always listening in

Find songs that have played within the past 7 days on the nation’s top 2,600 radio stations, CMT, FUSE, MTV, and VH-1. Rate currently playing songs right now to influence charts & chat with other listeners.

• Yes

Over at GigaOm Rags Guptagives his view on the future of radio:

Social networking around music has emerged as a class of Web service. While terrestrial radio has yet to fully embrace this, music social networking represents a large opportunity for terrestrial radio stations to gain relevance and currency online. Fundamentally there are two functions around music that social networking can fulfill…

• GigaOM » Can Social tools save plain ole’ Radio?

He’s got a fair point, radio is really well positioned to gain from music lovers sharing and comparing music online. Nokia have been trying to bridge this with visual radio (pretty awful multimedia content and radio mash-up) and yes.com aggregates 2,600 US music stations output to show the zeitgeist.

Stations like XFM are really trying to bridge the gap and have excellent content to drive people to the site and some great forums to keep people there. Part of the problem is radio is still fairly fragmented when it comes to marketing with stations mostly managing their own budgets and never really having a huge push together to tackle online. The exception of course being good old aunty who is fantastic at building online service and discussion around music radio as well as branching into social networks like Second life.

Thanks to Ed for the link.

Couple of great ones in the there.

• Boing Boing Five favorite podcasts

Thanks Ed.

I can’t tell you how sad I was when Sky nabbed Lost series 3 from under Channel 4’s nose, not because I was going to miss the show, I was sure I could get the DVD or ask a friend to record it. No I was upset because Channel 4 radio has an excellent podcast dissecting every episode. It was hosted by comedian Iain Lee and really was one for the best podcasts I’d heard.

A friend lent me the first 6 episodes on video and it was with a heavy heart I sat down to watch them, knowing I’d still enjoy it, but knowing that I was not going to have the podcast to go with it. So imagine my surprise when I saw an ad for th podcast, and guess what? Sky had got Iain Lee to present - fantastic.

I’ve watched the first couple of episodes and listened to the podcasts and they are every bit as good as Channel 4’s (if a little shorter) . Never thought I’d say this, but nice one Sky, thanks for understanding shows like Lost really benefit from extras like this that improve the experience.

If you are reading this after having bought either Series 2 or 3 of Lost on DVD, go download the podcasts, watch each episode and then enjoy the podcast. It really does make the show.

• Lost Series 3 on Sky with video clips and podcast
• Lost Series 2 on Channel 4

Great stuff, from Radio last night:

In August 1940, as Hitler prepared to invade Britain, a top secret mission designed to turn the tide of the war was under way. A team of Britain’s top scientists and engineers were on their way to America. They carried with them a briefcase containing our most valuable technological secrets - to give them away.

• The World in a Briefcase

From the Guardian

The commercial radio industry did not exactly get a good press in 2006. Beset by corporate troubles and with its audience share deflated by the dominance of the BBC, there was not much to shout about. But now, it seems, a fightback has begun.

• Let’s recapture the glory days of the wireless - From the Guardian

What do you get if you combine the worst bits from a Marshall Stack with worse bits of Pure radio?

EVOKE-1XT Marshall Edition

• EVOKE-1XT Marshall Edition

Ofcom have just announced a consultation document entitled the The Future of Radio.

Digital Radio and its future are at the heart of the study. DAB in the UK is growing, no suproses there, but the study also looks at the standards used to broadcast digital radio In the UK. MP2 is the current standard-de-jour. You don’t need to be an expert in digital audio to know that there are better systems around, MP3 and MP4 for starters.

MP2 has worse sound quality than FM and is a backwards step. The biggest drawback with MP2 is that you can get two better quality MP4 stations in the same broadcasting space as MP2. This means there is more space for more stations.

Jack Schofield in the Guardian has raised this issue a number of times over the last few weeks and is leading the campaign for the use of MP4 (sometimes confusingly called AAC+).

