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Just a blog dedicated to analysis of various radio stations from around the globe.
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THE ROCK
"Music, it's the only thing we take seriously"
It's the dawn of the new year, and with that said, this will be the blog's final entry- so I want to end things on a bang!
This is The Rock, a New Zealand commercial radio station owned by MediaWorks New Zealand. Their format is that of a music radio station specializing in the rock genre, and you think things would end there- but, and I admit these are shaky sources, but across The Rock's Wikipedia page and their entry on en-academic.com, The Rock is stated to be a controversial radio station that has attracted numerous complaints, complaints that were upheld against them by the local authority, the Broadcasting Standards Authority, multiple times. The reason behind this controversial background becomes obvious when you actually listen to what The Rock has on offer, because I would argue their speciality isn't just rock music- it's unfiltered content as well.
It's present in their broadcasts, and it's even present on their website- The Rock is entirely unfiltered, with presenters swearing like sailors and talking about content that you just normally wouldn't hear on other radio stations due to strict implementation of codes and standards. I have no idea how The Rock gets away with it, but it's undoubtedly one of their main selling points- and it works, because they have an absolutely massive 382k following on Facebook!
The Rock offers more than just rock music, they offer a breath of fresh air- one that, despite its controversial position, clearly attracts a lot of popularity. With this in mind, it's more than likely their audience targets adults, given the content is in no way suitable for children, something wikipedia supports with a 25-44 age range for the station's target audience (albeit with a male skew).
So, what is listening to this troublemaking rock station like?
Well, being located in New Zealand (and therefore halfway across the world from myself), I wasn't able to listen to a show live, but I did pick up one of their shows on playback via their website- The Morning Rumble on Friday 22nd December 2023, which plays live on weekdays between 5:30am-10:00am NZDT (New Zealand Daylight Time). It was composed entirely of the links between songs with the songs excluded, so while I couldn't listen to the kind of music they had on offer, I got a perfect understanding of what their content is like- and for a station like this, I would argue that's far more important.
The show was presented by no less than four people, but it was hardly over the top- I'd argue for a four-and-a-half hour show, that many presenters to keep things entertaining is bordering on necessary! So, as far as link construction is concerned, the four hosts engaged in quite a lot of banter and casual, friendly conversation that came very strongly across as being unscripted and improvised- for a single presenter working on his own show, this can be problematic, but for a team of four, improv works perfectly because you have four people in a room capable of carrying a conversation between themselves. This was reflected here fantastically- presenters Roger Farrelly, Bryce Casey, Andrew Mulligan and Mel Abbot have a fantastic rapport with each other, bouncing between one another with a natural flow that's pleasant to listen to. They kept it short and sweet too, never speaking for longer than maybe two or three minutes at a time, and kept up a very lively atmosphere.
As you might guess, they were also completely unfiltered and swearing like sailors! This came to me as a shock at first, but only because I was unused to hearing such open vulgarity from a radio show- settling into the hour eventually had me tricked into getting cozy and feeling like I was listening to banter at a family gathering as opposed to a professionally-presented radio show. To call it a breath of fresh air is understating things, and while I wouldn't call it appropriate or personally endorse it, I can completely see why so many seem to enjoy the station, their presentation and careless style is utterly unique. Whether they were receiving a call, inviting a guest aboard or just chatting about something as inane as the percentage of fractures received total over the Xmas period, they were genuinely an entertaining listen, constantly cracking jokes at each other's expense and evoking genuine humor.
The only times they were remotely serious were whenever they were talking music, be it a new song or one from an upcoming band that's about to play next, which perfectly captures their slogan in spirit and essence: "Music, it's the only thing we take seriously." Their brash and careless lack of filtering, their devil-may-care attitude to their own programming, their banter, both witty and humorous, it's all combined to create one of the most genuinely interesting and unique experiences I've ever had the bizarre pleasure of listening to- and for the final entry of this blog, on the eve of the New Year, I certainly think there's no better time to have my eyes opened a little.
