When it comes to radio stations, in America you have your classic rock stations, your “80s, 90s and Today” stations, your hip hop stations, a Spanish station, a generic Top 40 pop station, a news station, and then it repeats. It’s the same from town to town. By about 2002, with Nu Metal overtaking alternative rock and the Emo craze right around the corner, I disavowed FM radio and listened exclusively to European metal on CDs for the next few years. The radio, with its mainstream music looped over and over, and ads between every two songs, had nothing more to offer me, so it seemed. But, that is because I only had access to local stations.
These days, I get most of my new music from gothic music podcasts and YouTube uploads. Listening to the radio for new music is something I haven’t done consistently for almost twenty years. But then, I found out about a website. Radio Garden. This website lets you navigate an interactive Google Earth map (without borders, because radio signals don’t adhere to borders) and listen to radio stations from all over the world. I have searched the world for worthy radio stations in my preferred genres, and found quite a few. Even some goth ones! Several of those, in fact. Maybe it is time to return to the radio. How was I to know I could be listening to Hungarian goth radio stations all this time? Why is this type of music so completely absent from the American airwaves? I keep asking myself this every time I find another of these stations. I think I’m culturally more European than American, despite having been born here. As I searched the world I was still surprised by how similar to America’s a lot of their radio stations all are. You’ve got Top 40, 80s, 90s, oldies, etc. in nearly every country. Seems the majority of the human race listens to the exact same music, sadly, because that’s all the corporations shove down our throats. But there are a few unique stations here and there, like hidden gems. Especially in Europe. I only wish I had a way to record from these stations onto a blank tape. Sure I could use an auxiliary cord, but those seem to kill the sound quality.
Sadly there are still ads, and they’re always local to where you are no matter where in the world the radio station is. I don’t want my German polka music interrupted by a commercial for Publix in Florida, dammit. At least it would be interesting listening to ads from other countries, but no. Must be how Radio Garden pays the bills. You can just switch stations when an ad comes on, just like with regular radio. If a station is ad-free anyway then you don’t need to bother. A word of caution, though. Radio Garden will try to convince you to download the app. I did, and I lost all my favorites on the website version, which did not transfer over to the app either. If I hadn’t already been writing this blog and saving the links I may not have been able to find some of these stations again. I think it periodically forgets your favorites eventually anyway even when you’re not messing around with the app though. Maybe the app is better at remembering, but I haven’t really used it enough to be sure because you get popup ads on the app, which you don’t get on the website. Everything else on the app was exactly the same as using the website. So I don’t recommend the app. Unless they update it to be better somehow after this writing.
Below I have linked to some of my favorite radio stations from around the world here, sorted by genres I am into (Goth, Metal, Alternative Rock, Armenian music, folk, and other random genres) in roughly the order I discovered each one in. This is more so that I can have them saved somewhere, but also to share them. I just discovered this website last week so this list is by no means exhaustive.
Goth Music
Moscow, Russia
This was the first station I found that played music from under the “Goth” music genre umbrella, which I will be using in this blog entry as a convenient shorthand. I am pretty sure stations like this do not exist in America. Granted, this station focuses mostly on dark electro, like what the dance clubs play. That’s what most of the gothic music stations I found have in common. As the name suggests, very synth-heavy. I like that though. Expect to hear VNV Nation and the like.
Miskolc, Hungary
Much like the previous station, this one plays dance club goth music. It’s not actual “Synthwave”, another term for Retrowave, which is a revival of 80s New Wave and pop, but maybe Synthwave means something else in Hungary.
Miskolc, Hungary
This is obviously related to the previous station, but the focus is darkwave and post-punk. Guitar-based goth music. They play The Cure fairly often. There must be a big goth scene in Miskolc, Hungary. Who’d have thought?
Lima, Peru
A Peruvian radio station that’s a little more my style, playing electronic music. It’s not really dark synth, but it’s up my alley enough, and is one of my favorites. Music you still wouldn’t really find in the United States so much. I actually heard them play And One though. And songs other than just “Military Fashion Show” and “Panzermensch” too, which are the only ones most club DJs ever play. So they will play EBM from time to time. It’s funny how they interrupt the song to say “Rrrradio synthpop perrrrfecto!” every now and then. This is a charming little radio station to put on.
Hof, Germany
Leave it to Germany to have a Gothic music station. It’s got darkwave, post-punk, industrial, industrial metal. I even heard them play Rammstein, appropriately enough. There are so many great bands from Germany they have to get airplay somewhere.
Perth, United Kingdom
I thought I had found all the goth stations, but then I decided to search under the term “dark”, and got some more. This one from Scotland was playing Ministry when I first tuned in, so I knew I’d found a good one. From what I’ve heard, this station seems to specialize in Industrial music and dark electro. A lot of the time it feels just like listening to the Communion After Dark podcast. I have heard them play VNV Nation, [:SITD:], Das Ich, Project Pitchfork, And One, and even Kraftwerk. They’re after me own heart, they are. They blend the songs together like a DJ does at a club; you start to hear hints of the next song at the end of the current song, and it transitions. It’s like listening to an endless DJ live stream. This might be my favorite radio station in the world. Followed closely by Radio Synthpop. Unless there are more that I haven’t discovered yet.
Parma, Italy
The “dark” search also turned up this station, another dark electronic music station. So Italy has enough cool people to warrant a goth station as well. How lucky for them.
