The Italian voice of radio in America: Sal Palmeri

Dear friends,

As an artist I have the privilege to travel the world and to meet many people. I get to meet my fans, a thing I really love since they are the reason why I can live my passion, my life.

But I get to meet also a lot of people that work behind the scenes in the entertainment business, like radio DJs, television crews and journalists.

Well you can’t make friends with everybody, but at times you get to meet somebody and for some reasons you feel a special connection and you end up becoming good friends.

That’s why some of my fans are also some of my greatest friends and some of the business and media people end up becoming very dear friends too.

Yesterday I was invited to do a radio interview with Sal Palmeri for a program called “Un Ponte Sull’Oceano” a collaboration between ICN Radio and Radio Amica. ICN Radio is an Italian language radio station here in the USA and Radio Amica is a radio station from Sicily, Italy.

Really a “Un Ponte Sull’Oceano”, indeed a Bridge across the ocean.

Waiting for the connection with Radio Amica

Yesterday at the radio with Sal

I want to introduce you today with this BLOG the DJ that interviewed me yesterday: Sal Palmeri.

I met Sal 7 years ago when I came to NYC for the first time.

I was in NYC for only a few months and I had just released my CD “Italian Signorina” when I was invited for a radio interview at ICN, and very popular among the Italian community.

Posters of Italian stars that Sal brought to America

With Sal, a very well known DJ of ICN, there was an instant connection and now 7 years after that day we still share a very respectful and sincere friendship. 

Posters of Italian stars that Sal brought to America

Sal was born in Italy, in Sicily and moved to the USA when he was a teenager in 1958. His first passion was theatre. He studied acting and diction at the Hunter College of NYC and soon after his degree he started to work as DJ in NYC. His very distinctive voice became an instant success and in no time he was one of the most popular DJs in the Italian Community in NYC. He became the most requested presenter for events that were bringing here in the USA big stars of the Italian music like Claudio Villa, Gianni Morandi, Domenico Modugno, Albano, Mino Reitano, Don Backy, Massimo Ranieri, Antonello Venditti, I Pooh, Pupo, Little Tony and many more. They all were performing in the most prestigious Theatres in NYC like Carnegie Hall, Madison Square Garden, Philharmonic Hall, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Manhattan Center, Town Hall etc. and Sal was presenter for all them.

He even became the producer of the Concerts for many of those Italian stars in USA.

Posters of Italian stars that Sal brought to America

Sal worked for 23 years as speaker for several radios like WHBI/fm, WBNX/am, WHOM/fm, WPOW/fm, WNWK/fm, WDAS/fm, and WIFI/fm.

And it was Sal who on December 1st 1983 founded ICN  Radio  (Italian Communication Network), www.icnradio.com, the voice of the Italians in America. To this day this station has never stopped their programs, on the air 24/7 with a great variety of shows, going from music to theatre, from sport and cinema but also with news, and information and so much more.

Proclamation of Sal's Day

February 10, 1990 the United States House of Representatives, in occasion of Sal’s 25th anniversary of his work for the radio has even declared the “Sal Palmeri ‘s Day” on the 9th District of NYC. How cool is that! Sal is very humble and modest about his accomplishments, but I think that he has so much to be proud of. In his radio studio all around there are so many awards he received for his work in radio.

Yesterday during the radio interview

Thanks to Sal Radio ICN is still a very important and instrumental tool to promote Italian language and culture among the Italian Americans in New York and New Jersey. ICN radio has since a few years also joined forces with one of the most important Italian newspaper in the NY and NJ area: America Oggi. A very powerful multimedia network for the Italian community, thanks to whom the Italian Americans can stay connected with Italy and where they can also find all kind of information related to the Italian community.

Sal still does every day, Monday to Friday his very popular program “Buon Giorno Italia”, a program dedicated to music, information and Italian culture. Indeed the program I was invited for an interview 7 years ago.

Memories from Sal's wall

Since 2009 Sal is also the Artistic Director of the Italian Association of New York that organizes every year a Festival of the Italian Song in NYC.

Memories from Sal's wall

Well this is my friend Sal. A quiet exceptional man that has really accomplished so much in his life so far and who has still so much energy and passion to go on with new ventures and projects. Sal loves radio but he has never forgotten his first love for acting and writing script for movies and theatre. He is currently working on a theatrical play dedicated to the tragedy and the success of the immigrant.

I’m always very proud to say that he’s my friend and to receive his compliments and to have his support is, as you can imagine, a great deal of pride for me. He is a man with passion and respect for artists and music and it’s always a joy to be guest at his programs.

With Sal at the Cipriani in NYC

Yesterday it was also a lot of fun to go his studio and talk to him and with Giulia from Radio Amica in Sicily about my music, my future projects, my experience as an Italian artist in the USA and so much more.

I’m always so proud to see people like Sal that came to the USA with nothing, just a dream and become so successful in their fields. It’s such a wonderful life lesson for me to see that if you have a vision, if you believe in your dream and you are ready to commit to make it happen, really everything is possible in life.

With Sal after the release partyt for "Italian Signorina"

One at the time I will tell you in my future blogs about more incredible people of Italian heritage I met here in America that you may have never heard of, like Sal, have made from nothing a very incredible successful and meaningful live here in the USA some of them owning private banks, chemical companies, shopping malls…really incredible people with unbelievable successful stories!!

The release party of my CD "Italian Signorina"

Music is my profession, my passion and my blessing. Music has brought into my life so much joy, friends, and priceless experiences of life, incredible personal enrichment and so many unforgettable memories!

I’m so grateful to GOD for my talent and so grateful to have the love and support always of each and everyone of my fans and friends!!

Stay tune for my next BLOG. I will be singing at Fashion Week this weekend at the magnificent Waldorf Astoria , so maybe about Fashion!!

Love always,

Giada

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