Internet Radio

Perhaps I should say my brain is on Wired. A couple of days ago I wrote about why I like Radio Paradise so much. Yesterday, while reading the February issue of Wired Magazine, I came across Brendan Koerner's Why Things Suck: Radio. In five paragraphs her articulates why modern FM radio stations suck, concluding with:

So bored consumers are just tuning out. Listenership among 18- to 24-year-olds is down 20 percent over the past decade. Stations have responded not with bold programming but by cutting costs. They've also expended considerable resources to squelch competition from low-powered FM stations and Internet radio. Not that it has helped — 85 percent of teenagers now discover new music through sources beyond the FM dial. Even the biggest radio fans envision a grim future for the medium. One bright spot: The inevitable shift to digital radio could create more room for more types of content.

Now I am not a teenager, but internet radio stations like Radio Paradise have introduced me to more fun and interesting music in a couple of years than I could ever get from most commercial FM radio stations. Not only is the music fresh and exciting it is wonderfully mixed so that it flows together, giving the impression the songs were arranged together by the original creators acting in concert.

I swear I don't work for Radio Paradise. I am not paid a dime although, on occasion, I give money to support the wonderful work Radio Paradise is doing.

I don't know how I got my first exposure to Radio Paradise but as soon as I listened in for a length of time I was hooked. Radio Paradise is a for-profit business but instead of engaging in the least savory business practices they model the way in customer friendly and community friendly business practices.

Radio Paradise solicits funds but the asks are very soft and never annoying. If you tell yourself you'd pay a penny for every incidence of crappy advertising you have to slog through when listening to radio or watching television then Radio Paradise will be a very refreshing experience. Aside from the periodic reminders that Radio Paradise is listener supported radio there is no advertising.

The lack of advertising extends beyond the music to the web site. No banner ads, no google ads, and no product placement. For a for-profit company Radio Paradise doesn't really go out of its way to sell you anything beyond merchandizing and affiliate marketing.

The lack of advertising and the unobtrusive reminders to support Radio Paradise would be an interesting aspect of any radio station, but those qualities are not compelling in of themselves. A radio station is only as good as the content it produces and this is where Radio Paradise shines:

Each hour of music is carefully blended together to flow smoothly between different musical styles & genres - just like real DJs used to do on FM. We don't use the computer-generated playlists or "carefully researched music libraries" that have sucked the soul out of FM radio - and we never just throw songs together at random the way many web stations do.

I don't have enough of a music ear or know how to ascertain whether a DJ is using generated playlists or canned playlists, but whatever Radio Paradise does well they mix some incredible music together. The selection is eclectic moving across genres, time periods and styles smoothly. Every hour of Radio Paradise teaches me about a new artist or an artist whose work I could stand to know more about. Of course, I could stand to know a lot more about many artists and even more genres.

Go ahead, check out Radio Paradise and tune in for a while. If you like what you hear send them some money, if you don't have much money listen to their streams and write about your impressions maybe somebody who has more money to donate will read your praise of Radio Paradise and enjoy their music and make a donation.