| Author | Message | ||
     Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 929 Registered: 10-2006 |
Ok, I am trying to creep gingerly out from my Luddite shell and investigate the world of internet radio, since, after being radioless for many years, I have had a sudden nostalgic pang for the civilised tones of BBC radio 3... so what other international stations can I add to my Favourites list, any suggestions, any of your local stations hit the spot with the right mix of sounds? | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 6283 Registered: 05-2005 |
ABC NewsRadio is the station I listen to all the time Stuart. It carries programs from BBC, NPR, Deutsche Welle and Radio Netherlands, in addition to Australian news. http://www.abc.net.au/newsradio/ | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 930 Registered: 10-2006 |
I was thinking more in musical terms, Padraig! Something to distract me from the news! | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 6294 Registered: 05-2005 |
I figured you probably were Stuart, but I never listen to music radio. Haven't done so for many years. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 3316 Registered: 03-2005 |
I bailed on music radio decades ago. It was always too narrow in its offerings except in the 1960s when you would careen from the Rolling Stones to Bob Dylan to Merle Haggard to Frank Sinatra to James Brown. Of course I didn't appreciate that eclecticism back then when I was kid but, sure enough, some of those then-despised artists later found their way into my record & CD collections. The satellite stations tend to be even more narrowly specialized than the dreary market-targeted stations that began to develop in the 70s and continue to this day. Hopefully there are still some good college-sponsored stations though. I can certainly imagine why Stuart would be seeking distraction from the news. You are probably currently living in one of the most placid locations right now, Padraig, regardless of what you undoubtedly think of Tony Abbott. When in my car I used to listen to KPFK, Los Angeles' station run by the Pacifica Foundation. It has a long proud history as a firmly leftist forum. But gradually I noticed that I was becoming chronically depressed. I eventually concluded that I simply could not maintain a sense of well-being and listen to the daily barrage of discontent on Pacifica. I'm still with them spiritually and philosophically but for my own mental health I just can't spend a lot of time in that frame of mind. My Fiat came with a satellite radio and a USB port. I use the latter and let the satellite subscription die out. So far, I have assembled 12,000 songs on the iPod with more than half its capacity remaining. I can careen from weird campy overblown Joe Meek productions from the pre-Beatles era: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSl8DhH88 7s to the jagged art of the grossly underrated Moodists: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKljMtFtS yE to the genius of France's great Dominique A: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgeI6G4CL Mk And I rely on folks on here to direct me to other possibilities. I don't need no steenkin' radio! | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 6299 Registered: 05-2005 |
What Randy said... Music radio stations I have enjoyed in the past are Triple J in Australia and WFNX in Boston. The former is rarely interesting any time I encounter it now (eg in someone's car), and the latter no longer exists (but the last time I was in Boston - 2000 - it was playing the same awful rap metal crap that every other station was playing). | ||
| peter ward Member Username: Peter_ward Post Number: 239 Registered: 06-2005 |
Radio Paradise is worth a test Stuart, pretty eclectic stuff. It's a US public radio station. BBC6 has some decent shows too. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 931 Registered: 10-2006 |
Well, perhaps a whole station is a bit optimistic... I was hoping there might be some Norwegian, Ničvrian, Nebraskan or New South Wales John Peel type figure out there playing a rich brew of who knows what, bit of indie, bit of blues, bit of reggae, bit of folk...something to lead me gently by the nose away from my own tastes, however marvellously refined, into some new and wonderful musical hinterland... | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 932 Registered: 10-2006 |
Thanks Peter, checked them out and they they sound interesting. I was going to invest in an internet radio gizmo, but I suppose my back up pc and a couple of decent speakers will do just as well? Ah, the shame of being a technological dunce. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 939 Registered: 10-2006 |
A fellow Bashung fan brought French station FIP to my attention: "The concept behind FIP has scarcely changed since its founding: continuous music interrupted only for traffic updates, occasional announcements about forthcoming events, and a short news broadcast at 10 minutes before the hour, but no advertising. FIP's programming is an eclectic mix of musical genres: chanson, classical, film music, jazz, rock, world music and more, but with careful attention paid to smooth and unobtrusive transition from item to item. FIP is one of the few stations in the world to transmit this type of programming around the clock." Very cool stuff so far, including a soft female voice giving, very possibly, traffic information which, like all things spoken in French, still sounded like the sexiest thing in the world. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 6325 Registered: 05-2005 |
In Dublin, I used to co-present a radio show called Men's World, Stuart. I got a French woman who worked at the station to record a voice over for us, saying "I like cold milk on my cornflakes". My co-host wanted to get her to say something more traditionally "sexy", but I knew the cold milk line would sound infinitely sexier. And it did. We used that voice over often in the show. | ||
| peter ward Member Username: Peter_ward Post Number: 242 Registered: 06-2005 |
Stuart, You can pick up a Sonos Play 1 for about 200euro with a free bridge now which acts as an internet radio/plays from your hard drive/streams from spotify/napster etc instantly with any half decent broadband connection. The sound is fantastic for the size and price, its wireless so doesnt have to be near your back up PC either... highly recommended. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 944 Registered: 10-2006 |
Thanks, Peter, I'll check that out... what on earth can a "free bridge" be? my first impression was of a scale model Golden Gate delicately placed between my computer and my pencil box... probably not, though... | ||
| frank bascombe Member Username: Frankb Post Number: 535 Registered: 01-2007 |
BBC 6music really good Radio 4 as well, Tom Ravenscroft on 6music is John Peel's son and following in his Dad's footsteps | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 964 Registered: 10-2006 |
Thanks for the info, FB. Good to hear about the Peel sprog. I must admit I am a complete addict for France's Radio FIP now, which has the freshest & free-est programming I've ever heard - not having been a regular radio listener for about 20 years now of course - plus the added bonus, as I mentioned before, of the most aphrodisiacal traffic reports on air. My last 6 or so CDs have all been ordered from songs listened to there. |