This post started the way a lot of them do, but I guarantee it’s a JacoBLOG entry different than anything I’ve written over the past two decades. And yet, it’s most definitely on-brand.

And given some of the tough goings so far in 2026, it’s timely. With the current round of RIFs, a sluggish sales environment, a wishy-washy FCC, and a perilous AI environment, we could all do with an inspirational story that shows off innovation, community, and some much-needed humor.

Many of the posts I write are inspired by FOFs (Friends of Fred)—people who send me a news story or article they think might make good blog fodder. In this case, it was Dr. Ed Cohen who sent me a link to an amazing article that appeared in the BBC’s “Travel” section a few months back—“Welcome to Slowjamastan, the world’s newest nation you’ve never heard of.“

Prior to reading this story (and wondering why Dr. Ed sent it to me), I didn’t know what a “micronation” was. So, I turned to Wikipedia:

“A micronation is a small, self-proclaimed entity that asserts independence and sovereignty but lacks recognition from any established world governments or major international organizations. They often issue their own flags, stamps, and currency, and are frequently created as political protests, hobbyist projects, or artistic experiment.”

It turns out Slowjamastan is the world’s newest micronation but it’s apparently difficult to even estimate how many of these mini-countries exist on our planet. That’s because as Business Insider reports, “Anyone can declare a micronation at any time.” That said, BBC Global estimates there are roughly 200 active, “physically organized projects” at this time.

Slowjamastan is apparently the youngest of these, physically an 11-acre plot of land, located between the Coachella Valley in California and the Mexico border. Yes, in the middle of the desert.

In just five years or so, Slowjamastan’s population has grown, now approximately 33,000 strong. Many carry Slowjamastan passports and its currency to prove their citizenship and their solvency. And they have all vowed not to wear Crocs, an official policy of this up-and-coming micronation.

Of course, this fledgling new nation has its own currency, a fire and police department, and a national animal (the raccoon).

And the radio connection? The Sultan of Slowjamastan, the world traveler who cooked this entire enterprise up, is someone you may know among your radio industry associations or perhaps you’ve met him at Morning Show Boot Camp or other conferences. You might even carry his weekend program, syndicated by Benztown, “Sunday Night Slow Jams.“

The show is heard on a couple hundred stations across the globe (but apparently not in Slowjamastan as there’s no radio station licensed there—yet.) To no one’s surprise, Randy’s all-time favorite music genre is “slow jams,” typified by artists like Keith Sweat, Marvin Gaye, Luther Vandross, Boyz II Men, and Usher.

You might know him as R Dub!, host of the aforementioned Benztown show, and PD of Local Media San Diego’s Z90 and Magic 92.5. And his secret identity is veteran programmer, Randy Williams—a radio guy like many of you reading this. Maybe what makes him different from all of us is that R Dub dreams REALLY BIG, and then truly acts on his visions. When his day ends at the radio station, R Dub! lords over his micronation, doing his sultan-like duties, while you cut the lawn, run errands, or pick up the kids.

Over the decades, we’ve encountered innovators who have created brilliant software, exciting events, large-scale charity benefits, new formats, and unique personality franchises. But I cannot think of a programmer, talent, or owner who has built something as unique as Slowjamastan, an operating micronation in the California desert.

Benztown’s Dave “Chachi” Denes loves Randy’s adventuresome spirit and how he brings that to his radio endeavors:

“R Dub! is one of those rare people who makes you think bigger. The guy has literally traveled to every country on the planet, started his own micronation, and somehow still finds the time to produce and host Sunday Night Slow Jams, which airs on more than 200 stations, all while programming Magic 92.5 and Z90 in San Diego.

What I admire most about R Dub! though isn’t the résumé, it’s the way he lives his life. He’s endlessly curious, always chasing the next adventure, and he has a way of pulling the people around him out of their comfort zones. Because of him, I’ve had the chance to experience incredible trips to Africa, Panama, and Mexico that I probably never would have taken on my own.”

Imagine being Randy’s GM? Well, we don’t have to because Gregg Wolfson is both the market manager and an owner of Local Media San Diego. Here’s his take on his PD:

“R Dub! is the ultimate entrepreneur. Whatever crazy ideas he has, he executes with incredible creativity, passion, and a vision of the end game. Working side by side with him for the past 15+ years has provided a wealth of entertainment, content, education, and many successes. R Dub! keeps you on your toes because you never know what’s next.”

