published: 30/12/2024
This post takes its motives in the French-specific dismal musical quality of the FM radios across the country. Therefore, as this disgrace may not be that glaring elsewhere, many people living outside the French borders may not feel that concerned by the issue. That being said, the outcomes of this post (expanding musical horizons via webradios of the world) shall be rather universal & telling to everyone.
A matter of aperitif
Time for an aperitif. With friends or family.
Let's have some music!
It shouldn't be intrusive; it should fade into the background of discussions and laughters.
But its presence feels good. It makes itself forgotten, while injecting good vibes, and sporadically attracting attention, just enough, divine surprise at the start of an unexpected song, brought out of oblivion, and welcomed with happiness.
There's no shortage of ways to do this :
- A good old CD.
- Spotify-style streaming.
- A track played on youtube, then followed by the choices of the algorithm.
- Or the good old radio.
The last two options are tempting (also including the spotify-style streaming option in radio mode or playlist mode): for discovery, to be surprised!
In an ideal world, the last option should be best: on the radio, with real humans, heart and souls, not algorithms, choosing the tunes!
When business kills the flow
But there's an elephant in the room. There's two elephants actually :
The first problem is advertising. It's omnipresent, and it brings home the consumerist and the vanity of the society we belong to. So, especially for aperitifs, it's just not possible.
The second problem is the musical quality of the mainstream radios in France. In the field of popular music (say, pop - rock), it's of abysmal nullity, of staggering conformism and poverty, it's the certainty of listening to nothing cool, of discovering nothing interesting. In France, radio does exist, but it's non-existent.
So we've got to find solutions off the beaten track.
Pilgrim's staff
One possibility, the one I take :
Be patient (this is the pre-requisite).
Start you web browser (so far, so good).
Start searching for web radios, from you home country, and elsewhere around the world. In the musical style of your liking. Good news : there's several web sites which act as "indexers of web radios", sorted by country and by style. But now starts the drama : there's a massive amount of web radios on the internet ! No surprise there : on the air, at the scale of the planet, there's alreasy a massive amount of traditional radios, with the combined local and nationwide radio stations. Well, nowadays, most of them are also present on the internet. Therefore, all of the world's radios get referenced by the "indexers of web radios", all together. It's exciting, and it's scary. Cherry on the cake: for the "bug-budget" radios, their internet presence is multiplied, because not only they broadcast the web clone of their traditional station, but they also broadcast some other variations, specific to the internet, which are specialized in some musical genre.
First things first, where to start with the "indexers of web radios" ? Here is one which I like a lot :
https://onlineradiobox.com
The website is essentially community driven (it's not a portal for ads), the size of its web radios database is impressive, and for each radio the data provided is very thought out : country and city of origin, musical styles, and very useful information from users : popularity of the radio, reviews.
There's several alternative "indexer" websites of course, like http://radio.garden (less exhaustive and collective, but convenient for improving one's geography skills !)
Having everything at hand on the web is cool, but what about being on the go on smartphones ? No problem, a lot of (more or less ads-driven) apps are florishing to get us covered : TuneIn, Streema, and dozens of other radio apps all give us access to the same inventory of worldwide radios.
Some real gems
And for what? For the joy of finding some real gems! Web radios that make you want to listen to them, on a regular basis, on the slightest occasion (even if it doesn't involve alcoholic beverages). Web radios that make you love the radio again!
For rock n' roll
- Italy / Radio Capital (the main radio, as well as its Classic Rock variation)
Radio Capital, discovered "in real life" on the car rental radio, in 2018, during a trip in Puglia, Italy ; since then, thanks to internet, this radio remains constantly with us! Even more so since in addition to its main radio, there's also a "Classic Rock" variation which is great!
| https://www.capital.it/ listen on onlineradiobox.com |
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| https://www.capital.it/ listen on onlineradiobox.com |
- Belgium / Classic 21 (several variations)
This is as close to perfection as it gets. This series of Belgian public radios cover the full spectrum of popular music, from the 60's to the 90's, with a dedicated web radio station for each decade! So you can choose a particular decade or atmosphere, depending on the current mood! And with this degree of "specialization", each of the web radios is particularly eclectic, with a mix of must-have tracks and forgotten gems (either nearby forgotten from the depths of memory, or genuine discoveries).
