Why I’ve Started Listening To German Radio – And You Should Too
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Switching on the radio in the car has become an increasingly frustrating process. You’ll either be interrupted by the impetuous tone of Chris Evans or the absurdity of shows like Paddy’s Sunday Dinner, or perhaps an advert trying to persuade you to buy a new hot tub, or even a host of overexcited presenters awarding cash prizes to anyone able to string together a full sentence – I’m sure you’ve heard the gratuitous phrase “Capital give me the cash”! Call me old-fashioned but I like my radio to play music above anything else. After all, a station develops its identity based on the music it puts out onto the airwaves. Just look at Smooth and Classic FM – it’s quite clear which style of music they focus on.
Fortunately, there still seems to be a few precious stations that exist almost purely for the music, Absolute Radio and the aforementioned Classic FM being good examples.
Recently, I discovered the ‘tunein’ internet radio service (there is also a mobile application) and – in an attempt to improve my language skills – I switched on a couple of radio stations broadcasting from Germany. Somewhat surprisingly, almost all of the music propagated on air is actually familiar English music, as apparently Germany doesn’t have much of a popular music scene. Music in their mother tongue is relatively few and far between and I haven’t once heard 99 Luftballons which, until recently, was what I naively assumed to still be the face of German music. Whereas popular British stations such as Capital and BBC Radio 1 seem to merely play the top 40 on a constant loop, German stations consistently put out timeless hit after timeless hit, with a potent mix of contemporary chart music along with decades-old classics. Furthermore, there’s been no sign of any sort of radio shows, and advertisements are more limited if existent at all.
Whilst there’s a comprehensive range of stations from across Germany to suit a wide variety of music tastes, for the most complete experience I would recommend Bavarian radio station Allgäu Hit, which offers music to suit every kind of musical tastes. Even though the brief news updates every half an hour are, admittedly, a slight annoyance – as well as being completely irrelevant given the language barrier – the station really is all about the music.
Enjoy your newfound radio world!