I’ll say. I had met Randy in the past in various radio meetings. But I had no idea about his secret life beyond radio. When I reached out, he/the Sultan immediately granted me an interview. It appears below.

Randy obviously loves his Slowjamastan project, and after all these years, has a strong passion for great radio. He gladly connected the dots to point how his micronational labor of love has been inspired by what he’s learned all these years in the radio business.

The Slowjamastan Story

FJ: So, let’s start at the beginning. Tell me a little bit about Randy Williams before we get into the Slowjamastan story.

R Dub!: I knew exactly what I wanted to do at 13 years-old to the point where I was running to the library to check out books on broadcasting. And when I say I knew what I wanted to do, it overnight changed my life.

And I was a 13-year-old boy, and (that age group) starts getting into bad things when they run with the wrong crowd. I immediately shaped up and turned from a C student into an A-plus student. I thought, “Hey, I got to go to college and get a scholarship and earn good grades. I want to be in radio.”

And the crazy thing happened when I moved to Tucson, Arizona. It was the early ’90s and it was just the right market size—not too small, but not too enormous, small enough to give a kid a chance. And at 15 years-old, it started. By the time I was a senior in high school, I was the full-time night guy at our local radio station in Tucson, which was called Power 1490. By the time I was a senior, I was full time in radio. I worked at KRQ with Tim Richards for many years, and got my programming stripes in Tucson.

Fifteen years later, it happened, and I ended up programming for 92.3 in Los Angeles with our friend Dave “Chachi” Denes, who was programming KBIG. I’ve been here in San Diego for 15 years at a phenomenal company, locally owned and operated. My owner (Gregg Wolfson) is right there in the corner office. He goes to surf in the morning and then comes in for our 9 o’clock sales meetings. It’s still fun here. We’re still having a great time. There’s still bodies in the building and music in the hallways and laughter. And we’re doing our best to navigate a tough business world here in San Diego.”

FJ: But you also do that “slow jams” show on Sunday nights.

R Dub!: I’ve always been enamored with R&B music. As a child growing up, before Tucson, I lived in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Orlando. I gravitated towards the urban radio stations, and I would stay up late at night listening to “The Quiet Storm”—you know, all the urban slow jams, and the DJ would come on, and you’d hear the rain sound effects in the background. And that’s what really, really got me passionate about radio, and that’s specifically the show that I wanted to do.

So, I started that show when I was 16 years-old in Tucson. Syndicated it in 2001, did it myself. I got up to about 26 stations on my own. I remember every Monday morning I would go to the FedEx depot and drop off 26 overnight packages with CDs of my show, barter free, cost free. It didn’t cost anything. It was an investment I made because I knew I had to do that, just because I loved it.

My third syndicated station was in Anchorage, Alaska. And I remember when I called the program director and sent him the demo and he said, “Yeah, I’m gonna give it a shot.” I remember exactly where I was when I was on the phone. And I said to myself: ‘I said, self, this show’s made it in Stockton and Las Cruces and Tucson and Yakima, but if this show succeeds in Anchorage, Alaska, you may have something truly nationwide, worldwide, general market.’ And to date, I think Anchorage has our second highest numbers. I’ve been with Benztown now for going on maybe 15 or 16 years.

It was on Shark Tank. I was able to pitch my Slow Jams show to the Sharks in 2013. I did it—you’re not supposed to—but I did it strictly for publicity. I really didn’t necessarily want anyone else owning a piece of Slow Jams, but I went on Shark Tank and had the time of my life. It was my dream to be on the show.

I also own slowjams.com and also I have the trademark for the word “Slowjams,” so that’s now (part) of my company.

FJ: But how do you get from a syndicated radio show to Slowjamastan? Walk me through that leap, Randy.

R Dub!: So behind me in my office is a map of the world. And about 12 years ago, I began a journey to visit every country in the world—all 193 of them—and I went to Europe and I think I saw seven countries in two weeks, and I was very foolish in thinking that the world was like Europe because (on that continent), all the countries are close together. You just take a train from one to the other. So, I did the math and I’m like, okay, 193 divided by seven. If every time I take a vacation from the radio station—figure a week or two weeks—if I just hit seven countries each time, I’ll have this done in no time. I wasn’t considering Africa and the Pacific and how hard it was to get around.

