Some say 13 is an unlucky
number. In my experience it has
been quite the contrary. The gate
I walked through to come live in Europe just so happened to be gate 13. The
plane didn’t crash. I met an
amazing girl at a gig on the 13th and we actually still
talk to each other. The very first test broadcast for RadioNowhere was on the
13th of April 2002 in Walthamstow, London and 13 years later I am
sat here writing this and we are still on the air. A lot has changed since those early days, technology being
the biggest. On the 11th
of November 2002 we launched our 24 hour stream which has not been interrupted
since. The very first song ever
played on RadioNowhere was Transmission by Joy Division. It seemed appropriate being that we
were in Macclesfield then and that Ian Curtis once lived just a 5-minute walk
from our studio. Back in those
days one was constricted to a PC or Mac to get the full RadioNowhere
experience. It would be another
two years before ex-MTV VJ Adam Curry would launch his Daily Source Code, which
the Guardian would later label and the world would refer to as ‘podcasts’. Apple released iTunes 4.9 in June 2005,
which supported podcasts and RadioNowhere applied to Apple that autumn to be
added to its podcast subscriptions.
Hurrah! We were accepted, and released our very first podcast, The RadioNowhere
Live Request Show in May 2006. It featured a then unknown Texan
singer/songwriter by the name of Sarah Jaffe who just so happens to be a pretty
big deal now and in 2007 a singer/songwriter of some note by the name of Bruce
Springsteen penned a song called RadioNowhere. (We had no idea you were a fan Bruce! We love you too!!) So here we are, close to 1000 podcasts
later and on this 13th Birthday we are raising a glass to all those
who have joined us on this musical journey. Sadly we are constantly on a knife edge of going silent
forever due to increasing financial constraints and the seemingly unlimited
outlets for discovering music such as KEXP, 6Music, NPR, Apple Radio etc
etc. The list is virtually
endless. The one thing that we are
most proud of though is our listeners.
Those who still crave the experience of listening to music via an actual
human being, not through a myriad of platforms like Spotify who use algorithms
as their tool to discovering music, not passion, experience and genuine human
emotion.
In the past 13 years we have been
recognised by The New York Times, The Guardian, ABC Australia, and The New
York-Boston-Philadelphia editions of Metro. However it is the words of
RadioNowhere listener Jason Stephens that probably said it best…
It’s Eclectic It’s Eccentric It’s RadioNowhere! That’s the motto for the online radio
station broadcasting from the UK that as it describes: was started in 2002 as a
reaction to the lack of support commercial radio was giving to unsigned and
deleted artists. In fact all the
stations I listen to (WDCB, klassik radio, BBC Radio 1 and 6 Music, 91.1 The
Avenue and fip) aim to do the same in some respects but RadioNowhere has made
it its mission. Great music shouldn’t be put on a pedestal, only associated
with fame and mass popularity. Some
of the best music is the most unknown music. While scouring record shops, one may find music that you
never heard of before but due to the recommendation of a friend or cool album
cover, it turns out to be the best music you ever heard! Listening to RadioNowhere is like
scouring a record shop through each genre and is like a friend offering
recommendations of their favourite records.
If you feel the way Jason does about
RadioNowhere, please donate and help us to continue to stay on air and bring to
you music won’t hear anywhere else!
Thank you to Ley, Jessie, Piney,
Alex, Polly (J6), Ruby, Jenny, Mark, Rachel, Peta, Tim (Ten Yen), Herick (Bigif),
Mariola (Ola), Vanessa, Patrick and Judy.
You made my dreams come true and I
love you all!
Christopher
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