to Machine Bolt and Él Farto on how to get jiggy with it and bring the ratings fight to Chudd and Carl (still in comas). Get your whips and your latex, and tune in for weather, listener calls, and some deeply inside-baseball radio strategy on this morning’s broadcast!

There’s never been a better time to buy a Toyota, but time is a construct. Rocktober came in without warning and is winding down with a certain flair as Machine Bolt and Él Farto wade into a swag swamp of Bacardi guitars and KPODD T-shirts! Heavy Kevy calls in! New details emerge about Chudd Cuddler and Carl Cannibal’s dirt bike crash in Elsinore! Machine Bolt and Él Farto hover near number two in the ratings while Chudd and Carl hover near death in comas! The phrase that truly pays: As long...

Call 818-85-FARTO and tell us all your thoughts on ROCKTOBER! Él Farto and Machine Bolt (real names) have been accused of stealing their format from a competing morning team, and they start the broadcast getting a lot off their chests about that. The new AlternativeRockMobile™ has been christened, and is out there on the 405 this morning! If you’re a lucky listener with the KPODD bumper sticker you could get a free guitar! Tune in to this morning’s broadcast for a sad update on local radio...

Consider that forgetting your dreams each morning may be the key to happiness. While you're doing that, Whiskey Dick is writing a hard-hitting prison memoir about his time (3 days) in prison (County lock-up), and Él Farto and Machine Bolt are giving you hacks to make people like you instantly. Plus! More unvarnished truths are spoken while Lynn is out of the room, women and drugs and fake fame on the tuba player scene, and the most dangerous live remote in the 818 is happening Friday and it...

October 1st 1998 is another day full of excitement and chill vibes for Machine Bolt and Él Farto, who are down one Morning Zoo Butt Nugget after a riot broke out at that vegan restaurant. They take a moment this episode to reflect on some of the morning FM broadcasters who blazed the trail that the third most popular morning team in LA is honored to walk. That plus weather, snake attacks and dogs!

Él Farto and Machine Bolt definitely are not aware of 17th century Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza. They have, however, come into a bit of a windfall and upgraded at The Oakwood. Mike’s having Black Feather meetings at the new apartment, Tim from Tower is on the line this morning, plus things go sideways at Seth’s Bar and Grill and Whiskey lands in the slammer. Epic!

It’s September 17, 1998 and Machine Bolt and Él Farto are consulting crystal balls, entertainment news reports and super callers during the 8 o’clock hour of the morning show today. Tune in so you don’t miss the latest from Crazy Sign Guy, a plea for information on the whereabouts of Bloodhound, and information about the first remote the KPODD morning show will be doing at a bar since the incident! Very little discussion of gangrenous wounds or animal inseminations gone wrong. Just some...

Fall takes its time finding The Southland, and Él Farto takes the high road about Machine Bolt selling his car while he was out of town. More rips in the space time continuum as the guys get to the bottom of this Wil Wheaton World Wide Web posting and a weird card from Lynn, plus: The struggle to find euphemisms! Crazy Sign Guy’s wisdom and insight! And remember: The harder you try to deny your true pants, the more humiliating they become. This episode is brought to you by Sevan II: The Big...

It's 09/03/98! Really just music from Matthew Sweet, Super Furry Animals, Hole — maybe an ad for SeVan II ®. Oh, and Él Farto calls in from the Airfone on his Continental Airlines flight. Definitely not a recon mission into a shadowy underworld. And no food-based vandalism. Pretty basic, really. Doesn’t end on a note of ominous struggle or anything.

It’s August 27th, 1998 and The Southland is seeing continuing showers as Él Farto continues bathing in sinks after hours at the WPODD offices and studios in Chicago. Things have gotten even stranger with Super Roommate Mike’s visit to his gang of seafaring outcasts, and Tim from Tower Sunset is in the land of the ice and snow where the midnight sun and the hot springs flow, or whatever they call Dublin. What the hell is going on with Lynn, and what’s the story on the weird wild card? The guys...

Good morning from 08/20/98 where life at The Oakwood is torn asunder. Machine Bolt tries to stay anchored in Van Nuys, Él Farto continues camping in an office, and Super Roommate Mike is still M.I.A. in Clearwater, Florida at the center for nautically themed occult gangs. Plus: listener calls! Brought to you by Blockbuster Video® See “Press Hard: The Dixon Ticonderoga Story” now available on home video.

