BRITISH RADIO
Since our arrival in the UK, I've found myself turning towards good ol' Vancouver radio stations as my "comfort food". In our first bewildering days here, when everything else was unfamiliar, at least I could listen to Canadian music (Jann Arden, Barenaked Ladies) stored on my computer and later - once we had internet access - over live weblinks to my favorite Vancouver stations.
You see, the trouble with British radio is that the choices are rather limited (much like Canadian station choice, actually) and that leaves me with two "best" options: BBC Radio 4 (like CBC) or BBC Radio 1 (like Z95.3). If I'm in the mood for news we're golden, but if I feel like zoning out to upbeat background music I am hard-pressed to come across anything other than BritPop. This is indeed a county of contrasts: they churn out brilliant academics and yet worship aging pop princesses like Kylie Minogue (apologies to her fans - I know you're out there). Bands such as Coldplay and the much-loved U2 certainly have a presence, but not enough to drown out the techno-pop beat featured over much of the airwaves.
Further to my complaints, I'd like to switch things up a bit and point out my favourite feature of British radio: British rap. There is one song that plays rather frequently on BBC Radio 4 that frankly sounds like British White Guy Who Can't Speak Quickly Enough To Actually Rap, And Can't Come Up With Good Rhyming Words, Who Has Been Dumped On His Butt By His Girlfriend (Who Has Better Taste In Music) And Now Feels Compelled To Complain Bitterly About It To The BBC-Listening World. It is priceless, and you too can experience this utter joy if you listen here long enough. I can't remember the artist or the name of the song, because my ears are always bleeding by that point, but you'll know it when you hear it. Trust me, you'll know.
posted by Amanda Grout @ 10:34 pm
2 comments
2 Comments:
It's Warren. Now that I have your blog bookmarked, I make sure to check it every day. I have to say that with not having a radio or television, I too will listen to Vancouver radio stations (primarily 96.9 Jack), and check www.cbc.ca/news every day for what's going on at home. But, I am familiar with British radio and television, and frankly I'm happy to listen back home just to get some variety. Here you have three choices: classical, talk, or British teeny-bop that drives you to the brink of insanity! The worst part is that's all my students listen to. I once asked them, "what about Pink Floyd, Led Zepplin, etc." and they didn't know who those bands were! Nor were they very familiar with big hits even from the 90s. To them, North American music = Eminem (that's all), and then the rest is British pop, but I haven't heard them play that awful Brit rap. Thank god, I'd confiscate anyone's walkman that had that on. Later.
Robin here. British radio seems to come in 3 flavours:
1) local popular stations that feature more advertisments than music (including all the advertisments about how few adverts they have), and inane DJs who are thick as two short planks. Cambridge examples include Q103 (103 MHz FM) and STAR 107.9 (107.9 MHz FM)
2) national commercial "special interest" music stations. Things like classic FM and Jazz FM. They tend to play nothing but the "famous bit" from some piece or other, have the same advertising problems as the local stations. Nice to have on in the car, rubbish otherwise.
3) the Beeb (the BBC). The BBC have several stations, both national and local. At the national level, there are:
Radio 1: popular music, aimed at the under 25 market. I used to listen to it, but don't like the music it plays. It doesn't generally play anything older than about 5 years. 99.3 MHz FM
Radio 2: popular music aimed at everyone else. Plays pop music from the year dot to the present day. Good light entertainment, though in the evenings it goes off and does special interest stuff (eg jazz, folk, country programs). It's the most popular station in the country, with the fantastic Terry Wogan on in the mornings (over 7.5 million regular listeners, that's better than 1 in 10 of the population tune in every morning to him, including me). 89.7 MHz FM
Radio 3: hard core classical music. No adverts, no need to worry about ratings, so you get some seriously good stuff on here. Not my thing every day, but good for the occasional listen. 91.9 MHz FM
Radio 4: Everything that the BBC is famous for: serious political comment, traditional stuff like "the Archers", the shipping forecast, Women's Hour and Test Match Special. 94.1 MHz FM, slightly different programming (in particular, TMS) on long wave, on 198 kHz AM
Radio 5: News and sport. I don't like it, R4 is better for news, I don't care for the sport except for odd occasions like the boat race. 909 or 693 kHz AM
In addition, there are digital only stations (I think 6 and 7), and local stations for most counties. BBC local radio can be (unintentionally) increadibly funny in very rural parts of the country, for example Radio Cornwall, where the traffic update consists of some farmer and his tractor holding up 3 cars.
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