Radio Stations

Interesting topic that we probably haven't discussed here on the forum before, at least not in depth. I generally don't like most pop music that they play on the radio (both in England and Poland) and it's extremely repetitive, but I do appreciate it when an older classic comes on or sometimes I enjoy listening to some of the presenters who are more entertaining. When I'm in a car with someone, I can listen to most music on the radio as long as it's not too terrible. My standards just drop considerably, especially when driving around at night. However, I don't have a driver's license and I can't afford a car, so I don't really get that opportunity often unless with friends or family. If I worked a night shift somewhere that required me to do a bit of driving, I can't imagine doing that without a radio. There's just something really nice about a presenter speaking directly to night workers and drivers like that, which makes sense because that's what they have in mind when broadcasting during later hours of the evening. When on holiday in Warsaw, I usually stay at this tiny old apartment in a tower block where my grandmother used to live (now my aunt's family makes use of it every now and then when needed, so they are kind enough to prepare some fresh bedding and towels for us when we visit Poland) - since it is much cheaper that way than paying to stay at a hostel or hotel. As there is no TV there anymore, and it never had any internet connection, I listen to the radio when sleeping there. It's amazing when an older tune comes on, something that was popular from before I migrated or even older stuff, coz it makes me feel extremely nostalgic.

Since we're speaking about radio stations, I gotta give a (dis)honourable mention to Radio Maryja. It's sort of like a religious cult on the radio for some Polish grannies (back home we call people like that moherowe berety because of the stuff they wear, which makes them easy to identify). It's so right-wing, racist, homophobic, generally conservative and senseless that even the shitty Catholic Church is concerned about it. They have their own TV station too. The man who owns it all is quite rich because they essentially function like his own businesses, but the silly brainwashed grannies continue to give them handouts. I remember the way we used to joke about the station's name back at my Polish school was by pronouncing it with a pause in between "Ma" and "ryja" - this is because in Polish "Radio Maryja" means literally "Radio Mary", but "Radio ma ryja" means more or less "Radio has a snout".

 

Need more Slav hardbass.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdI5y3iwhLU

 

@Nuclear: Oh, I haven't listened to a tape in ages. I used to use my mother's walkman, but sadly it broke years ago. Also had a discman in the early 2000s and would listen to Polish rap on it that I was way too young for. :lol: I generally cycle to uni (unless the weather is really shite), and since I don't have a basket or anything like that attached to the front, there is no room for a portable radio... not like I could really do it anyway with the shitty British weather. And yeah, I think radio adverts are a standard pretty much everywhere. However, I do get the feeling that there is a bit more of them in the UK and a bit less (but they're also slightly more repetitive) in Poland. GTA radio stations are pretty cool and you don't really mind the adverts on there because they're always either funny or leave you scratching your head.

@Jimbo: That clip reminds me of other trashy Slav music. This isn't really the same genre, but unlike "школа колбасы" it is not made for a joke and people actually listen to this. In Poland it is called "disco polo", I know they have very similar sounding stuff in Ukraine and possibly Russia as well (not sure what it's called over there though). It's basically dance music inspired by Slavic folk songs and Euro disco. Used to be all the rage in the 1990s and 2000s, still very popular but not as widespread as it was. It's... quite terrible, but often played at weddings and parties, and I'll admit I don't mind listening to it after a few shots of vodka - but I think most Poles have to admit to being guilty of this at least once in their lives. Below is a mix of such songs.

[YOUTUBE]M5bmeQLdIJ8[/YOUTUBE]

 

Sometimes i listen to podcasts form radio stations affiliated with political parties/movements i feel closer to.

 

I've only played San Andreas, GTA IV and V. All of them have good radio stations, but San Andreas has the absolute best ones. Whenever I go on a road-trip with friends, I usually put on a playlist on Spotify that contains all the songs from the KDST radio station from SA

^ This! :lol:

It's another case in real life...

I don't know if it's like this in the rest of the world, but in Norway we have two types of frequencies: FM, which has been around for years, and DAB, which is a new thing with a generally better signal and way more radio stations. They even have a radio station with classical music and one with Jazz, and a couple with the best rock-songs

Sadly, I don't have DAB in my car because it's pretty expensive, so I use the six FM-stations. They usually just play the same old repetitive popular hip-hop, and when they don't, they're just talking, talking, talking and utter talking. The absolute worst thing I know when driving with one or more other people in the car, is when we're having a conversation, and then there's this really tiring stressed voice talking on the radio in the background. It just grinds my brain until I "throw some curse words out in frustration", to quote Nuclear, before I turn off the radio for good.

Sometimes, though, I can enjoy listening to morning-shows and the like on my way to work, 'cus they can be pretty darn hilarious sometimes :lol: Other than that, I usually don't listen to the radio in my car; I mostly use Spotify on my cellphone and wire it up to the speakers with an AUX cable, so I can play all the songs I like. And when I'm too lazy to do that, I also have a USB-stick mounted in the music-player, with a lot of good albums that I've gotten from my father.
Billy Idol, The Cure, Coldplay, AC/DC, Yello to name a few

 

Maximum 102.8 FM.

 

For me it becomes an hourglass for just a second, then a big Pause-button, so apparently it's playing. But I'm not getting any sound either.

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For the record, when we're talking about typical music on the radio, I just want to say that there is nothing called "bad music"; that's a false statement and could be a very offensive one at that.

Whenever I've been to parties or things like that, I've usually tried to put on my own music, but you know what happens? Almost every time, someone runs over and stops it, yelling "Omfg, who put this horrible shit on?!", and every time it's both embarassing and aggitating. So recently, when I've grabbed the AUX cable and plugged it into my phone, or typed something into spotify on a laptop, I've just stopped myself and decided "...fuk no".

There's only a handful of events that I remember clearly from 5th grade, and one of them is when a friendly teacher, a student and me were in a classroom. The student, called Daniel, asked "what kinda music do you listen to?" to the teacher, and he went "I like In Flames a lot and listen to them now and then", and you know how Daniel responds? His face-expression just goes from casual to "WHAT THE F***, DUDE?!?!" in one second, and he just spits out his words in disgust as he goes "EWWW, THEY SUCK!".

Yes, some music is catchier and way more popular than other music. Some music is composed with a greater skillset than other music, and some music is just "....what?". But still, there's nothing called "Bad music", it's all a matter of personal preference. You might even go as far as to say some music is better than other music, and I won't forbid anyone to say that, because to an extent, it can be true. But there is no such thing as Bad music. Thank you.

/rant over.

 

It works for me ok, but it's not my type of music tbh. And yeah, agreed, it's all up to one's taste really.