| https://www.rtbf.be/classic21 listen on onlineradiobox.com |
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| https://www.rtbf.be/classic21 listen on onlineradiobox.com |
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| https://www.rtbf.be/classic21 listen on onlineradiobox.com |
I most frequently find myself on the 70's variation, because this decade is so rich, from Hendrix to Supertramp via Elton John or the beginnings of Dire Straits, the decade of musical apotheosis before branching off towards something else entirely. Note that this web radio also plays progressive rock (prog-rock), in small doses, with Jethro Tull, Yes and Genesis regularly featured.
Examples of a sequence heard on Classic 21 70's, a tuesday of october (2023/10/17), it's 7:30PM (ok, it happens to be the time for an aperitif) : Deep Purple / Into the Fire - Jethro Tull / a song from Aqualung - Neil Young / ? I don't know the title - I don't know the band / I don't know the title - Rolling Stones / Wild Horses - Stylan Dan / Ricky don't loose that number - Lynyrd Skynyrd / Tuesday's gone with the wind - The Who / Baba O'Riley - John Lennon / I don't know the title - Ac-dc / Rock'n roll damnation... that's quite a program 🙂
More recent
- Belgium / Classic 21 80's
The 80s, at their best. Or how to adore, and even discover, lots of great songs from this period! Although our cramped Frenchie exagonal radio stations are filled with "80's" stuff, Classic 21 80's is in another dimension. Personally, it's only now, thanks to this web radio, that I'm realizing how great 80's music really was. The repertoire is mostly in English, but there's also some French songs (and Belgian, of course).
| https://www.rtbf.be/classic21 listen on onlineradiobox.com |
Quite surprisingly though, I'm not particularly hooked on Classic 21 90's. It's unclear to me yet whether this is due to the radio's programming, or to the music of this decade, which ultimately would be less timeless, less to my taste (this is a question that could end up becoming existential 😅 ).
And for other occasions
Continuing on the radios which are broadcasting other musical styles (classical, other musical cultures, etc...) means moving away from the concept for the aperitif... never mind, let's go:
Preliminary disclaimer : I have nothing against FIP (this French radio "for the adult amateur of music"). They are a safe haven for intelligent music, they don't take us for fools, they make us discover things. Having said that, their "world music" section is a real turn-off for me. It took me a while to understand why "I couldn't do it". Now I know.
Let me put it this way (while knowing that this is partly simplistic, therefore partly inaccurate, my apologies to all the people, in the present, past and future, who will feel offended because they disagree, but disagreement is life and that's no big deal, all the contrary) :
When I'm in the bus on the Peruvian Altiplano, some Peruvian music is played on the speakers, upon driver's choice. Not just some Peruvian music ; he plays some music from his region of the Peruvian Altiplano, for example he plays some music from Ayacucho. So, as with everything, we'll remain insensitive to certain tracks and artists, and on the contrary we'll adore the next track, we'll be amazed by a solo from va-savoir- quel-instrument, we'll be fascinated by rhythms we've never ever heard, ...
Then, back in France, it's clearly possible to listen to "world music" on the radio (on FIP, for instance). But then everything deflates, the music is now emptied of its vital energy.
As a matter of fact, the "world music" which we can listen to at home, is not some music which would come from a remote foreign country, and which would be broadcasted to us by our radio stations. No, absolutely not.
The "world music" which we can listen to at home, is a music which has some source of inspiration in remote foreign countries, that's for sure. But the music is played for us, for us the occidental audience. With musical references which are familiar to us (the cool jazz), and also with exotic touches originating from the remote foreign countries.
So we travel in latin america, or in central balkan Europe, and we hear extraordinary things. But these things, we will never, ever hear them on our radio at home, on our "world music" programs. This is sad, because again, that's a missed opportunity to expand the musical horizons.
