Repeat guaranteed!!

[G0HZU_JMR]

At least you can choose to turn it off...

At my place of work we are having a very frantic year end and I'm having to spend a few weeks in the production/ATE area. Here, someone has chosen to subject us all to "Heart 80s" all day every day over the intercom system. It really is the same songs played in a different order every day and it is torture for some of us. But the regular staff here seem to love hearing the same songs every day. So I'm going to be subjected to this every day until the end of December.

The one that is driving me mad at the moment is 'jump to the beat' by Stacy Lattisaw. I haven't heard this cheesy old disco song for maybe 30 years but Heart seem to play it every day

Click on the link (below) to this song at your own peril... I can't get this song out of my head because I hear it almost every day at work and it's been like this for a few weeks now

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vtq4PMJvSI0

[Lloyd 1985]

You need to get some noise cancelling earphones!! I've got some for work, as I'm sat between 3 radios with different stations on at the same time! I think being stuck with Heart 80's would drive me round the twist too. I seem to be stuck between Talk sport, 6 music and someone's iPod full of 90's cheesy pop music.. occasionally Talk sport gets swapped to Radio X.

Regards
Lloyd

[ex seismic]

I've tried noise cancelling head/earphones in that sort of situation, they don't work as they don't see (hear?) the varying musak as noise. They do work well in aircraft where the noise is constant. What you need are straightforward ear defenders.

Gordon

[G0HZU_JMR]

I've considered getting something discreet to put in my ears but I'm primarily there to provide technical support so I'm regularly talking to other people there. What adds to the mix is that we have a bank of large Thermotron chambers doing burn in and also environmental testing (down to very cold temperatures). These things make a lot of noise and they are in the main production area. So lots of compressor noise and clicking/whooshing valves at regular intervals. Add to this a wailing 80s dance soundtrack and the background noise from a few dozen ATE stations and people trying to talk over it all and you get the stuff of madness... It really is like Groundhog Day every day... week after week ("come on and jump to the beat...!") I'm glad I'm only there for a few weeks. Maybe I'll take early retirement next year in case it all happens again next year

[stuie319]

Hi Folks,

My solution to this is a pantry tx relaying Caroline. It has been for 20 years!
Back then the tx was fed from an analogue satellite receiver on a sub-carrier,
then a digital one, and nowadays a raspberry pi streaming one of their web feeds.
Repeats are few and far between, as are adverts (although they could use more) and inane chatter

Regards,

Stu

[1100 man]

Definitely Radio Caroline for me. Great mix of mainly prog rock, blues, modern stuff all selected by the actual DJ's who are passionate about the music they play. If a DJ wants to play an entire side of a Pink Floyd album, then they will. You won't hear Stairway to Heaven 10 times a day: in fact the tired old 'classics' are not often played.
If you like older 60's type stuff, then they have their 'Flashback' stream.
Most importantly, they don't do the news or travel news and have one or two short ads once per hour.
All in all a very refreshing change from modern stations- some of the guys were on the Ross Revenge or Luxembourg. It's a listener supported station and is well worth supporting!!

Give it a try
All the best
Nick

[Grubhead]

Radio stations have to play performance rights fees for every record they play. So yes some records will be cheaper to play than others. Hence the playlist of the same records over and over again.
If you fill up the shows with phone calls and news and chats, that saves on record fees. It was an old technique from the days when Radio Stations had "needle time". Where they not only paid a fee for the records played, but also had a maximum time limit of the total recorded music played. Live music didn't count, since the musicians got paid anyway. Of course the old Pirate Stations didn't pay anything and didn't bother much with needle time. However later the did start paying to put the critics to rest.

So it's very expensive to play a record on the radio. What gets me is that the record companies often get two fees for it. First from the Radio Station, then if it is played in a shop or other place where the public could listen to the radio, another fee from the shop. A local hairdresser, who didn't have music playing, told me she was constantly being harassed by the officials set up to police the scheme. Checking if a radio had been sneaked in or was on the premises.

[Boater Sam]

You forgot Zulu on Christmas day.
I could watch Jimmy Stewart in Its a wonderful life every Christmas and still enjoy it.

[Malcolm G6ANZ]

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Radio 3 yet. No repeat play list, no adverts, no ,or few phone ins, no traffic reports. Just intelligent announcers giving details of the music. Any interviews are with musicians and composers and relevant. The quality on FM is excellent, I cant answer for DAB though as I don't use it.
The only downside is the occasional opera.

