To My Fellow Pirate’s, My Faithful Listeners:

It is with heartfelt thanks and a heavy heart that I must officially announce the end of The Venom Nation Radio Show.

I started these shows in 2004, and beginning April 19, 2008, it was my pleasure to be welcomed into your homes every Saturday evening, and even a number of Sunday evenings. I am very proud of the body of work I leave behind with Pirate, including over 100 episodes of The Venom Nation, multiple episodes of “Pirate Radio Sunday Night”, and several hosted episodes of “The Rock and John Show”. I am even more proud to have been able to bring several friends to Pirate, including The BrownSound Radio show, with host Metal Thrashin Mad, Luke Brown, and bands such as Edens Curse, Charlemagne, Takara, Jeff Scott Soto, and Sacred Oath. Eric Ragno, and Blindid, two of my first featured artists, have become great friends outside of Pirate and the show. More recently, I’m proud to have introduced Rock Poser, our very own news editor, to the on-air side of Pirate, and I’m proud that he will continue building his Pirate following with Luke and “The Brown Sound”.

I offer my warmest thanks to Shows Director Rock for all of his help and guidance over the past two years, to John Silvers, for allowing me a few hours a week to play in his vast “sandbox”, and to Tremendous Voice Talents such as Mark St. John, Jim van Johns, and most importantly, Kevin Anthony, for all they have contributed to this show. I could not dream of returning to a job in any type of radio unless Rock or John (or both) were involved in some aspect.

Finally, I must thank you, the listeners, for over six years of loyal support and encouragement, and two great years on Pirate, and I carry with me the memories we have shared in Pirate Chat, both good and somber, throughout my run here on the Pirate.

I’m told there’s an open invitation here for me at Pirate, so long as there is a pirate, they say, there will be a spot for me. I don’t anticipate returning to hosting in the forseeable future. If it ever does happen, I’m fairly certain it won’t be the “Venom Nation”. The “Venom Nation” brand has had a great run, it’s time that goes to bed.

In what I believe to be my finest hour here on Pirate, I had the good fortune and extreme pleasure to sit down with a man I consider a pirate Legend. For one night, on the 20th anniversary of Pirate Radio , I got to talk to, on-air, the one and only “Real Deal” Shadow Steele, a pirate original. As I leave the show, I plan on following his credo he left me with that evening. I asked him for the honor of playing him just one song, in return for over twenty years of playing the songs we all asked for. He obliged and quoted his good friend Bret Michaels and said “how about ‘nothin but a good f*ckin time”. Through ups and downs, I can say that’s one thing that has never failed me on pirate. I’ve had “nothin but a good f*ckin time”.

With Warmest Regards,

Steve-O, The Vicar Of Venom