Long Live the Radio Star

http://rinse.fm/At the end of last year I tried to put together a mixtape containing my favourite tunes of 2012. But I couldn’t do it. My iTunes library just didn’t do 2012 justice, and this got me wondering why that was. It’s not that I’ve gone ‘cold’ on new music; I’m probably listening to more than ever, just in a different way. Two or three years ago I was finding music on blogs then heading to megaupload for a bit of socially acceptable thievery. Perhaps a combination of the internet federales’ crackdown on the Kim Dotcoms of this world and my paid subscription to Spotify, but I pretty much stopped downloading music.

Now, however, I realise that it’s the humble wireless (or the 21st Century equivalent: BBC iPlayer) that’s been holding my musical attention. In a world where technologies and ways of consuming media are born, blow up and become obsolete within years, the fact that radio is as relevant today as it was almost a century ago is quite staggering. 90% of the population listen to the radio every week and, on average, those listeners absorb a whopping 22 hours of music, news and Nick Grimshaw’s drivel. Digital radio and the internet have made it all the easier to avoid Scott Mills and find something you actually want to listen to, and now almost 20% of us are using our mobile phones to tune in as well.

The BBC’s continual evolution with the times is laudable. For such a large, stuffy corporation it would have been easy for them to plough all their resources into daytime Radio 1 for the kids and Radio 2 for the grown-ups. But the Beeb 1’s musical finger is dead on the pulse of the dance music scene here in the UK with Benji B and new-recruit Jackmaster getting serious airtime. In fact Gilles Peterson’s departure from the station was a blessing in disguise as he now resides over on 6 Music where he is given 3 hours, every Saturday, to spin the finest cuts from all worldly genres. And let’s not forget Pete Tong and The Esssssential Mix – undoubtedly the most respected DJ mix series in the world. As for 6 Music, the quality they chuck out never fails to blow my mind, but I’ll not go on about that here - for one I’ll sound like one of those pretentious types who believe they saved the station from closure by ticking an online petition. I mean, I did that, but no one wants to sound like that...

But more than the BBC’s continual relevance, it’s the Rinse FMs and Boiler Rooms of the radio world that are pushing the boundaries of what radio is, aswell as bringing music out from the underground. Rinse FM has been around for almost two decades now, broadcasting for 16 of those years as a pirate station. The sheer tenacity of keeping a pirate station broadcasting for that period of time is hugely impressive. And were it not for the efforts of the dedicated DJs and geezers who let them use their bedrooms to broadcast from, the likes of Grime and Dubstep probably wouldn’t be the forces that they are today. In 2010 Rinse finally got the appreciation it deserved and was given a license to broadcast on 106.8 FM.

My final tribute to radio is aimed at the Boiler Room. The online station’s climb, starting with a few lads DJing to each other in a grimy London room three years ago, to a worldwide radio/podcast/party behemoth is almost incomprehensible. A couple of years ago you’d look forward to Tuesday night to see which London DJ would be spinning to roughly one hundred privileged guests and a few thousand online listeners. Now, a different party is held almost every night in Berlin, Los Angeles, Sydney, New York or London, and all are streamed right to your living room, blurring the boundaries of radio, TV and the club.

I’ve obviously only talked about my thoughts on the state of radio in the areas of music that I love. No doubt many of you have differing opinions and experiences (hell, write a piece and send it in), but to me radio is the most important source of music – both new and old – around. And all this ninety years after the first entertainment radio station started broadcasting in Britain.