Listen to The Rock here:
References:
en-academic.com (Date N/A) The Rock (New Zealand) [Online] Available at: https://en-academic.com/dic.nsf/enwiki/453150 [Accessed 31/12/2023]
Facebook.org (Date N/A) The Rock [Online] Available at: https://www.facebook.com/TheRockFM [Accessed 31/12/2023]
The Morning Rumble Catchup Podcast (2023) The Rock, 22nd December, Available at: https://www.therock.net.nz/home/podcasts/the-morning-rumble-catch-up-podcast.html [Accessed 31/12/2023]
wikipedia.org (Last edited 22/11/2023) The Rock (radio station) [Online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rock_(radio_station) [Accessed 31/12/2023]
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ABC Radio National
"Think Bigger"
ABC Radio National, or just ABC RN, is a public broadcasting national radio network owned and operated by the ABC- the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, who, according to industry research website IBIS World, are owned by the Commonwealth Government of Australia. Being a network, it broadcasts country-wide, and a brief glance at their schedule on the ABC Listen website (linked here) reveals the formatting to be that of a news and talk radio network, full of individual one-hour shows discussing a wide and diverse range of individual topics covering, according to their about page, "arts and culture, business and current affairs, health, science and technology, Indigenous culture and issues, and religion and ethics" (abc.net.au).
History on the blog thus far dictates that the target audience for a radio network that primarily deals in news and talk content is likely to be older in nature, something supported by the existence of the ABC's sister network triple j. triple j is marketed as the radio station for Australian youth, leaving older audiences to be targeted by stations like ABC RN. Whilst I cannot find a specific range, I'm willing to suggest that the wide and diverse range of content featured on ABC RN leaves room for those over the age of thirty to enjoy, but the dense nature of it might be too complex for anyone younger.
Regardless of who specifically listens to them, ABC RN likely enjoys a large audience due to broadcasting across the Australian state, which shows in their large social media following- approximately 327k followers in total, a very impressive number. So, what do the people who tune in to ABC RN expect to hear?
I myself wanted to find out, and in order to do so, I listened back to one of the network's one-hour shows online via the ABC Listen website. Broadcast on Thursday 28th December 2023, I was greeted to LNL (Late Night Live) Summer, presented by Sarah Dingle. The one-hour show involved bringing aboard an expert on a certain topic of importance, then talking about it at length. In this case, Dingle conversed with guest journalist Dan Egan about the paradoxical subject of the increasing lack of phosphate in the wild but overabundance of it in our waterways. She took to posing Egan with questions on the subject, such as how phosphate is made, why it's important and what danger its concentration imposes, and occasionally contributed a bit of information of her own, but overall let him do the talking. It felt more like an in-depth and extended interview than a talk show, but this was to the show's benefit- being an expert on the subject, Egan was able to talk a lot about it, elaborating on phosphate's importance as a natural nutrient, and how too much of it can create a toxic environment- a problem for which humanity is at fault. Dingle ended the segment by asking after a potential solution to the problem at hand, something which Egan was all too happy to suggest, and which I was relieved to hear.
This discussion and the one after about the social lives of trees (with a different expert) were both half an hour in length, taking up the entirety of the show's playtime, which if anything shows how in-depth and dense this interview-based talk show is. Being a talk show, there was no music presentation of any kind- only the sound of Dingle and her guests' voices, but I never once found myself pulled in. I think it was the mix of there being a good rapport between Dingle and said guests, the interview-like nature of it and the genuine intrigue and importance of the topic at hand that attracted then carried me through the entire hour.
From a programmer's perspective, this single hour I listened to exemplified what the station is all about. In-depth, dense but interesting talk about some seriously important or at least intriguing and diverse topics with no fluff or nonsense. It lacked a necessarily local feel to it, necessary as this is a public service radio station, but in the service of talking about subjects which could affect all life on Earth, I do think that's a sacrifice worth making. It's one thing to simply talk about these topics, but it's another to actively engage in them and even hunt after a potential solution if needs be. What I listened to may have been only a small fraction of what the entire station has to offer, but it was certainly an exemplary and worthy example of the kind of programming to expect from a radio network designed to serve the public.