It’s August 13, 1998. Él Farto calls in from Chicago and Super Caller Mike calls in from Clearwater while Machine Bolt watches the fort in Van Nuys because he doesn’t believe in the physics of air travel. The morning team experiments with pulling on the emotional heartstrings of each other, their former roommate, and the audience. Also, Él Farto spoke with Crazy Sign Guy again, and got a lot more of the backstory. Mike’s menagerie is not doing great, but he has a new employee to take care of...

It’s August 6th, 1998! Apparently the live remote at the West Valley Taekwondo College didn't go so well, but let's not regret the past! Today, we have a special guest! Maybe you know Alison Rosen from her writing in Rolling Stone, Vibe, SPIN, Elle, and more. Or from her stint as newsgirl and co-host of "The Adam Carolla Show", or awesome shows like "Upworthy Weekly", "Childish" with Greg Fitzsimmons, or her podcast "Alison Rosen is Your New Best Friend". But this is 1998 and Machine Bolt and...

It’s July 30th, 1998 and Paul Myers of the Gravelberrys is sitting in with the morning crew to discuss sobriety, Toronto and Ladies who are Bare and Naked. We also listen to a demo tape from an aspiring local radio personality. Intern Derek gets a field commission to run the carts, and everyone talks about their various regrets and whether San Francisco was their locus or refuge.

It’s July 23, 1998! In the future, Colin Nissan will go on to become a very funny writer celebrated for his work in The Onion, McSweeney’s, The New Yorker, The Paris Review, and more. But today, in 1998, he makes his living as a dead guy in the background on the hit show “E.R.” Machine Bolt and Él Farto will get the inside line on show biz from a very alive-and-well Colin Nissan! Plus: Machine Bolt does a bit of sleuthing and discovers Él Farto hitting Casa Vega for lunch... with Steph!...

It’s July 16, 1998! Machine Bolt and Él Farto are moving on up, the cops are in Merkin’s pocket, and Gary Shadow from KHJ knows that when the police fail DJs, society’s collapse is not far behind. Your calls on the MCI Worldcom Rock Talk Line™. Also, Taekwondo remote to promote! Plus: Versace is dead, crazy sign guy is god, and a couple of big male and female reticulated Pythons are nesting in the heavens above. Lastly, we’re organizing breakout groups of listeners who will fight each other,...

This podcast is sponsored by Tear Bucket®. Machine Bolt and Él Farto realize the upside of feeling down is getting over things! What we’re trying to say is, ÉL Farto went on a date with Steph. Super Roommate Mike calls in, asking the guys if they could get dressed in the morning at The Galpin instead of The Oakwood. And like all philosophers have pondered since the dawn of time, the raddest morning team is Los Angeles asks: Does the one-eyed monkey live a life of walking in circles? No,...

It's on July 2, 1998, and the guys are rolling calls starting with one disgruntled employee named Whiskey Dick. Then they spend some time shooting the breeze with Tower Records' number one salesman (of blank journals and media). All in all, regrets are out and optimism is in for the raddest morning team in the southland. Get us on!

It’s a heavy morning commute as the guys dive into Crazy Sign Guy's latest maxim, Él Farto debuts his new segment, and Machine Bolt drives halfway to hell and ends up nearly diabetic just to listen in on rival broadcaster Kurt Merkin on San Bernardino’s KDNG 107.7 FM. Producer Lynn thinks we’re culturally illiterate apparently. Plus, your calls, and the news!

It’s June 18, 1998 and famed psychiatrist Dr. Lauren Weedman (not a psychiatrist) returns to the show promoting a new book, and she’ll attempt to settle a few bets between Machine Bolt and Él Farto about whether or not the behavior in their friendship is appropriate. Crazy Sign Guy has a real gem, and the guys get sideswiped by a bunch of 4th graders. Plus your calls, and the news! Gooood mental health! Alternative Rock Radio! They're doing their best.

It’s June 11, 1998 and Josh Gondelman (HBO's "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver", Showtime's "Desus & Mero", and author of the book "Nice Try") drops into the studio to give the guys a peek into the world of gonzo rock journalism and the degenerate desperadoes (pop stars) he embeds himself with. Machine Bolt and El Farto are here to chase your blues away! The Sign Guy has an oddly life affirming message, and some comped Stank Beanies are laying around the booth! Plus your calls and The...

It’s the 4th of June 1998, and the gloom is trying to set in, but Machine Bolt and Él Farto refuse to let anything sour their mood! A brief detente between Él Farto and radio legend Kurt Merkin has collapsed back into active vitriol, meanwhile Machine Bolt has leaked a track from the new Beastie Boys album, tempting the fates of rock radio. This broadcast also covers lots of entertainment news, station drama, and you may or may not hear an update on what it’s like to share a studio apartment...