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13 March 2005 at 03:51 AM.

Begin the day with a friendly voice,
A companion unobtrusive
Plays the song that’s so elusive
And the magic music makes your morning mood.

Off on your way, hit the open road,
There is magic at your fingers
For the Spirit ever lingers,
Undemanding contact in your happy solitude.

Invisible airwaves crackle with life
Bright antennae bristle with the energy
Emotional feedback on timeless wavelength
Bearing a gift beyond price, almost free

All this machinery making modern music
Can still be open-hearted.
Not so coldly charted
It’s really just a question of your honesty, yeah,
Your honesty.
One likes to believe in the freedom of music,
But glittering prizes and endless compromises
Shatter the illusion of integrity.

Invisible airwaves crackle with life
Bright antennae bristle with the energy
Emotional feedback on timeless wavelength
Bearing a gift beyond price, almost free

For the words of the profits were written on the studio wall,
Concert hall
And echoes with the sounds of salesmen.

People have left 14 comments for "The Spirit of Radio"

Jokai fan

13 March 2005 at 09:03 AM

I take it that’s a far from reality in the UK as it is here, no?

All the stations have been brainwashed and play “the greatest hit, the greatest” mix (they even have the same advertising, more or less). It’s so not funny to hear, that’s why I completely stopped listening to “music” radio. But then again I have no TV either… Luckily there’s still a radio still that has a serious allday new and reports programme that’s worth listening too.

Oh and music: my absolute favorite at the moment: Celia Cruz with “Yo vivire”. :)

Stuart

13 March 2005 at 11:33 AM

That’s the lyrics from a RUSH ditty and it’s great but I think the first 2 verses kind of went with my day out Friday. Our music stations have gone the same way – down. The only decent one now is Virgin Classic Rock but you can only receive it in London. The bastards down there forget there’s a country that supports the lazy arse-holes. Not me of course. I wouldn’t support them if they paid me. Anyway you can get it on the net so it’s either that or BBC Radio 4 which is talk. I have a TV card in my PC but it is rarely used before about 1:00am cuz I like ice hockey but that got cancelled this year. Go figure.

Jokai fan

13 March 2005 at 11:42 AM

Isn’t it amazing how the media industries keeps on forgetting their customer base? They wonder why sales are going down (not that the broad basis of people just doesn’t have as much money as they used to have, or that they just don’t want to spend it on what’s offered today) and still ignore what – at least a part of potential customers – wants. *sigh*

Les

13 March 2005 at 02:10 PM

I rather like 6 Music – lots of new music and a general lack of “latest hits”. On DAB, digital TV services and available on the web. They even let you catch up on the last week’s worth of shows on the web. Nice :-)

Stuart

13 March 2005 at 02:35 PM

Hi Les. Yes I quite often do some replays of comedy off Radio7 and odd funny quizes etc from Radio4.

Lizz

14 March 2005 at 11:11 PM

...Ok, how many publicly owned radio stations are there in the UK? Here we have (depending on are and therefore language base) 1-3… always either CBC English or French, which is primarily, then a talk channel (radio 2) and then maybe the other official language… there’s also radio3 online.

But UK seems to have 7??? crazy….

Stuart

14 March 2005 at 11:18 PM

That’s because we are way ahead of the rest of the world Lizz, as per usual smile smiley

, so we have Digital Audio Broadcasting which can be received using a DAB Radio, a TV Digibox, cable or satellite and all in the finest, non-vinyl, digital quality. Aren’t we just the best? And of course, our Public Broadcaster has to lead the way. ‘Tis world-renowned after all.

Lizz

14 March 2005 at 11:32 PM

UK also has twice the population of Canada, so I guess you should get about twice as many radio stations… but you also have 1/4 the land size, meh, I like the fact that you drive out of Ottawa for about 5 minutes and you’re in the middle of a forest… and it takes at least an hour to drive out (at 120km/h)

Stuart

14 March 2005 at 11:42 PM

Fancy driving that fast Lizz. Tut tut. From here 20 minutes in one direction at a cool 40mph gets you to the middle of Birmingham City centre on a good day, whereas 20 minutes in the opposite direction gets you to Cannock Chase which is where my picture of Tanya the dog who likes trees was taken and I’ve got lost there. Now put me straight if I’m wrong, but isn’t 3/4 of your country pretty kind of empty? smile smiley

Lizz

14 March 2005 at 11:52 PM

More than 3/4… 90% of the population lives within 90 minutes of the US border. And 120 is actually the going rate on most Canadian highways… if you’re only going 100 (the speed limit, about 55mph) you better be in the slow lane!!)

But since UK is that much more compact, I guess that would mean you need fewer antennas to reach more people, so it makes sense… and Radio1 has slightly different content at each repeater station… Each province has its own daily news time, and then each city with a station has about 2 hours of local programming… plus local weather, and things like that too…

It’s just different…