Entertainment For Lively Minds
How do I hear the Top 40 ?
Now bear with me. This should be grotesque, bizarre and ridiculous on this forum, but I have a sudden and unexpected crisis.
For a few years now I have given up on the Top 40. Not necessarily because of its content, but because it was getting so difficult to get to hear it. I would expect to hear the pop hits of the day on Radio One, but being a working person, the (ahem) Drive Time options turned into Chris Moyles who plays a record every 3.7 years and then in the evening Scott Mills who whenever I switch over is doing an oh-so-funny wind-up on some poor sod, and will play something eventually, but by then I will be a danger on the Queen's highway.
So with the crankiness of age, I go elsewhere. 6Music in the morning before setting off, Two in the evening. That's fine, but does puts you in a certain demographic, which mostly plays Old Stuff or (for want of a better term) Alternative Stuff.
Meanwhile I like world music, and a little while ago saw the annual African tour, which had K'Naan, whom I liked more than a little..
Then today, I saw this http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/chart/singles.shtml
and K'naan, Somali rapper, IS NUMBER TWO IN THE CHARTS ! AND I DIDN'T KNOW !!
Now, the bleedin' obvious solution is the Top 40 show of a Sunday afternoon. But, having a life, I am usually elsewhere then.
So, starting from first principles, how can I actually get to hear the contents of the charts, preferably in the car, which has FM/AM but not DAB, and involves minimal amounts of DJ bollocks. Obviously adverts are a pain, but if the DJ shuts up and plays the discs to compensate I will make allowances. I am in the North West of England with a side-order of Welsh border, so certain metropolitan jolliness won't reach me.
All suggestions gratefully received. unless it involves spending my life in front of videos on the telly.
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Get an ipod adapter for the car....
and an iPod obviously (other mp3 players are available).
Google the nerdoftheherd website, and locate a handy tool called radio downloader. You can guess the rest...
Follow the Dr's advice
The radio downloader makes for a much easier way of catching up with whatever you like when you like.
Another vote here for the radio downloader....
......and thank you to whoever it was who brought it to my attention on this site a few months back. I've been downloading so many programmes and having a lack of time to actually listen to them. Well over a 1GB of MP3's waiting to be transferred to my ipod.
Recent Iplayer downloads:
Jaggers Jukeboax (Radio 2)
Dale's Pick of the Pops (Radio 2)
David Bowie Story (Radio 6)
Prince Story (Radio 6)
Blur Story (Radio 6)
Pulp story (Radio 6)
Bob Harris (Radio 2)
If you download the radio downloader you can then subscribe so that it automatically downloads the next edition of the top 40 as soon as it appears on the BBC Iplayer.
And then you'll be endlessly checking out the Iplayer for other radio shows to download. Its fabulous. Still not sure how it works though.
If you have access to Spotify...
... you could always make up your own top 40 playlist, going to the Radio 1 chart for reference (http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/chart/singles.shtml) and slotting in the new entries every week - that's what I used to do myself until work blocked Spotify (grrr.) In all honesty there were usually a few tracks not available, but if you're determined to keep up, that's one way of doing it...
Go to a record shop and...
Ah. Sorry. Nevermind.
If we had a Radio Word then those nice disc jockeys could play the top 40 and explain what the hell is going on with the world. I mean, I looked at the 45rpm chart on the BBC website and did not recognize anyone. Except England manager Terry Venables of course. Okay, and The Lightning Seeds. But where are Status Quo these days? Is Glee Cast a man or a girl? Are Dizzee Rascal glam rockers or punks?
Thank goodness for Radio Toast FM I say. Harrumph.
It doesn't matter
I work for a record company and have to check out the Top-10 on a monday, usually to realise that I have no idea who anyone is.....
Ta muchly
Thanks for your suggestions.
DrV: yes I use Replay Radio myself, which can record iPlayer and such, and that is an option.
Metal Mickey : Spotify ! Seems obvious, but somehow I always think it is just Old Stuff there. But yes...
However, for both of the above you set out your stall in advance. Meanwhile it seems odd that something as obvious as a national (or even local) Top 40 station is so elusive. As I flick about the FM band there are niche stations , like Heart (old Leona Lewis/Eric Carmen stuff), Smooth FM (ditto, only more so), Rock FM (not very Rock when I hear it), Absolute (indie, landfill and otherwise) and so on, but not Top 40. Someone I spoke to suggested Galaxy during the hours of daylight before it goes all Ibiza on yo ass, and indeed they seem to have a playlist with loads on it, but not K'Naan, No.2 in the charts, which is where I came in. Good old Radio One would still seem best, but for me unfortunately being in synch with Messrs Moyles & Mills and their hired friends.
However this seems to be a common experience among y'all, so it appears I am not totally Not With It, Man. Not yet anyway. (Phew.)
Radio One : Evidence for the prosecution
Yesterday, 22/6/2010, Scott Mills in a three hour show played 10 tunes.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00srwz9#segments
Earlier, Chris Moyles, in a three and a half hour show, played 14, though just to upset my argument, one of these was K'Naan.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00srwgk
So, these shows aspire to having about 25% of their time dedicated to music, which is a bit iffy for a music channel.
(Zane Lowe in a two hour show had 26, and that included an interview).
To be fair
when I last regularly listened to Radio 1, in the 1980s, while there would be a fair sprinkling of chart music there would also be a heck of a lot of classic rock and pop of yesteryear and a sizeable chunk of chat, traffic news (honk honk), Newsbeat, Mike Read playing Buddy Holly songs on his acoustic guitar and lots of Quack Quack Oops.
Take Simon Bates mid morning show for example. The Golden Hour ("It was the year we lost Sir Ralph Richardson… and gained this from Kajagoogoo" ) playing a whole hour of tunes from 1978, followed by 'Our Tune'...seemingly never ending tale of tragedy and woe over a soundbed of the love theme from Romeo and Juliet.
At this time of year we'd also soon be getting the Roadshow, cue much banter with the crowd, Peter Powell riding on a vintage Traction Engine, t-shirts being thrown, Smiley Miley's Mileage Game, and of course Bits and Pieces.
Every so often there would be time for a pop record. If you were lucky, it would be 'Everything Counts' by Depeche Mode. More likely it would be Modern Romance.
You could start travelling by train.
Every time I do so I seem to sit (well stand, usually) in the vicinity of a gang of youths playing large swathes of the hit parade from a tinny mobile phone speaker.
Ask them politely, and I'm sure they will back announce the tracks for you.