FOLK RADIO UK | 8TRACKS | BANDCAMP RADIO | MIXCLOUD | SPOTIFY

I'll be straight with you, I've always wanted to have my own radio station. At the same time, I've never wanted to be a radio dj.

It's just that I grew up in an area and time that was horrible for radio (small town Canada, the 90's). Well, horrible for the radio listener, I'm sure the radio was doing fine. They played shit, and they played it repetitively and consistently. And in those days, there was no magical internet unicorn to hitch a ride to where the cool kids were hanging out listening to the good stuff. Just some morning DJ, pushing fart sound effect buttons and radio friendly fluff down our impressionable throats, leading us down a path paved in conformity.

But you just knew there was better stuff out there. Because every now and again, something amazing would sneak past the gates. Maybe it was your older brother passing down a hidden treasure or a random gamble in a record store, but all it took was one musical treasure to make you think "Why do they keep playing the same shit, when they could play this?". And that is around the time I got into making mix tapes. For myself, yes, but also for others.

And then the internet came along. I originally just thought the internet was exclusively for emailing. But eventually I discovered the pornography. And then the music. And then the mix tapes got seriously out of hand (the masturbating too, but that's a tale for another time).

I even would send mix tapes to radio stations and be all “Why don't you play songs like this?”, to which they would be all "not reply to my letter".

So, long story short: I will probably never have an actual radio station. But, the internet makes it possible for me to kind of have a radio station.

And you can listen to it in the following ways (just click on any of tapes below to pop it into your digital walkman):

I host a show on Folk Radio UK every 2 weeks which is basically a 1 hour mix tape of some of my favourite tunes.

Every month I put a little mix tape together over on the wonderful radio alternative that is 8tracks.

A great mix of tunes, all available on Bandcamp, that you can listen to like a radio station (on exfm).

Besides using Mixcloud to archive past shows for FRUK, I also make more mix tapes (and guest mixes).

I've been making playlists on Spotify (and  continuing to add to them). If Spotify's in your country, press play.

In closing, if you find you're listening to terrestrial radio and it is letting you down… stop listening to it (I haven't listened to the radio for years, but I still have friends that do, even though they complain that it sucks).

And even if you don't jive with the music that I'm sharing, you should still be using the sites above to enrich your musical landscape. You can use and listen to them anywhere and any time, and besides the musical discoveries they'll provide you as a listener, you can even start making and sharing your own mix tapes and join the fight against shitty music. Life is too short for morning djs and Top 40.