No playlist this week. Although a new show is playing on Radio Roadhouse UK at the moment, it will be broadcast on Royal Borough Radio next week and a playlist will be available after the show.
That's not the special announcement. This is.
The last Pop In The Real World show on Royal Borough Radio will be broadcast on 18th August.
(Pause for dramatic effect / to give the sound of tumbleweed time to register)
I have loved every minute of producing a weekly show. It's encouraged me to discover new music, unearth forgotten favourites and share music that I rate highly. I've never quite shaken off the feeling that being allowed to broadcast on a radio station is a ridiculous state of affairs.
It's become relentless though finding two hours of music I've not played before every week, and trying to find something interesting from press releases, PR interviews and Wikipedia (Heavens! Some artist profiles are as beige as they can be.) It became particularly intense trying to keep pace with demand when taking holidays in May and June and trying to get ahead of the curve. I feel it's time to reboot, read books, return to Arts Centre stewarding and reintroduce myself to family and the people who used to be my friends!
However, as David Bowie once sang (sort of!) we're heading for a better future, and that future is called Mixcloud. Mixcloud allows you to prepare and upload radio shows to the Internet. It takes care of the complicated licensing and royalty stuff for you as part of what they do in exchange for your monthly subscription. It allows you to break the programmes up into different sections (called Chapters). That means that if you're interested in new songs rather than a section on Bulgarian throat warbling you can skip straight to it. (I'm not advocating that, I'm just saying, that's all.) Mixcloud also allows you to comment on the show if you wish and repost too.
It may be that the programmes are a little shorter. It may also be that theuy skip the odd week. They will, however be around for longer. I think Mixcloud keeps them available for 10 weeks, but I need to check that.
They may also be a little louder. The show has tended towards mellow leaving a whole raft of noisier bands out in the cold. The time is right to welcome them in.
I'm still developing ideas to take advantage of the greater freedoms and fewer restrictions, so if there's anything you'd like to hear featured, let me know. It's likely that I'll take a short pause at the end of August, mainly because we have guests to stay for a couple of weeks, but the show will return in September.
I'll update this as plans develop.
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