Radio, Always Been An Earful

I've been listening to the radio since I can remember.

90.5 used to be on in my home when I was growing up. My dad used to look out for the news all the time. "You don't need a watch. The radio will tell you what time it is", he used to say. So I grew up on English radio with all kinds of music feeding my ears, and knowledge of what was going on in the world.

I listened to Glen Campbell, John Denver, Donna Summer, The Eagles. I remember asking for Irene Cara's What A Feeling in 1983 on a kid's dedication show I wrote into.



I remember listening to news about Cambodia or Kampuchea rather, the British sailing down to the Falklands 30 years ago and Ronald Reagan getting shot at.

I remember also when Perfect 10 98.7 came online. It was funny having another English station to listen to. So from Victor Khoo's Charlie show and Roger Kool's Saturday Spin (RIP) I graduated to the pop culture sold lavish by this new station. I remember the first episode of American Top 40 with Casey Kasem. Def Leppard's Pour Some Sugar On Me was at no.2. Dunno why I recall that. Perhaps it was my intro to harder rock but I'm sure I must have experienced some Iron Maiden from 90.5. Maybe I didn't like it till now. Maybe rules were stricter then, no devil music on the airwaves. I remember local DJs couldn't play George Michael's I Want Your Sex (bet that has another meaning now) and Color Me Badd's I Wanna Sex You Up. These days, goodness, almost anything goes. I think the US has stricter radio censorship laws than we do.

These days I partake in a variety of earful pleasures. I listen to Gilles Peterson and Pete Tong in BBC Radio 1. I started with UK pop music in the late 80s and stuck with ever since. the British is way more cutting edge than the stuff America puts out. More range and diversity, and almost anyone can be a star. Come on, Cliff Richard had Christmas number ones in 1989 or something. I also got hooked to house and dance scene through the BBC too. I grew up on Paul Oakenfold remixes. There was Bom Da Bass, S Express, MARRS, Technotronic, Inner City. Anyone remember Bring Me Edelweiss by Edelweiss? God what a mad song. And whenever there was a super ballad or awesome rock song, that'll go number one too. Right Here Waiting did that in 3 weeks from debut. Now why did I know that? I used to track their weekly top 20, on paper. It was an obsession for about 2-3 years. Silly things teenagers do to think they're cool.



So besides the dance and new music, I listen to BBC 4 comedies. They're bloody funny. Even Just A Minute is funny. They have guest panel organized specifically so that everyone makes a fool of everyone else. How liberating is that. Start here >>

Local radio. Well I've currently got my ears on 98 FM in the mornings. I can't stand 95 FM for their self-indulgent crap. I jumped from 91.3 because they got too heavy with the hiphop. 90.5 puts me to sleep on weekend nights. Sometimes I wake up in the wee hours and hear The Way We Were and mentally sing along.