You can listen to ABC RN here:
References:
abc.net.au (Date N/A) About RN [Online] Available at: https://www.abc.net.au/listen/radionational/about [Accessed 30/12/2023]
abc.net.au (2017) About triple j [Online] Available at: https://www.abc.net.au/triplej/about-page/8651702 [Accessed 30/12/2023]
Facebook.com (Date N/A) ABC Radio National [Online] Available at: https://www.facebook.com/radionational [Accessed 30/12/2023]
ibisworld.com (Date N/A) Australian Broadcasting Corporation - Australian Enterprise Profile [Online] Available at: https://www.ibisworld.com/au/company/australian-broadcasting-corporation/3005/ [Accessed 30/12/2023]
LNL Summer: Peter Wohlleben on the secret lives and superpowers of trees (2023) ABC RN, 28 December, Available at: https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/latenightlive/peter-wohlleben-the-secret-lives-and-superpowers-of-trees/103191982 [Accessed 30/12/2023]
LNL Summer: The Devil's Element (2023) ABC RN, 28 December, Available at: https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/latenightlive/the-devil-s-element-global-phosphorus-paradox/103192016 [Accessed 30/12/2023]
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2GB Sydney
Here today is a departure from the majority of the radio stations we've covered on the blog so far, for while they've all been music-based radio stations, 2GB Sydney describes itself as being the no.1 News Talk station in Sydney Australia on their website on the Advertise page. As information on their own website is actually rather sparse, and info on other websites is either similarly sparse or worse, outdated, I've had to resort to looking through their article on Wikipedia for info, so take some of what I have to say here with a grain of salt. Not off to a great start, though- one would think a radio station that brands itself as 'number one' would have the wisdom to include a simple 'About Us' page on their website.
That out of the way, though, 2GB Sydney is a talk, news and sport-based commercial radio station located in Sydney Australia. It is not independent, being the child company of Nine Radio, who own a sister radio station called 2UE. On their Advertise page, 2GB Sydney lays claim to an over 600,000 weekly listening figure, composed of individuals who are high income earners and also big spenders, using this info to appeal to potential advertisers.
The densely-packed and high-brow nature of their content- as will be discussed in more detail later- plus this high-income angle prompts me to speculate that 2GB Sydney's target audience are wealthy adults between the ages of 30-50+. Given they've been around since 1926 (according to Wikipedia) and have a respectable 73k follower count on Facebook, considering that 600,000 figure they boasted about, it seems that 2GB is at least popular enough to have a loyal base of listeners they want advertisers to take advantage of.
With the facts out of the way, what is listening to 2GB Sydney actually like? Well, given Australia is quite literally half a planet away from where I am, I had to resort to checking if 2GB Sydney offers the ability to listen back to previous broadcasts, which, thankfully, it does.
Not wanting to go too far back, I selected the Saturday 23rd December 2023 Weekends with Bill Woods podcast, which featured the full recording of his 9AM-1PM AEDT morning talk show. This is what I discovered:
Being a talk show, there was absolutely no music to be heard anywhere. Aside from little stingers used to transition from topic to topic, Bill Woods' talkshow was completely devoid of any sound, even backing sound to accompany whenever he talks or during his debates with others. The intent may be to not distract from what is being talked about, and to be fair to Mr. Woods, he is far from boring to listen to. His tone is professional yet friendly and warm, lending himself an easygoing feel that's nice to listen to, resulting in my getting engaged in whatever it was he was talking about. His show starts with him announcing what topics of discussion to talk about in the hours ahead, who he's talking about each topic with, then pretty much launches straight into things.
These discussions can range from anything to local politics, news, events or issues locally affecting Sydney, usually with an expert on these matters for Woods to bounce off of. They're not short either- for the entire hour I'd listened to the show, a whole half of that hour had been dedicated to talking about federal politics, the effects of COVID-19 and its mutations on the local populace as well as government response. It was very in-depth and quite dense- no wonder four entire hours are dedicated to this show's runtime!
It wasn't so dense as to be mind-numbing, however- Bill Woods maintains a professional demeanor throughout, especially during more serious topics of discussion, but allows himself to share personal and sometimes humorous anecdotes relating to the current topic from time to time to offer a smidge of relatability as the discussion goes on. He also very frequently reads text messages sent in by viewers relevant to the topic of discussion and often comments on them at length, which left me with the distinct feeling that the show, rather uniquely, feels more like an actual two-way affair where Woods is actively talking with and responding to his listeners as opposed to simply talking at them, as is the case with more music-oriented radio stations.