Therefore, even though we live at home (there's no denying it !), let's take up our pilgrim's staff again, let's seek these music at their source, over the internet, let's grab the web radios of these local radio stations, all around the great wide world, from Peru to the balkans !
Here is a few examples of worthwhile web radios around the world.
To be honest, I think that "loving" these music is not simply a matter of listening to them, from time to time at home. More importantly, similarly to the musical styles we've grown with and we love, having an immersive experience with them is a must, embedded in the culture which is producing them. In other words, a stay in these countries is a must, with enough time to passively be exposed to the music, for hours, in the bus, in restobars, etc.
Alternatively, having pseudo-immersive sessions remotely, at home thanks to genuine web radios, that can't hurt !
The aim is definitely not to listen to it every evening when back from work, because each web radio, taken individually, is so "specialized" that sporadic listening is adorable, and sufficient 🙂. Then with time, affinities may develop !
I dream of the day when a radio in my home country "dares" to have a "world music" programming which would open-up to the real, genuine music of the great wide world, there's so much to discover ! If anyone knows such a radio, please tell us !
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Radio Neptune - an "institution" in brittany ! classical music by day, jazz at night, the programming is of great quality |
https://radioneptune.fr/ listen on onlineradiobox.com |
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Douce France - French song, more eclectic, you die, from the 1920s to the present day, including lesser-known tracks by well-known artists |
https://doucefrance.radio listen on onlineradiobox.com |
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Megaton Cafe Radio - swing time ! "the best music from the 1920s to 1950s" |
https://www.megatoncaferadio.com/ listen on onlineradiobox.com |
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Radio Capital variation Viva l'Italia - what would Radio Capital be without a web radio dedicated to Italian songs 🙂... plenty to enjoy in this repertoire, with discovery of great artists from the 70's like Ivan Graziani, or the story of the little mole at the eastern fair 🙂 |
https://www.capital.it/ listen on onlineradiobox.com |
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The world apart of Bulgarian music... amazing instruments and extraordinary virtuosity, extraordinary rhythms, extraordinary singing ensembles |
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Musics from "the heart of Balkans and ex-Yugoslavia" |
https://www.naxi.rs/boem https://www.naxi.rs/exyu |
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Hungarian folklore music... yet another mesmerizing world apart to Romania... gypsy influence, wild violins |
https://folkradio.hu https://www.radiopetrecaretzu.ro/ |
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Now moving to another continent... some radios of "tropical" music (salsa cubana, cumbia colombiana, samba brasiliana, ...) I don't know much about the music people do listen "for real" in Brazil (I've never been there), but here is a neat radio, it plays "classic" Brazilian pop (some of it is just great), samba, bossa-nova, and cherry on the cake, Vanessa da Mata songs can sometimes be heard. |
https://www.facebook.com/tropicanal98.9fm/ https://www.hionline.eu/Latin/ https://fm.logicaweb.top/public/mpb |
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More focused on cumbia colombiana Cumbia with a Peruvian twist ! |
https://risaralda1002turadio.com/ https://andiaproductions.wixsite.com/andia |
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A few radios from the Peruvian Andes - amongst hundred such radios on the altiplano ; for setting foot into Peruvian pop music, its trippy-crazy melodies, its hypnotic anti-groove rhythms, and its hallucinatory jingles
... along with radios from its cousin Andean neighbor, Bolivia |
https://radiocuscolegal.blogspot.com/ https://perufolkradio.com/ https://www.facebook.com/redchuqui https://www.radios-bolivia.com/bolivia-folk-radio |
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And Equator... bridge of cultures from its 2 neighboring countries, Colombia (the tropical) and Peru (the Andean), this magic blend is also operating in the music ! |
https://web.laotrafm.com/ |
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Finally, let's move up north to Mexico, with more familiar tones |
https://www.elcuerpoaguanteradio.com.mx https://www.facebook.com/LaGruperaRadioMx/ |
The radios of the great wide world, that's a universe of infinite dimensions. With time, I'll add links to other web radios of interest... definitely if you share your favorites of interest 🙂