Planet Rock
As has been widely reported in the media, Planet Rock, the digital classic rock station, is likely to close unless the current owners can find a buyer.
I have a sort of love/hate relationship with the station. When I first bought a DAB radio I used to listen to it quite a bit, but I gradually got bored with it as they seemed to play the same limited playlist of songs over and over again, so it got ignored in favour of the good old CD player.
In the last few years, Rock (as opposed to that watered-down genre of music called “indie”) has undergone a revival; there’s a huge number of recent bands producing the sort of music that sits comfortably alongside the likes of Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd that dominates Planet Rock’s playlist. Would have been nice to hear any of the bands I’ve blogged about over the past few years on the air.
Yesterday was the official release date (I think) of the retail edition of Fish’s excellent “13th Star”. So why did Nicky Horne play the hoary old “Market Square Heroes” rather than something off the new album on his show last night? Sort of sums the station up, really.
February 14th, 2008 at 11:25 am
Yes, that was my first thought, too. I’ve only heard it once or twice, but the station does seem to have a very ’safe’ playlist.
I’ll stick with the web-based services which learn one’s preferences whilst still offering new music one mightn’t otherwise hear.
February 14th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
It may be that DAB radio becomes the Betamax of broadcasting. Just at the point where it becomes technically possible for larger number of stations to start serving niche audiences, the spread of broadband internet means that internet-based services can serve those niche audiences better.