To cap things off, the show also features news and traffic reports, read out my Bill Woods himself and with a familiarity for the Sydney area that makes him feel connected to the city and quite down-to-earth.
With all that said, all that remains to be said about 2GB Sydney is that I think as a radio station, it's a stellar example of how a talk-based radio station should be run. The content is dense and diverse, the banter between presenters like Woods and their guests is witty and intelligent, and overall listening to the radio station feels like an engaging experience- if you have a few hours to kill. I do wish that level of professionality had carried over to their website, however.
Listen to 2GB Sydney on their website here:
References:
2gb.com (Date N/A) Advertise with us [Online] Available at: https://www.2gb.com/advertise-with-us/ [Accessed 29/12/2023]
Facebook.com (Date N/A) 2GB Sydney [Online] Available at: https://www.facebook.com/2GBSydney [Accessed 29/12/2023]
wikipedia.org (Last edited 18/12/2023) 2GB [Online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2GB [Accessed 29/12/2023]
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Heart FM
"Cape Town's beat"
Going for a twofer in South Africa today is Heart FM, another independent commercial radio station that forms what I would argue is our first modern hits-based example (at last!). Beginning life in 1997 as P4 radio, Heart FM's rebranding in 2006, according to the history tab on its website, saw it adopting a more "commercial mix" in order to cater to a more "diverse audience". This has resulted in its current state as an adult contemporary music radio station which broadcasts to Cape Town and additionally covers large swathes of the South African Western Cape Province including the Drakenstein, West Coast, Swartland, Overberg and Overstrand regions. According to their website on the Advertising page, Heart FM's target audience appears to be peoples living within Cape Town and beyond in the age bracket of 25-49 years of age.
In terms of popularity, the same website lists about 797,000 listeners, 627,000 of which are in Cape Town alone. The station also claims an exclusive listenership figure of about 408,000- that's as many people who listen to Heart FM and Heart FM alone. Tying together its seeming popularity is its staggering 297k followers on Facebook, beating out every other radio station to so far feature on this blog- so it probably goes without saying, but Cape Town's Heart FM is very much popular and successful.
How does this popularity actually translate into the running of the station itself, however? Well, naturally, I listened to them in order to find out for myself:
Between 17:00-18:00PM SAST (South African Standard Time), I listened to the "Drive 326 with Suga" live show. Immediately the most unique thing about this particular show when compared to the other station's reviewed thus far on this blog is that "Drive 326 with Suga" featured no less than three presenters, which affected the link construction in a very interesting way. For starters, there are very few links in the show itself, spaced far across several songs, three at least, but when there are links placed inbetween, as opposed to being two minutes or less as has been standard so far, Heart FM's links are no less than three-to-four minutes each. This is obviously to account for the number of presenters so that they all may have something to say, and for the most part, these links carry a very chill, calm conversational vibe to them, usually involving a game of sorts (one of the ones I caught was a word-guessing game) or topical subjects like this year's New Years' resolutions, as well as promotions for local events. There may also be snippets of local news for Cape Town, and every quarter hour without fail there's a traffic and travel update- which, Cape Town being one of South Africa's larger cities, makes a good amount of sense.
Heart FM claims to be Cape Town's no.1 radio station, and with so many exclusive listeners living in the city, keeping them regularly updated on city traffic seems a smart move. Finally, there's a five-minute-long sports segment around the half hour mark. Altogether, the links for Heart FM are constructed in a way that has them feel very engaging due to the casual and entertaining tone. It helps that these links also help the station feel like it belongs in Cape Town with the regular local news and traffic updates it provides.
So what of the actual music? The station does indeed play a majority of contemporary tracks, but mixes things up with older tracks as well, with tracks like Chris Brown's Summer Too Hot (2023) being played alongside the likes of Eve and Alicia Keys' Gangsta Lovin' (2002) on the regular. While this means Hot FM doesn't play exclusively contemporary music, it does address the diversity aspect of their mission statement and the upper limit of their target audience- these tracks clearly exist to satisfy the older amongst Heart FM's target demographic.
(So, even with our first actual contemporary radio station reviewed on this blog, the music selection isn't exclusively modern trend-setters!)
