Listening to the radio in the shed

[avocollector]

I have both a woodwork and electronic area in my shed and like to have a radio on while fixing things, clearing up or just plain pottering. I assume many of the people here also enjoy doing this but lately, the last year or so, the choice of music broadcast has been horrible to my ears! I wondered if it was just me ageing or do others find this??

Seemingly endless mournful dirges alternating with screaming over the top material - I don't think I'm any prude having been a heavy metal fan for years as well as rock enthusiast but this is a step beyond what I want to hear or tolerate. In fact the only tolerable station the other day turned out to be a Christian one much to my surprise (and horror)!!

Pity as I'm going to miss tuning in and enjoying the offerings but it looks like pre-recorded is the way to go now.

[Nuvistor]

Try some of the internet stations, 100’s probably 1000’s available. Hopefully something there that will suit you.

[Scimitar]

Solid Gold Gem AM.

[paulsherwin]

Most radio broadcasting is now highly demographically targeted, with servers playing out automated playlists. If you don't fit the target demographic then you're unlikely to enjoy the station much.

To complicate things further, advertisers are particularly keen to reach female listeners in the 16-24 age range, as they are easy to manipulate with marketing campaigns and spend a lot on transient consumer products. Very few members of this forum will be part of this target demographic group.

[G6Tanuki]

Since the coming of MP3-players and decent storage in phones so I can build my own playlists, along with the option of interruption-free streamed playlists on the likes of Spotify, I've not really felt the need to listen to music on broadcast-radio.

[An obsolete/redundant phone along with a cheap plug-in FM-transmitter will give you a few days of stored music to replay through your shed-radio]

[cheerfulcharlie]

I bought a 'banana' phone the Nokia 8110 ..it is not a smart phone but a small 'dumb' phone but it is not so dumb at all, it has a version of Linux in it called Kaos and has WiFi to connect to your broadband.

So it has a lot of useful apps (but nothing like the Android range) including a frequency generator,FM radio and... World radio..so you can listen to lots of stations from all around the world.
The speaker in it is perfectly adequate, but if you're in a noisy workshop then you can add a bluetooth speaker or just connect to an amp with a 3.5m jack.

It all works superbly well and bought as a B grade for about £35 (70 NZ$)

PS you can use it just as an MP3 player if so wish as it has an SD card slot

A bloke at work likes Radio 2, and there are a lot of those durges/moaning songs on it. As to

Very few members of this forum will be part of this target demographic group.

I suppose my choice of eye liner and blusher (I am a big biker type chap) is somewhat OT.

[duncanlowe]

Originally Posted by cheerfulcharlie

I bought a 'banana' phone the Nokia 8110 ..it is not a smart phone but a small 'dumb' phone but it is not so dumb at all, it has a version of Linux in it called Kaos and has WiFi to connect to your broadband.

My Nokia 8110:
WiFi, er no.
Linux nope.
Headphone socket, not a chance.
Dumb it certainly is.

But then it is the original version from the nineties.

[AC/HL]

No point in recommending one station as we're all individual in our tastes. This page is preloaded with your national ones, but click on the top banner and the world's your oyster. Not the same as listening to the wireless but that's the world we live in today.
https://radio.org.nz/

[cheerfulcharlie]

Originally Posted by duncanlowe

My Nokia 8110:
WiFi, er no.
Linux nope.
Headphone socket, not a chance.
Dumb it certainly is.

But then it is the original version from the nineties.

No no no !..this is the new version ..I know what I am listening to..
Gee this forum always someone waiting to come down like a ton of bricks on you.

https://tinyurl.com/wohgohc

[Herald1360]

Well the original 8110 has the merit of being classic if not vintage. The new one is presumably a retro pastiche like the Bush TR82/97 (which really should have been a VTR103/97 anyway). Though perhaps on the basis that the new model does things that the original didn't TR82/97 is a better match when related to the 8110.