The problem I have with Jack’s campaign and the possible switch to MP4 is that I own two digital radios that won’t play MP4 and three FM radios so if this campaign is successful I’ll need to buy 5 new radios. As we speak the number of digital radios sold with MP4 playback is almost zero in the UK so I won;t be alone in having problems if this change happens.

The study also mentions TV over DAB. Virgin Mobile recently launched the Lobster phone which can receive DAB-TV. TV broadcasting takes up a lot of broadcast space further limiting the number of radio channels out there.

So what should be done. All new digital radios in the UK should support both MP2 and MP4. MP4 should be introduced in tandem with MP2 and DAB-TV should be phased out and introduced as the analogue TV broadcasts are stopped. I wonder what Ofcom will decide to do.

I’ve been rather busy of late, new job, overgrown garden and much more have got in my way a bit.

So as a little recompense to my loyal readers I’ve collected together some lovely links:

Podcasts

Channel4radio - If like me you are a lost addict then Channel 4’s podcast is essential listening. Ian Lee presents and really makes the podcast.

British MacCast - Great editing, some stutering but a great Mac podcast

Coolness Roundup - Global update podcast on really cool stuff

Another geeky one, Web 2.0 show podcasts for lots of talk on all things web related

Listen again

Sunday Best – the Battle for Babylon
The site of the famous Hanging Gardens of Babylon lies only about 70km south of Baghdad where recent events have created a threat to its survival. Used as a base camp by military forces, there are reports of serious damage to the archaeological remains. Jonathan Charles investigates.

Steve Lamacq takes a look at the making of the seminal 80s dance
crossover album Screamadelica by Primal Scream.

If you haven’t discovered it yet Russel Brand on 6 Music on Sunday mornings is really, really funny. (Thanks GLR) follwed by Andrew Collins whose Sunday paper reviews are hilarious.

Coming up

Coming up later this week Giles Wemmbley Hogg Geht Zum FussballWeltmeisterschaft Weg!, Thursday at 6.30pm He’s back! Budleigh Salterton’s most famous citizen, traveller and worldly guru knows nothing about football or Germany, but from the moment he decides to book a strolling holiday in the Schwarzwald he pitches headlong into the thrilling arena of The World Cup.

And In Business, Thursday at 8.30pm the Tangled Web. The Internet is evolving into a powerful new communications medium. It is leaching power away from the old information providers in press and broadcasting and handing it to a new democracy of bloggers and communicators, now numbered in millions. Peter Day asks how established businesses will cope with this vital change in the media landscape.

XFM have launched a podcast of the Adam and Joe show best bits. Clips from the last series of their fantastic radio show topped and tailed with some new material.

Glad to see they are repeating the hilarious R Kelly ‘In the closet’ DVD escapade.

Go get it now:

• Adam and Joe podcast on XFM

MC BlueKunckles has pinned some rhymes about Boothby Grafoe

Yo Mister Graffoe,
Betta do yo math-O,
Mess with my homie,
Your ass I’ll Straff-O.

Listen up Boothby,
Y’ know what the truth be,
Yo lame-ass show,
Has a ‘Radio 2′ feel.

Word.

From the fantastic Skimpy Scrawlings:

• Skimpy Scrawlings

I’m not sure if he’s like it in real life but he doeas seem to have a sinister edge to his interviewing style. The Today Programme sports presenter really give me the creeps.

He interviews in the same style as James Naughtie and the rest but in the world of sport do we really need this style of questioing?

There’s an example here of him interviewing Anna Kournikova and giving her a hard time. Take a pill Gary and relax - be nice to your guests.

Monday May 22nd sees the return of the best thing about Radio 4.

I downloaded and listened to the Mastercast last weekend. It was well, a bit geeky. If you appreciate the differences in the colour of the skin of the Evil-Lin action figure then you’ll love it. If like me you really don’t care then leave this one alone.

• Link to the podcast

Yep, they’re repeating Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington’s fantastic 2005 shows again on XFM.

Tun in every Saturday at 1pm.

• Ricky Gervais’ show on XFM