With its focus on a modern-classical mix of music that caters to nearly all ages, regular local news and traffic reports and entertaining inter-song chats, debates and conversations, it's easy to see why Heart FM is as popular and beloved as it is, especially given its loyal listener base. It's relatable and accessible, and feels like it's a core part of the city of Cape Town- indeed, its very beating Heart.
You can listen to Heart FM yourself via the following link:
References:
Facebook.com (Date N/A) Heart FM [Online] Available at: https://www.facebook.com/Heart104.9FM [ Accessed 28/12/2023]
heartfm.co.za (Date N/A) Advertising [Online] Available at: https://www.heartfm.co.za/contact/advertising/ [Accessed 28/12/2023]
heartfm.co.za (Date N/A) History [Online] Available at: https://www.heartfm.co.za/about/history/ [ Accessed 28/12/2023]
#radio#reviewing#professional#academic#radio review#heart FM#heart FM SA#heart FM Cape Town#heart FM south africa
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Hot 102.7FM
"Playing Joburg's Best Old Skool and R&B"
The trend of defying the notion of radio stations pandering to modern music continues, this time in Johannesburg of South Africa with Hot 102.7FM. A relatively new radio station for the area, according to the little "About Us" blurb on their website at the bottom of every page, Hot 102.7FM (or just Hot FM here for convenience's sake) is a commercial radio station broadcasting to the greater Johannesburg area that specializes in broadcasting, according to its slogan, "old skool" tunes- mainly, as you will see, 70's, 80's and 90's music- as well as R&B. The website makes no mention of ownership as part of a network, and the Wikepedia article for the radio station pens its ownership as being under "Hot FM 102.7 (Pty) Ltd", meaning Hot FM is likely an independent organization.
Hot FM has its own litany of social media accounts, and boasts the most impressive social media following on Facebook so far, with around 112k followers. This same Facebook page puts front and center a banner proudly stating the station's achievements as Best Local Radio Station award winner twice in 2022 and 2023, showing Hot FM to be quite popular and successful.
The station's target audience, due to its preference in track selection, is likely to be for older/adult audiences, something that is reinforced on listening to the radio station itself- I listened from between 15:00-16:00PM SAST (South African Standard Time) on Thursday 28th December 2023, and I heard one of their stingers specifically asks, "Do you remember saving Princess Peach in Super Mario?" This is clearly meant to appeal to people who played the first ever Mario game, which came out in 1985!
Link construction is an interesting mix of very short, very quippy links between songs and announcing them, about twenty seconds long, and some longer two-minute links sprinkled throughout. They add a conversational and local feel to the show, talking about things like the atmosphere in Joburg, local festivities, news and competitions, and some of the quainter things like a neighbour snoring so loud, nobody else can sleep. Overall an enjoyable and non-intrusive presence between songs, and in-keeping with what's said on their About page:
Going back to track selection for a moment, I heard tunes such as "Flashdance...What a feeling", a classic that came out in 1983, paired up alongside early tracks from the Black-Eyed Peas, who despite being more prominent in the early 2000's did in fact see their beginnings in the mid 1990's. This is indeed in keeping with the station's own professed specialization, and in general the station kept up a very high standard of production with slick audio editing for the stingers between songs, up to the point of including select clips of what tracks to expect later in the show. Always informing viewers of what to expect and reminding them regularly what your show is all about is an effective means of ensuring they know if they want to stay or not sooner than they normally would.
Overall, I found Hot FM to be a very high-effort, high-production experience, effective in its purpose of being a classic hits-oriented station while adding a little extra content on top of things without feeling like it was detracting from its own format. I enjoyed listening, and clearly many others do as well, judging by follower numbers on Facebook- which makes sense, given Hot FM does a fantastic job of catering to its presumed audience.
