This question was sparked when I had someone ask me the other day “Would you listen to your favourite radio station/show.. IF… you were the only listener?”
Well number one – YES! – number two – How would you know you were the only listener?
This led to a discussion with a number of on-air jocks who were talking about what they listened to – because the internet has opened the world to us, we can listen to any station we want, 24 hours a day.
Want to hear what Capital Radio in London sounds like at night – you can do it!
Want to hear what Texas breakfast radio sounds like, no problem…
Who wants to hear New York’s Z100? or Bob FM in Canada? The world is now your oyster to pick a station that you might want to hear.
For example this week I listened too, and in no particular order: Breakfast in Edinburgh on Capital, drive on 97.9 The Box in Houston Texas, Oslo’s nights show on Metro Romerike 96.6 FM, and ROCK FM in Madrid (whenever I get the chance) – all through the radio garden website.
This may seem an odd an eclectic list of stations to listen to – and yes I don’t speak Spanish or Norwegian, but when you hear an ad – you know it’s an ad – what I am also listen out for is ideas, how things work in and on other stations – and there are some amazing ground breaking stations to listen to – you just need to hunt for them.
Listening to other station also that are outside your time zone helps you to find out how other people cover the top stories of the day, and in my opinion – well worth the time to do so.
I also use a brilliant piece of software called Audials Radio – and I can highly recommend it. Once you find out how to use it you will be swinging from station to station, recording the bits you want and just enjoying the wide range of skills that other jocks and their shows have on offer.
So yes – do listen to other stations and discover what they are doing – who knows – you might pick up a pointer or two, some ideas and also discover some amazing music from around the world while you are at it.