[Reelman]

I have my alarm radio wake me up with Radio 4. Most days there is a great temptation to stay in bed just to continue listening... rather than me just being lazy! I’d listen more but the boss likes QVC and crashing aeroplanes instead of the radio. After every listen I always feel that I have learnt something. Radio 4 tends to cover issues in greater depth often with a real expert or two. Now, many may prefer background music when pottering in the shed/workshop but I redecorated the whole of my mother’s house listening to 4 and it made an onerous task more pleasant.
You may have preconceptions about 4 but just try it for a change.

Peter

[Cobaltblue]

Another vote for R4 about only program I don't listen to is Gardeners Question time. No interest in gardens that's SWMBO favourite thing

When GQT is on I usually listen to 70's rock

Cheers

Mike T

[G6Tanuki]

The original poster is in New Zealand: I really don't think suggesting BBC Radio 4 would have much content appropriate to his hemisphere.

To me, that's the #1 thing about this-millennium podcasts/streaming-services. In the past I remember struggling to receive boxing/baseball-game results from US medium-wave broadcasters [AFN rebroadcasts from Germany made it a bit easier].

These days thanks to the Internet I can get as-good-as-CD quality 'radio' from anywhere, and rebroadcast it to my old FM radios - in stereo!

[Currently listening to a 320Kbit/sec stream of this: https://youtu.be/cbB3iGRHtqA on a pair of Roberts R707s, one for the left-channel, one for the right]

[paulsherwin]

BBC R4 is available on TuneIn outside the UK, so there is no problem listening to it in NZ and rebroadcasting it. The time difference is obviously an issue though.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/schedules/p00fzl7j

The various NPR streams from the US are another option, though it's fairly obvious that NPR has a very limited budget and the presentational style is very easy to parody (as is often done on US TV shows like The Simpsons - Lisa is a big NPR supporter).

I find myself listening to BBC R3 more nowadays. There is still a tedious effort to 'educate' listeners but it's much better than it used to be in that respect. At least you don't get intrusive ads.

[duncanlowe]

Originally Posted by cheerfulcharlie

No no no !..this is the new version ..I know what I am listening to..
Gee this forum always someone waiting to come down like a ton of bricks on you.

https://tinyurl.com/wohgohc

Sorry. Really didn't mean it in that way! It just struck me that you and I have very different memories of a Nokia 8110.

[joebog1]

Back to post #1.

I agree entirely!! thats why I have one radio. An eight geranium transistor National Panasonic. ( I just fixed it yesterday in case of a cyclone ). WHY would I listen to it normally ?? I wouldnt!!!

How does the internet work for radio without power ? How does Wi-Fi work without power.
As a beside, Kangaroo Island is suffering flooding!!!!!

Joe

[avocollector]

Many thanks for all the suggestions, ideas and comments folks. Brill as, although I use computers daily, I'd totally forgotten about internet broadcasts or mp3 ripping. Was not helped by the fact that when I went to use the tapedecks instead of radio on both my boomboxes which serve as shed radios, they'd both packed up!! Still cds or computer broadcasts would be the ticket I reckon and with the bonus of no ads!!

[Terry_VK5TM]

If you value your CD's, keep them out of the workshop, take copies in.

About the only time I listen to the radio is when I put the dog in the car for the two minute drive to his favourite walking spot, if I remember to turn it on.

When we go on long journeys in the new(er) car, it is always CD's, although we've found it is fussy on what it plays (won't play any of the Readers Digest ones or Mp3s), so that will have to be replaced at some stage.

[its ur aerial]

Some 30 ago I repaired a TV (22 Inch Thorn 9600) for the Controller of BBC Radio 3. She made me a cup of tea and we got chatting about Broadcasting and the BBC, she then informed me how she was being pressured into achieving a increase in R3 Audience figures, this was at odds with her beliefs, that large Audience figures don't necessarily equate to quality Broadcasting.......... Too right.
We now have hundreds of TV Channels, most of which broadcast dross, and Radio stations with DJ`s or presenters with no talent at all.
Ken G6HZG