[julie_m]

Some of the stations available only on DAB seem to have no presenters, either; just a continuous playlist of songs and advertisements. The absence of a normal human speaking voice (i.e., not the adverts, which are typically delivered in an annoyingly upbeat fashion) makes them tiring to listen to for long periods.

The other, scary possible explanation for the "sameyness" of moden radio stations is simply that we've just heard every record that everyone ever made already by now .....

[Phil G4SPZ]

I too find Classic FM's playlist rather limited. As much as I enjoy 'Fingal's Cave' it seems to be played every day.

My pantry transmitter is fed from an old Logik IR100 internet receiver, permanently 'tuned' to Radio Dismuke from Fort Worth, TX. Massive playlist of 1925-1935 music and rarely do you hear a repeat.

[Tractionist]

Boater Sam! How could I forget Zulu? !!! That memorable performance of Mr Caine mis-cast as an Upper Class officer .... delivering his lines in his best East-End/Cockney/Estuary English! One of the best comedies I've ever seen !!

[G8HQP Dave]

I sometimes listen to Radio 3 in the car, but that involves frequent volume twiddling as they don't use as much compression as other stations. Perhaps they have got the balance just right: insufficient compression for cars, too much for the home? Of course, the right place for compression is the car radio itself, not the broadcast.

[Tractionist]

Great feed-back Brethren! Initial suicidal tendencies are now abating - I'm wallpapering and have reverted to a trusty old Nordmende 'Transita Automatic' [not that it's actually 'automatic' ..... but I have no moans/whines/complaints etc. about it's build quality and great performance]!

Oh yeah - prepare yourselves for endless: Cliff, Slade, Wizard, Lennon, Michael etc. etc. etc. ........... THIS IS CHRISTMAS!!! (But in the words of Gloria Gaynor .... "We will survive!)

[G6Tanuki]

Originally Posted by julie_m

Some of the stations available only on DAB seem to have no presenters, either; just a continuous playlist of songs and advertisements. The absence of a normal human speaking voice (i.e., not the adverts, which are typically delivered in an annoyingly upbeat fashion) makes them tiring to listen to for long periods...

I find exactly the opposite: random voice-interruptions and inane chatter by some DJ who is under the delusion you want to know what he had for breakfast or what 'slebs' he met in the Green Room are a real turnoff for me.

These days I don't listen to the radio much: my PC does its impression of an iPod Shuffle rather well [currently playing: the 'Initial-D' Eurobeat compilation].

[julie_m]

Well, there are certainly good and bad presenters. And I might be considered a tad biased, what with radio presenting being in my blood and all that! It's true that some DJs overdo things with the mic, but there is still room for intelligent presenters who see themselves as "your host(ess) for the evening" as opposed to "the star of the show" (as far is I am concerned, the records are the real stars).

[Phil G4SPZ]

During the recent snowy weather I listened (briefly) to my local BBC local radio station for news of road disruption and school closures. I have to say the presenter was dire. It reminded me so much of 'Radio Active'!

[julie_m]

Back in the 1990s there was a presenter called Graham Torrington who used to do a show across the GWR network called "Late Night Love" -- love songs, messages from people in love to their lovers and discussion about relationship-related topics, with a different overall theme each night. It could have been complete mais en sauce de fromage but for G.T.'s mellifluous voice and thoughtful presentational style; not butting in while listeners were telling their tales on the phone, and sensitively handling more challenging stories of bad relationships and bereavements. My respect for Torrington only increased when he had to stand in on the Saturday night pre-club warmup "Party Hard!", a completely different style of programme, when the regular presenter was indisposed -- and still managed to nail it, as though he was completely at home presenting any kind of show.

Closer to home there was Radio Derby's lunchtime slot from 12:00 - 14:00, with John Stiles, including -- in the days long before eBay -- the Swap and Sale Trail, classified adverts on the air! (that's my Dad, by the way .....)

['LIVEWIRE?']

Graham Torrington is still broadcasting on several BBC Midlands stations, including, Derby, Stoke, Nottingham, WM & CWR, from 10PM to 1AM Sundays to Thursdays. I haven't listened to hm for some time, but his style is much as you describe, Julie.

[julie_m]

Ooh! I think I might have to grab a quick listen-in .....