I was on a journey to see every single country in the world, and coronavirus happened. So that kind of halted a lot of my plans. I was getting very antsy and very itchy. I had island fever, you can call it, here in the US. But there were no new countries that I hadn’t seen that were open yet. I would go on Google every single day and search and just wait for a country to open up so I could dart over there and check one off.

I was almost finished. And then I had heard about a country inside the United States called Molossia outside of Reno. And somewhere in the back of my head, it was subconsciously planted. I decided, “Let me do a little bit of research” and I jumped online. And sure enough, there’s this man who declared his property and he lives on it, his homestead, a country. And I thought it was the most cleverest thing ever.

And so I booked a Southwest ticket to Reno, Nevada. I rented a car and I visited the Republic of Molossia and I had the best time. I showed up, and this guy is living in the middle of the desert and there’s an immigration checkpoint and there’s a fence and there’s signs. And he’s dressed up in a dictator uniform.

So, my point is that Slowjamastan certainly is not an original idea. Apparently, the idea was conceived and embedded deep in my brain during that tour of Molossia. I do remember joking during that tour to one of my friends. “We should start our own country.” And it literally just came out of my head: “We’ll call it Slowjamastan,” and I chuckled. And that was the start.

And then days later, I found myself on Zillow searching for land. I’ve always enjoyed the creative arts, and I’ve always suffered from a little bit of A.D.D. —“What’s next?” or “What can I do next?” Totally aside from business, I just like doing fun things, whether they make money or not.

So, I started looking for land and I had some criteria. I had a filter that everything would pass through. Number one, I had to be able to afford it. And I live in San Diego, and land around here is not cheap. So, there was affordability.

Number two, it had to be more than five acres. I didn’t want just a small plot of land for a house. I wanted some big land.

And number three was it had to be in driving distance because there was a lot of cheap land in Wyoming and Arkansas and Oklahoma. So, it had to be accessible. I also found a lot of cheap land, but it was so far deep into the desert or the wilderness to get there, you’d need a 4×4 or a helicopter.

Zillow gave me one match and one match only. And it was love at first sight. I bought 11 acres about two hours east of San Diego in Imperial County near the Salton Sea, which is a giant lake here in Southern California. And I bought it sight unseen. It spoke to me. It was right on the highway, 11 acres, 19 grand. It looked beautiful.

FJ: You know, I have long recommended that air personalities find a side hustle because you never know when your main gig is going to go away, but you have taken this to a completely new level. And this isn’t just buying 11 acres of land.

R Dub!: This is well beyond the side hustle. I mean, plus, if there’s a profit piece of this, I’m not aware of it.

FJ: It just looks like you’re having fun here.

R Dub!: That’s how it starts in a lot of successful businesses. When I started the Slow Jams show, I had no idea that I would ever make any money from it. And it ended up being a better source of income than the actual radio station. It’s been supporting me for decades and setting me up for a nice life.

The same thing happened with Slowjamastan. The interesting thing was we did it just for fun. And when I say we, I called one of my best friends and I said, “Hey, want to do something fun with me? You can be my VP, my Border Chief.” And we met in the desert and we put up the sign. That’s all we did on our first stop in Slowjamastan.

One of the most interesting things was what happened after we put up the sign. We set one desk in the middle of the sand. And we waited, and in less than 48 hours from a Reddit post, the internet exploded. People were saying, “What IS this?”

Luckily, we had a website for people to go to. And out of pure curiosity, we had people looking for an escape, and some people thought this was a shady foreign organization staking their claim. So that was the beginning. And then the bloggers found us. We had a YouTube guy come out and do a video that got about a million views.

So, it started with a website, with land, and with a sign. Today, we have over 33,000 registered citizens from over 120 countries. We have been featured in over 1,000 news articles, blogs, podcasts, TV and radio segments as well.

TOMORROW: Slowjamastan has strong connections to the art of building a great radio brand. In part 2, R Dub! puts on his radio programming hat, and takes us through the process of launching a micronation.

Become a citizen of Slowjamastan. Sign up here.

One last note: Slowjamastan has received incredible coverage from myriad media outlets. R Dub!’s favorite feature, however, was produced and aired by a local San Diego TV affiliate. And it is exceptionally well done:

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Fred Jacobs

President & Founder at Jacobs Media

Fred Jacobs founded Jacobs Media in 1983, and quickly became known for the creation of the Classic Rock radio format.

Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.

In 2008, jacapps was launched - a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created - a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact.

Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.

Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.

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