MUSIC > Hey Mister DJ...Bob Dylan!

After decades as music's most enigmatic icon, Bob Dylan has stunned his fans by becoming a DJ for an American station. And The Observer has had an exclusive preview of his first broadcast.

It starts with the sound of rain. A woman's voice tells us it is night in the city, and a nurse is smoking the last cigarette in the pack. Then comes a nasal, gravelly voice, more familiar in song: 'It's time for Theme Time Radio Hour. Dreams, schemes and themes.' The career of Bob Dylan, radio DJ, has begun.

Once the most iconic recluse in the music business, Dylan will spring a surprise on fans next month by broadcasting a weekly music show across America. His debut behind the mic, due to be broadcast on 3 May, has been heard exclusively in advance by The Observer.

As the quaint title, Theme Time Radio Hour, implies, it is a simple format, even old-fashioned. Taking a different theme each week, Dylan introduces his favourite records with a wry line or pithy anecdote, then lets the music do the talking. First is 'weather'. Sounding utterly imperturbable in his new role, he drawls in characteristically rhythmic tones: 'Today's show, all about the weather. Curious about what the weather looks like? Just look out your window, take a walk outside. We're gonna start out with the great Muddy Waters, one of the ancients by now, who all moderns prize.' He has been provided with a digital recording kit so that he can present the hour-long programme from home, studio or tour bus. He sends a playlist to XM Satellite Radio's researchers, who then assemble the music around his narration.

Future shows will be built around themes such as 'cars', 'dance', 'police' and 'whisky' and also feature special guests including songwriter Elvis Costello, film star Charlie Sheen, Penn Jillette, the TV illusionist, and comedians Sarah Silverman and Jimmy Kimmel. Dylan will read and answer selected emails sent by listeners - a thrill for fans who have regarded him as a Messiah-like figure of unreachable mystique.

The playlist for the first show ranges from Muddy Waters's 'Blow, Wind, Blow' to Dean Martin's 'I Don't Care if the Sun Don't Shine', from Jimi Hendrix's 'The Wind Cries Mary' to Judy Garland's 'Come Rain or Come Shine'. The list, much of it from the Fifties, offers a fascinating insight into the sources of Dylan's musical inspiration. But there is no place for the counter-culture hero's own nod to meteorological mischief, 'Blowin' In The Wind'.

Radio is a natural return to Dylan's roots. In his youth, Robert Zimmerman, as he was then called, was an avid listener, first to blues and country music stations broadcasting from New Orleans, then to the first stirrings of rock'n'roll.

It took three years for XM's chief creative programming officer, Lee Abrams, to persuade Dylan, 65 next month, to do the show. He said: 'With Theme Time Radio Hour, Bob redefines "cool radio" by combining a sense of intellect with edginess in a way that hasn't been on radio before. Bob has put a lot of work into his XM show, and it's clear that he's having a good time behind the mic.' XM, whose presenters include Dylan's friend and fellow musician Tom Petty, is America's biggest satellite radio service with more than 6.5m subscribers and 170 digital channels. As subscription-based, ad-free satellite radio grows rapidly in popularity, the Washington-based service is battling for listeners with Sirius, which poached 'shock jock'

Howard Stern from terrestrial radio in a £282m five-year deal.

The Observer asked Charlie Gillett, the musicologist and BBC World Service DJ, to listen to Dylan's debut. He said: 'The programme is seamless and natural - it's how radio should be. His growly commentary is charming. It draws you in and you never for a moment think he's playing games, which he's supposedly notorious for doing.

'In each case he's got something to say and it all hangs beautifully together. To put Jimi Hendrix and Judy Garland together and not make it sound weird is an impressive achievement. The lack of adverts is also a big boon. For his audience it's absolutely perfect.'

Another Dylan devotee, poet laureate Andrew Motion, says of the playlist: 'It has a good mixture; it may not enhance the legend, but it very engagingly confirms a good many things we know - about the eclecticism of his taste, and about his skill in combining light-heartedness with seriousness.'

The bad news for British fans is that, although the show can be heard online, it is available only to people with a US billing address. So few here will hear Dylan sign off his first outing with the words: 'Well, the old clock on the wall says it's time to go. Until next week, you are all my sunshine. If you think the summer sun is too hot, just remember, at least you don't have to shovel it.'

Bob's playlist choices

Blow, Wind, Blow - Muddy Waters
You Are My Sunshine - Jimmie Davis
California Sun - Joe Jones
Just Walking in the Rain - The Prisonaires
After the Clouds Roll Away - The Consolers
Let the Four Winds Blow - Fats Domino
Raining in my Heart - Slim Harpo
Summer Wind - Frank Sinatra
The Wind Cries Mary - Jimi Hendrix
Come Rain or Come Shine - Judy Garland
It's Raining - Irma Thomas
Stormy Weather - The Spaniels
Jamaica Hurricane - Lord Beginner
A Place in the Sun - Stevie Wonder (Italian version)
Uncloudy Day - The Staple Singers
I Don't Care if the Sun Don't Shine - Dean Martin
Keep on the Sunny Side - The Carter Family