Do You Still Listen to Radio?
Radio is Still Around and Thriving
Elke and I stopped listening to the radio more than ten years ago. We don't even own a radio anymore, although we could listen to stations via Sonos. But why should we?
Most people these days presumably listen to the radio in their cars. It is convenient, it is simply right there, and it starts playing when you turn the key (or whatever equivalent your car uses). All modern vehicles allow playing a plethora of different media via a smartphone connection. Still, I suppose that sometimes people don't want to make a choice.
We don't own a car, but we occasionally rent one, and then listening to whatever station the previous driver selected feels a bit like time travel. Usually, two or more cheerful hosts talk lightheartedly about the news, the tv shows of the last night, or sports events as if there was still such a universal common experience for everybody.
On June 30, 2015, Apple's Beats 1 radio – now Apple Music 1 – started, and my fascination for radio briefly returned. The idea of a 24/7 live radio that follows the sun around the globe with eclectic programming was exciting. However – despite having the British punk band Spring King famously as their first song – Apple Music 1 tilts heavily towards hip hop and top 40 pop, which is not so much our thing.
Which brings us to the music itself. Commercial radio generally adheres to radio formats that govern which music can be played. This has been a practice in the US since the 1950s; in other parts of the world, adaptation took longer. Our longtime go-to station in Germany, Bayern 3, canceled the shows of beloved DJs and switched to the "Adult Contemporary" format in 1992. From then on until today, they have prided themselves on playing only "hits, hits, hits."
As music lovers Elke and I were reeling a bit from that switch. Admittedly, we also liked the freshness of "private" radio and played it in the background. But they were little surprises, and we just rolled with "hits, hits, hits.”
Despite the US having radio formats for decades longer than Germany, there has also always been college radio with a more diverse playlist. But we didn't really know this, and when we moved to NYC, we tagged along with several commercial stations, which I mostly remember for their ads hammering home 1-800 numbers.
Still, it is hard to think about radio without becoming nostalgic. The serendipity of hearing an exciting song unexpectedly got lost in the on-demand streaming world.
Well, almost: maybe there is a Song Pick of the Day that stops you in your tracks below.
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Song Pick of the Day
Listen to/watch all seven songs on YouTube. Follow our daily updated playlists on YouTube and Spotify for the 50 latest Song Picks of the Day. Thank you for following us and sharing the excitement.
Savana Santos is a musician from Nashville. Her second single, "cheater," is about when a relationship becomes disappointing – sexually and otherwise. "I'm a liar, I'm a cheater, I'm in love with the old you," she sings over a sassy pop production.
The London-based artist SANDS offers an energetic, driving indie rock song with "When it Stars to Rain" – think Simple Minds. The track is about "being completely absorbed by the daily ritual of life in the city yet deeply immersed in your own thoughts, almost like a hallucinatory sleepwalking."
"I need to get off the internet," concludes LA singer/songwriter Kayls after she went down several rabbit holes too much and concerned herself with other people's lives. "Internet" is a clever pop song, which I'm sure most of us find relatable.
Cam Hovsespan aka Glou-Glou makes wine in California but also sings and produces music, like this chill, lazy-afternoon track "Let That Go." He says about the song: "If the voice in my head played a soundtrack to combat all of that anxiety, stress, or anger, this is the song it'd be playing."
“Every Night” is the latest single by Anne Genberg, aka Anastave. The Berlin-via-NYC singer, songwriter, and producer has a collection of eclectic, cutting-edge electronic pop songs under the name I Don't Want You in the Light for release on August 31.
After last year's debut, The Words London pop singer/songwriter Liz Cass adjusts her artistic direction. After the cover EP Teardrops, she released a summer song aptly titled "Too Hot" under her new motto, "Make the music, love the process and then just let it go."
We close out this week with Elle Graham, who has recorded music under the name Woodes since 2016. Originally from Melbourne, Australia, she has found a liking in LA. This makes sense as she explains, "A dream I have always had for Woodes is to have my music accompany a film or game trailer or TV theme." Her latest single, "Don't Look Back," certainly is a step in the right direction with its epic, suspenseful soundscapes.
Also Happening
You cannot find your summer hit - it has to find you. Last year we could not get enough of Connie Constance’s “Mood Hover,” which immediately brought us into a poolside party mood, no matter where we were. But this year, nothing so far. If you’re still searching, too, check out our decades-spanning summer playlist.
Nine Photos in Red
Thinking of summer, which color comes to mind? Blue! Blue skies, blue bodies of water, blue jeans, blue everywhere… And, of course, green, as nature seems to explode in vibrant greens. Also, there are all the colorful flowers, fruits, and vegetables, so basically, summer means colors galore; that’s why we focused on ‘red’ for the photos we took on this weekend’s little getaway trip to Peeksill. Enjoy!
