This ended up way too long for our Facebook, so I’m putting it here.

Hey Hourz fans!

I’ve had the privilege of being part of Hourz since 2014. That’s right—four years!

I couldn’t have asked for a better end to my time on Hourz and my college career. My final broadcast with Terrorsquid and Spaceman lasted 11 hours and 22 minutes. In the final 7 hours and 22 minutes over our scheduled end time, YOU raised over $500 for the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund. If any of you missed the opportunity to donate, I encourage you to do so now. Their donate page is http://www.diocancerfund.org/donate/. (Donations to 501(c)(3) organizations are tax deductible!) We’d like to give special thanks to Zach, Ursula, Alex, Kris, Jason, Nick, and Rev for their donations.

Thanks to all our listeners for supporting what we love to do. Please remember that all the work the Hourz staff does is unpaid. There were many moments when conflicts with the management at WDBM or circumstances in my personal life made quitting seem desirable, but I stayed on Hourz for the great community that supports it. Remember that we do this for you!

To my co-hosts Bloodbeard, Spaceman, Terrorsquid, Hell Spawn, and Lilith: Thank you all for your friendship. It was a pleasure working and headbanging with you. I leave knowing that the future of the show is in good hands.

To my colleagues in the industry: Thank you for all the great music, interviews, concert tickets, and merch you’ve hooked me up with over the past eight years during my time at WSDP and WDBM. Your support has been the backbone for the great content we’re able to put on the air every week. Special thanks go out to Munsey at Skateboard Marketing; Nick and Bram at The Syndicate; Kodi at Marauder (and formerly The Syndicate); Greg at Chaos Theory; Liz and Dave at Earsplit PR; Nathan at Svart (among other labels); and Vince at Metal Blade Records. I know I’ve missed a few of you. Still, thank you!

To my guests and interviewees: Thank you for your wonderful work and for taking the time to share it with me and my listeners. Thank you to Dr. Albert Cohen (pictured) for being a kickass guest host, and also for coming to my college graduation. Thank you to local bands Dagon, Kingdom of Ends, Wulfhook, Battlecross, and Halstatt for your music, your friendship, and your support of my shows. Thank you to Revocation, Cannibal Corpse, Goatwhore, Exhumed, Black Fast, Napalm Death, Korpiklaani, Tyr, Moonsorrow, Heidevolk, Ensiferum, Accept, Origin, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Butcher Babies, Starkill, Vektor, Kataklysm, Blackguard, Allegaeon, and many more for interviewing with a young metalhead (some when I was only 15!) when it was probably only marginally worth your time.

To my mom: Thanks for carpooling me to shows when I was a young dumb metalhead. Also for letting me go to shows on school nights during high school, including once the night before my algebra final.

To the staff at WSDP: Thank you for giving me the freedom and support to become the broadcaster I am today. Thanks especially to the late Lynn Grunst for nitpicking my diction and single-handedly taking me from a timid teenager with a fear of public speaking to an award-winning orator and confident young adult. Thank you to Bill Keith for letting me play metal during the daytime even though WSDP’s main listenership mostly hated it, for letting me work in the office whenever I was overcome with teen angst (even though I sometimes made you late to get home), and for your continued support of all my endeavors. Thank you to John Kreger for your personal support and for dealing with all the times I’m five minutes late to get on the air.

I graduated today with a B.S. in advanced mathematics and statistics. I will continue my education in a math PhD program beginning Fall 2019. Depending on how things work out, I may be back on the airwaves soon enough. In the interim, I hope to run into you at some shows!

Thanks for a great four years, and good luck to Hell Spawn and Lilith as they take on full ownership of Hourz!

Eliot “Bacchus” Bongiovanni

Former host, Thee Hourz O’ Power