Back in the day, radio was king. Before television came along, everyone gathered around the radio set to listen to dramas, music, comedies, and sporting events. TV appropriated most of that format, and took the place of the radio in family's living rooms, but radio remained an integral part of people's lives. Radio shifted from the living room to the automobile; every car in America included at least an AM radio.
My love for lounge music was formed by traveling in my Dad's Ambassador station wagon as a kid, listening to WTMJ-AM in Milwaukee and their steady diet of Dean Martin, Herb Alpert, Peggy Lee, and Henry Mancini. In the fall, we listened to Packer games as we traveled to relatives for holidays.
When I got my own car, my tastes had switched to rock and roll. I became a Ramones fan when I heard "Rockaway Beach" for the first time on the radio in my 1969 Firebird. "Born to Run" burst on my car speakers just as I was turning on to the freeway, headed home on the day I got out of the Navy. I punched the accelerator and roared off.
At home, I vividly remember hearing "Stairway to Heaven" for the first time on the decades old, vacuum tube radio I inherited from my Mom. On a good night, I could pick up AM stations from Mexico to New York on that radio. There was a station in Little Rock, Arkansas that was especially cool. The night I listened as a 'progressive' FM station from Madison played the entire album "Horses" by Patti Smith provided a moment that changed my life.
The things that link all of these radio experiences together is random discovery and musical development. Radio introduced me to new music and shaped my tastes. It also provided more than just music: sports, talk radio, and local news. Throughout my life, it provided a soundtrack to all my travels, work, and leisure.
Those qualities are what I am seeking to maintain and recapture for the Analog Analogue.
Thankfully, this is one area where digital technology has provided a solid alternative to AM/FM radio: Internet Radio.
Like those nights where I was tuning the vacuum tube radio to find distant AM stations, Internet Radio gives me access to a wide variety of actual distant radio stations and curated internet stations. I can listen to my local radio stations on an internet radio app on streaming, plus some 100% internet stations and stations outside my over the air listening reach.
Internet radio is distinguished from other forms of streaming by its curation by human beings, rather than an algorithm. A local radio station that isn't run by some huge corporation knows the local tastes in music, because the DJs and manager may be connected to the local music scene. They are probably serious music fans and are driven to turn people onto good music. This is doubly true of many pure internet stations. Deep knowledge and passion beat a machine every time.
This brings up my first rule of Analog Analogue: Ditch the algorithms.
A local radio station also features local news and community updates. You can listen to NPR or other radio news programs on internet radio, programs not available within your over the air reach. Internet radio opens up the possibility of hearing voices and information not immediately available to most of us.
I should also point out that many local radio stations are now owned by giant conglomerates, like Audacy and Cumulus. These stations are just as programmed by non-humans as any streaming platform. Internet radio offers the listener a way to bypass their reach.
I would grade Internet Radio a Slight Upgrade from the Analog Age. It doesn't add any new functionality to radio, but it does expand access to a world-wide selection of stations across every genre, rather than limit you to what you can pick up over the air in your area. And so long as the stations are curated by humans, it can fit comfortably in my Analog Analogue bubble, as it largely replicates the old AM/FM experience.
One of my long time favorite internet radio stations is Luxuria Music. It's a listener supported station run by music insiders and enthusiasts, and it plays lounge, psychedelia, sunshine pop, and lots of very groovy tunes. Give it a listen!
