‘Gangnam Style’ was probably the first K-pop hit to achieve mainstream success in the West…that was around a decade ago now. Kind of like an MC Hammer moment. I assume it’s only grown in popularity since then- not my cup of tea, however.
Japanese pop (‘J-Pop’) seems to be quite popular, too.
Radio BOB from Germany has a variety of rock stations
https://www.radiobob.de/
After the shutdown of Lush 99.5FM in Singapore in 2017, Mediacorp has launched a new online only station, Indiego, that plays indie music
https://www.melisten.sg/radio/indiego
https://www.todayonline.com/8days/mediacorp-adds-made-singapore-music-platform-indiego-melisten-1772871
Interesting to see Ted Stryker has defected to Alt98.7 in LA after he left the airwaves a few months back. Seems like another nail in the coffin for the once world famous KROQ!
Here’s an interesting snippet from an interview with Archie Arenson, who has returned to Australia to present breakfast on Power 100 in Townsville after a 2-year stint working in radio in the UK.
Is there any difference between commercial radio in Australia and in the UK?
I feel that musically there is a lot more variety in UK commercial radio with more genres available to the listener. Some stations like Absolute Radio allow listeners the ability to listen to one breakfast show but have the choice of 9 different genres of music playing between talk breaks (70’s, 80’s, 90’s, etc) which blows my mind! Brands also have dedicated spin-off stations like Heart Dance, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s.
Their competitions are run slightly differently to Australia as well, with premium text mechanics a common form of entry – charging listeners to enter. It means major stations are giving away upwards of AUD$30k a day pretty much all year round.
Full interview:
Yeah, kinda glad we don’t have those premium text competitions, they feel pretty much like gambling rather than a contest of luck.
A follow up to my post here: If you could create the perfect radio station... - #90 by Petarkco
I found that Apple Music’s Classic Hits “station” has become a bit too repetitive (If I had a dollar for every time it wanted to play Jack & Diane) so went searching for a real radio station to save me the hassle and I came across Classic Hits 109 through Apple Music’s search and based on the logo I thought it was an ARN station but it turns out to be a Toronto, Canada based station, albeit online only (if the frequency was not a giveaway).
Claims to play 70s/80s/90s and does, has a pretty good mix and no ads, just the odd ID here and there.
Are there some in Canada too?
Regarding rock stations in general yes but most of them such as CJAY in Calgary and CFOX in Vancouver seem to have taken a vastly more safe and/or classic lean in the last 10 years - also there’s the CanCon requirements to take into account with those.
Toronto has The Edge and Indie88, both of which play rock and alternative from the past few decades, and Q107 which plays classic rock.
I blame the second series of Taskmaster NZ for helping me discover Radio Hauraki - I’m enjoying their playlist immensely.
Hauraki flipped from classic rock to alternative/active rock a while back. It’s probably what 9inety6ix.1 would sound like today had they stuck with the alt rock format of 1998. A regular visitor to these shores during Sporadic E openings; I’m surprised that you’ve never heard them.
The playlist is actually pretty good with some classic rock mixed in now; it resembles a slightly edgier version of an ‘adult album alternative’ station.
Currently listening to the BBC Radio 2 overnight show. The show is normally up-beat playing new and old songs that are generally up-tempo. Tonight being the night before the Queen’s funeral it’s far more somber and playing soft AC hits. It sounds quite good. I wouldn’t want it all the time but they’re playing some great easy listening.
in Vietnam if 91fm does not have to carry all-traffic format in drivetime, they would be “more music” during daytime hours.
there are call-in programs on 91fm and on 365fm during evening - they are mostly dealing with love letters, dating proposal, and remembering friends after a time of being far away @myfriend …
Nui FM Taupo NZ
I listen to it quite a lot and even play it at work when the usual HIT FM gets annoying
They don’t play a bad mix for a school station, and best of all it has almost no Commercials except for the odd sponsor once it twice an hour
I think this qualifies as a BUMP.
I’ve been enjoying Brian FM NZ lately on my morning walks. I want semi familiar music that’s upbeat with a rock skew and they do nicely. No commercials is a bonus. I listen to the Oamaru version as they have song title and artist. It is an eclectic ‘Jack Rock’ format with plenty of NZ only hits which is good, and even the odd British and US only hit (Ocean Colour Scene, Toad The Wet Sprocket).
If you’re a fan of harder rock, 103.9 The X from Honolulu is actually pretty good! Plays stuff you really wouldn’t hear on commercials here.
In Vietnam people still listens to traditional radio even if 4G is abundant in regionals.
Because if you exclude stations like 91FM or 95.6 VOH, their format is hardly changed since wartime days (news, information, talk (not something like 2GB), specialist, children, play, folklore life, story reading). People love that (not so for younger generations, they prefer Spotify or Tiktok instead) because it helps people transport back in time and feels that the innocence of life still exists in a crowded daily life.
91FM is basically (in format, not jingles) Australian radio of 1980s. Except people are more livelier and treat listeners like a part of a wider family. The top management let the people always choose the music that presenters wished to. People are also open to talk about daily life like wanting listeners to be relatable together. No wonder why their ratings were absolute majority, even if people hates the network of playing too much ad during drivetime traffic block…
Interesting read @theduytv , can people speak about politics or that is a no go zone on radio?
They have some political programming. Political programming is a main pillar on local services.
On nationwide service these are mostly on VOV-1. VOV-4 also carries some governmental information in minority language.
91FM has a political segment during afternoon block which provide information and opinions from people about a proposed bill/law from the government.
I wish if Vietnamese radio modernise the jingles, they would never change the format and music orientation. They just need more live programming slots and further networking to each other (rather than over-reliant on VOV-1), otherwise it would be too nice for you guys.