I've always been a huge fan of the radio as a medium. I find it's appealing on a far more personal level than anything else, and there's less pretenses to be upheld too (even if that's rapidly changing over the years, sadly). If there's one good thing about the Internet, it's the fact that nowadays it's so damn easy to listen to any radio station from around the world, rather than being limited to what's offered in your area.
One of my favorite radio stations to listen through the Internet is London's Resonance FM 104.4. Instead of ranting incoherently about what makes it so good, here's a few excerpts from their About page:
"Resonance 104.4 fm is the world’s first radio art station, established by London Musicians’ Collective."
"Its brief? To provide a radical alternative to the universal formulae of mainstream broadcasting."
"Imagine a radio station like no other. A radio station that makes public those artworks that have no place in traditional broadcasting. A radio station that is an archive of the new, the undiscovered, the forgotten, the impossible. That is an invisible gallery, a virtual arts centre whose location is at once local, global and timeless. And that is itself a work of art. Imagine a radio station that responds rapidly to new initiatives, has time to draw breath and reflect. A laboratory for experimentation, that by virtue of its uniqueness brings into being a new audience of listeners and creators."
Obviously I believe those claims, otherwise I wouldn't like the station as much as I do. Tellingly, the very first thing I listened to when I first connected to their streaming server was a very interesting interview with Isabelle Allende, which suffice to say made for a great first impression.
TL;DR version:
If you like listening to the radio, give Resonance FM a try. Chances are, you'll like it.
(Hey, an actual TL;DR version for a change!)
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5 comments:
Man, I wish I could still have respect for radio. You're a lucky SOB.
That radio station sounds pretty impressive. From your description I can only assume that they play William Shatner's rendition of "Rocketman" often. Talk about timeless art.
I was under the impression that radio stations are still really good in the States. Guess I had the wrong impression, which sucks.
There has to be a country with decent radio stations somewhere on this planet!
And anything Shatner has ever done is timeless art, you know that.
(One of these paragraphs is a complete and utter lie.)
I'm going with the second one.
There are bound to be good radio stations to be found in the States because the country is just so big. I mean, there are good radio stations to be found in Europe if you look. On the whole, though, radio here sucks donkey nuts.
Shame. The radio really is my favorite medium, and there's some really good shows here in Greece, just not a good -station-.
Funny-yet-true-trivia: The shows with the best music selection are sport shows, mainly because they have no pressure on what music to play.
Sad, isn't it?
Really? I'm not really a sports guy (I skip your sports posts entirely :) ) so I can't speak for how they do it here in the States. I did find a really quality Philly station on one of my trips up to NY and even though it's a Clear affiliate I still have a nostalgic attachment to KROC in NY.
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