You can catch Hot FM for yourself via the following link:
References:
Facebook.com (Date N/A) HOT 102.7 FM [Online] Available at: https://www.facebook.com/HOT102.7FM?_rdc=2&_rdr [Accessed 28/12/2023]
hot1027.co.za (Date N/A) Hot 102.7FM [Online] Available at: https://hot1027.co.za [Accessed 28/12/2023]
Wikipedia.org (Last edited 22/11/2023) Hot 1027 [Online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_1027
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CKBW-FM
"The sound of the South Shore"
Moving onto a larger station which nonetheless carries on the tradition established so far on this blog of radio stations not chasing after "popular" music or trends, this is CKBW-FM. (This trend will be broken in due time). Getting right into things across the ocean, as I learned when listening live, CKBW is a commercial radio station owned and operated as part of a network by Acadia Broadcasting. It's located and broadcasts in Nova Scotia, Canada, but also broadcasts on different frequencies to Bridgewater and Shelburne nearby. Its formatting is that of a classic hits-dedicated adult station, aimed at a target audience likely to be 50+, especially with how old some of the songs played can be (as will be detailed later). CKBW brands itself as playing classic hits from the 70's, 80's and 90's, further supporting this. It was established all the way back in 1947 and is still running today, hinting at a loyal following and a level of success codified by their 19K following on Facebook.
CKBW has an online presence with their own website, as well as accounts on Twitter and Facebook, though they do not post especially often on either. The website updates with local news from the Nova Scotia area pretty often, showing that the radio station's scope extends beyond just their radio broadcasts.
This focus on Nova Scotia exists within the actual show itself, so let's get into show structure. I listened to CKBW on Tuesday 26 December 2023, between 2-3PM AST, and was treated to the drivetime show with "Drive Home with John Wiles". Presenter John Wiles had several links sprinkled throughout the show about a minute long each, but he had a way of packing a lot of info or content into each link despite the shortened time. These links were either conversational, posing various questions to viewers that could be answered by texting in, or featured talk about whatever is topical at the time- in this instance, of course, subjects surrounding Christmas and the upcoming new year. The branding of the show as a classic hits station comes through quite effectively- every tune I listened to, be it Take on Me by A-ha (1985), Doesn't really matter by Platinum Blonde (1983), Dream On by Aerosmith (1973) or Two Princes by Spin Doctors (1991) were hit tunes that came out between 1970 and 2000, exactly as advertised by the station itself. It stays true to its principles without variation, and does have some Canadian music artists (like aforementioned Platinum Blonde) included.
Despite not all the artists played on the station being Canadian, CKBW still manages to retain a local feel due to regularly featuring weather updates for the Nova Scotia area quarterly across the hour, and advertisements on the station regularly feature businesses in the area as well such as Nova Scotia Building Supplies.
Given CKBW is, according to its slogan, The Sound of the South Shore, it's good to see that despite sticking to the classic hits format, it still finds time to live up to that slogan and be helpful to the locals of the South Shore area (of which Nova Scotia is a part). I personally found the show to be engaging, with the presenter's banter between links to be entertaining, helping to keep the show going without monotony, and I find the station's music selection is very good at recalling a sense of nostalgia for older songs, no doubt a deliberate effect CKBW wishes to invoke from its stated adult audiences.
So all this in mind, it's clear to me why CKBW has lasted as long as it has. Its music selection, focus on local content for adverts and weather and fun short-but-sweet links between songs all combine to create a perfect formula for success. If you want to try this formula for yourself, you can find CKBW and listen via their website here:
References:
Castlensbs.com (Date N/A) Welcome to Chester Building Supplies Ltd.& Nova Scotia Building Supplies (1982) Ltd. [Online] Available at: http://castlensbs.com [Accessed 26/12/2023]
ckbw.ca (Date N/A) CKBW [Online] Available at: https://www.ckbw.ca [Accessed 26/12/2023]
facebook.com (Date N/A) CKBW South Shore Radio [Online] Available at: https://www.facebook.com/CKBWRadio/ [Accessed 26/12/2023]
wikipedia.org (Last edited 31/9/2022) CKBW-FM [Online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CKBW-FM [Accessed 26/12/2023]
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Dublin's Club FM
"Dublin's Hottest Dance Mix"
In keeping with the theme of radio not necessarily chasing popular music (so much as popularizing music, at least (Rothenbuler, 1987)), here we have an example of a radio station that does one thing amd one thing only, but does that one thing very well: this is the Republic of Ireland's Dublin's Club FM.
