Following on from Mr Places scathing yet all too true comments on the state of todays radio, I thought I would give a brief overview on what the people round my side of the office (the hallowed light side) are listening to on the wireless these days.
I am guilty of being the first person in the morning to turn on the radio. Hands up I cast myself as one of those annoying types that can’t seem to work without a muffled distorted noise in the background (and I don’t mean the now sadly departed Gareth Rees). There is something one finds quite eerie about a completely silent office (apart from it being a hard working one) and I can find small comfort with what the various stations have on offer. That’s not to say that what is out there is revolutionary, especially in this new dawn of digital its sadly pretty much the same slightly tired formulas being churned out.
A brief breakdown of what we are listening to at the moment is as follows;
Classic FM - fantastic fodder before 1pm, quite calming and therapeutic. After a hearty lunch I want to go to sleep listening to it.
Magic FM - these guys really do belt out the ballad’s. They seem to stick to a core of solid, emotional stompers from Cyndi Lauper - Time after Tme (great bassline according Fabio) to Madonna - Crazy for You. This results in slightly gruff crooning renditions from James Campbell - bit like Brian Blessed meets Frank Sinatra.
Talksport - too distracting. It’s fun, chatty, no nonsense, banterous chat has no place in our office.
Radio 1 - bearable, if you can stand Moyles in the morning. I don’t mind him - shame others can’t stand the chap.
XFM - belts out the latest indie anthems but once you’ve heard them 8 times a day for a 2 week period its game over.
So that’s the core collection of stations we are listening to at present, you probably don’t really care do you?! That aside something clearly needs shaking up, will Channel 4 and their proposed digital launch be the ones to do the shaking?