This will be a fascinating little review about a fascinating little radio station. As the name suggests, Dublin's Club FM is all about club/dance/house music, the kind you'd hear at clubs or parties. Their broadcast area is mainly centered around the city of Dublin itself over FM radio, but surprisingly, despite it being a format that is no longer officially supported in Ireland, Dublin's Club FM is also available over DAB+ in counties Dublin, Cork , Waterford and the northeast to anyone who owns a DAB set in Ireland. The station also heavily promotes their availability over the internet on their social media websites...
...but very little is actually known about the station itself. Although evidence exists that there used to be a Club FM official website, all links to said website end up here:
Evidently, the website no longer exists, but the radio station is still playing- going onto www.liveradio.ie and tuning into Dublin's Club FM shows a very much still active radio station, so what gives?
Well, as it turns out, comments on Dublin's Club FM's liveradio.ie page shows evidence that, despite being much beloved, the station faced some sort of closure prior to October of 2021.
It's likely that though the station returned, they were unable to re-acquire the domain for their website. Regardless, they are an active presence, and they remain quite popular.
They also have social media following, with their Facebook account in particular having around 7K followers, indicative of a small but loyal fanbase. They mainly use their social media account to promote upcoming raves and related events:
Amusingly though, they're not beyond also posting funny/ironic memes or jokes.
So despite how little is known about the station, it's clearly beloved by its fans and still has an active online presence today. What kind of fans are they, however? Who exactly does the station cater to?
Well, with that question being the sort of thing that can only be solved with a personal listening, allow me to enlighten you.
I listened to Dublin's Club FM via an online stream on liveradio.ie on Sunday 24th December, from 2-4PM to get a real feel for what they're about. As it turns out, the station's formatting is simple: they have no links, and play dance/lounge tracks pretty much non-stop. There are some stingers between songs with the station's slogan, but no presenters, nor news. The station sets out to do one thing- play dance/lounge music for its fans to rave to, and to its credit, Dublin's Club FM does exactly that to the letter. It's going out of its way to cater to a specific audience, one that isn't specifically local since artists played on the station like the Klubbheads are from the Netherlands, not Ireland. Furthermore, the specific song from the Klubbheads used- Discohopping- had been out as far back as 1997. In general, the station's songs seemed to be a consistent mix of rave music centered around the 90's, early 2000's and early 2010's.
This, plus comments as seen above on their liveradio.ie webpage talking about bringing back classics, being taken back to older times and showing some distaste for "cheap mainstream stuff" tells me that the station caters towards older audiences with a fondness for older, 'classic' club music. This in mind, I do think that the station's approach is effective- it does have a clear following, showing it works, and I personally appreciate the simplicity with which Dublin's Club FM goes about its mission.
After all, if all one wants to do is listen to club music, I doubt they want to hear anyone actually talking about it between songs- this is something Dublin's Club FM clearly understands very well, and I for one applaud them for it.
Find Dublin's Club FM at:
References:
Lull, J. (1987) Popular Music and Communication SAGE Publications, Newbury Park
www.facebook.com (Date N/A) Club FM Dublin [Online] Available at: https://www.facebook.com/clubfmdublin [Accessed 24/12/2023]
www.liveradio.com (Date N/A) Club FM Dublin [Online] Available at: https://www.liveradio.ie/stations/club-fm-dublin [Accessed 24/12/2023]
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Bradley Stoke Radio- BSR 103.4 FM
"The station with community at its heart"
In a detailed and lengthy article about the relationship between commercial radio and popular music written by Eric W. Rothenbuler in the book Popular Music and Communication (1987), he stated- in longer words- that radio doesn't so much chase popular music so much as it popularizes music in the first place. The same article reported that as far back as 1974, most individuals reported radio as being behind their interest in music (Rothenbuler, 1987). That radio doesn't always chase after popular music is something I want to investigate with some of the radio stations we will be reviewing on this very blog, and the first to challenge the notion is the United Kingdom's Bradley Stoke Radio. Let's get into things:
Bradley Stoke Radio, or BSR, is a community radio station located north of Bristol. It's run entirely by volunteers locally, and focuses on providing diverse and local content for its community, with coverage extending from Bradley Stoke itself to several towns and villages in the South Gloucestershire and North Bristol areas. According to its website, BSR has an "all-encompassing" broadcasting policy, lacking a specified target audience and instead looking to make sure there's something for anyone and everyone who might tune in. This reflects in their schedule, also seen on their website (which will be linked below):
As can be seen here, there are individual shows featuring country music, soul music, blues, indie music, jazz, hip hop and more. This is on top of what appear to be multiple speech-based shows as well, such as Drama Hour. With this in mind, there doesn't seem to really be a set format or structure in mind with BSR- it's programming is a mish-mash of various kinds of programming designed to cater to a wide variety of people, from country to hip hop to rock and jazz- which from the perspective of their mission statement makes sense.
If the broadcast area has so varied and diverse a community, perhaps trying to appeal to everyone is the way to go- though it does leave a lot to be desired when it comes to cohesion.
This was something I picked up when listening to BSR for myself. I listened in on a Saturday broadcast between 1PM and 2PM GMT, and what I was treated to was a show called "Rock and Roll Heaven". The premise behind the show was to pay tribute to great rock and roll performers who passed away on a specific year, this case being 2022, going through the months. Show structure went as follows:
Every quarter hour coincided with a link about 2-3 minutes long paying tribute to rock and roll artists like Bobby Rydell, Taylor Hawkins and Gary Brooker (each of which indeed passed away in 2022). Sandwiched between these longer links were songs and shorter links which mainly did the work of forward-and-backward announcing songs around them. Typically, one of the longer links featured some trivia about the rock and roller being paid tribute to, including a clip of a past interview, and were always followed by a song played by that same artist. Strangely, the music played between these tributes were a wild mix- I remember hearing one soul/jazzy song, a country song and The Sound of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel- not exactly the kind of music you'd expect to hear on a show which pays tribute to rock and roll. For a station which prides itself on providing local content, there wasn't much in the way of local music or artists either- Taylor Hawkins is American, as are Simon and Garfunkel, and the news at the end of the hour was played off Sky News as opposed to being a report on anything local.
I am willing to acknowledge that listening to only one hour of a radio station with such varied content as BSR is bound to provide a narrower view of what the radio station is like, but this is exactly my problem. While I found the content I listened to entertaining, the choice of music and artist selection was confusing for me- I had expected nonstop rock and roll and I got a mix of genres with some rock and roll tributes inbetween instead. It felt disjointed and lacking in cohesion, which, as stated before, is something that can be said about BSR's programming as a whole. In trying to cater to everyone, it perhaps leaves itself with a lot of scattered and disconnected shows that don't seem to gel well with each other and offers a very inconsistent experience.
That said, BSR must be doing something right- it provides a platform for local charities and events, and has apparently (according to their about page) "worked with over 400 different community organisations and groups", so if not with its self-admitted "eclectic" choice of music selection, it certainly serves its local communities in other ways. Perhaps such a varied selection of music and content is in fact what the community wants.
Find BSR at: https://www.bradleystokeradio.com
References:
Lull, J. (1987) Popular Music and Communication SAGE Publications, Newbury Park
www.bradleystokeradio.com (Date N/A), About Us [Online] Available at: https://www.bradleystokeradio.com/about/ [ Accessed 23/12/2023]
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Introduction
Greetings! Welcome to my blog. I'm just going to jump straight into the heart of the matter:
This blog exists for the purposes of reviewing and cataloguing various broadcast radio stations from all around the world (mainly in English-speaking countries), but these won't be standard reviews- certainly not the kind you'd see in a magazine! This is a blog about the industry for industry professionals.
Each review will be given in-depth, consisting not of just a personal critique of each station's work, but will also involve a deep dive into things such as their formatting, their places in the industry (public or commercial), their formatting, and intended audiences. Furthermore, I'll be looking at things such as how these stations present themselves (branding), what their music choice and policies are like, as well as getting into what they sound like and how.
This will very much be a deep dive into radio, looking at it as if from the perspective of an industry professional, and won't all be informed by thin air. I'll be taking the time to listen live to at least an hour's worth of programming from each of the radio stations that'll be featuring on this blog so I can get the best possible feel for what they're all about. Here and there I'll be using a bit of theory and established industry concepts to support the points I'll be making, but the focus will be on deconstructing a live listening session of each station.
So please, do tune in to the blog and give it a follow if you're interested in radio- you're bound to learn a thing or two!
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