Stockholm, Sweden
Yet another dark electro goth station! Found this one while searching “synth” trying to get back to Lima’s Radio Synthpop. It truly is a synthetic experience. They even snuck some Kraftwerk in there as I listened, which made me excited. I’ve also heard Laibach and Diary of Dreams. This is one of my favorites.
Metal
Oslo, Norway
I knew there had to be a metal station in Norway somewhere, since that’s where all the best metal comes from. And there is one! There’s another genre missing from American radio.
Berlin, Germany
I expected this to be another goth station, but it seems to be more of a metal station. Still a cool find. So far I’ve mainly heard melodic power metal, not sure if they ever play black metal or other genres. I feel so cheated as an American. Why do our radio stations all suck?
There’s a very similar station in Cologne, Germany called Ultra Dark Radio, which seems to be the same kind of music and may be affiliated with Dark Radio.
Alternative Rock
Moscow, Russia
This is just a good place to go for the 80s and 90s alternative rock I grew up listening to. I could probably find a station like this in the US since it is pretty mainstream, or was when it was new. Except it’s all the way in Moscow. That just makes things more interesting.
Concord, California, United States
I have a history with this alternative rock station, and I’ve told that story on the blog before. I grew up listening to this radio station. I recorded my first mixtape off this radio station. It’s a student-run radio station at a high school, where they train DJs. It’s been around since 1969, good to know it’s still going. I’ve moved on from this type of music, but it’s still kind of nice to go back and listen to this station again. It’s sentimental.
Armenian Music
Aleppo, Syria
Yeraz is Armenian for “dream”, and this is an Armenian radio station for the diaspora living in Syria. The fact that this station is up and running leads me to believe maybe Aleppo is more intact than the western media would have us believe. No, Syria isn’t just a big rubble pile. This station plays Armenian traditional folk and modern Armenian pop. Diasporan Armenian radio stations are more dedicated to playing Armenian music than the actual radio stations in Armenia, oddly enough. I guess when you’re surrounded by it constantly you want to hear something different. It’s interesting to contrast attitudes in Armenia versus in the Armenian diaspora by looking at their radio stations. Maybe it’s similar when you compare a Spanish radio station in California versus a typical radio station in Mexico, which would be under no obligation to play only Spanish-language music. So anyway, if you’re in the mood for Armenian music you’re actually better off finding one of these stations than finding one from Yerevan, where they mix in Russian and American music a lot of the time. I found a couple more Armenian stations in Lebanon and one in America which I will cover.
Yerevan, Armenia
“Lav” is Armenian for “good”. This is one of the better stations to get Armenian music from the actual country, although it’s pretty much just pop music. There are two Lav Radio stations. The other one is Lav Radio Mix. This station plays electronic music and pop, not necessarily from Armenia alone, and they throw in some Russian and English-language songs too. It’s not always my type of music, though. Like I mentioned in the previous post, it’s a bit of a mix.
I will go ahead and mention Nor Radio here as well (“nor” means “new”), a very similar radio station also from Yerevan. That station also mixes music from other countries, and is essentially just like Lav Radio. All of the stations in Armenia come out of Yerevan, although I could have sworn Vanadzor had one when I was living there for two months. Maybe Radio Garden doesn’t have them all. I do have to be careful when using the map not to accidentally switch to a station in Turkey or Nakhichevan. For historical reasons.
Beirut, Lebanon
“Hayazgi Dzayn” or “Armenian Voice” in English. Another Armenian radio station, this time from Lebanon. It’s not the only one there either, such as this one. There’s a very large Armenian diaspora community in Beirut. Again, it’s mainly traditional folk or pop-folk. But you know what you’re getting, no random pop music from other countries.
Glendale, California, United States
Oh alright, one more Armenian station. Gotta catch ‘em all, I guess. And this one is from the United States! I should have grown up in Glendale. It’s a small town near Los Angeles and a well-known Armenian colony. I checked Glendale specifically just to see if there were any Armenian radio stations there, and there was this one. The Armenians in Glendale are very committed to preserving their identity, so this is a good radio station for that reason.
Folk Music
Lima, Peru
Now here’s something completely different. You like pan pipes? Well here’s the station for you. Peruvian folk music is very relaxing. My wife is half-Peruvian which was what led me to search Peru for radio stations. I like this one.
Geiersthal, Germany
Germany is home to a few German folk music stations, mostly in the south of the country. Nearby Munich also has Volksmusikwelle, and Radio Heimatmelodie. These three stations alone should cover your yodeling and accordion fix. But there are most certainly others.
Miscellaneous
Cork, Ireland
A multi-genre radio station from Ireland. They play all sorts. It’s someplace to stop when you’re skipping through the stations, at least.
Athens, Greece
This one is too weird not to include. It’s a radio station from Greece that plays music from Japanese anime shows. Really. I have no idea how this happened. I’m just amused that it exists.
Dublin, Ireland
An actual dedicated New Wave station is hard to find, but Dublin, Ireland has one. There are 80s stations all over the world, but at least this one doesn’t mix in the boring love ballads and pop music.
London, United Kingdom
Radio stations with music this old are a rarity. I do like me some classic jazz, swing and big band music every now and then. This station plays music you’d expect to hear in old black and white movies and Betty Boop cartoons.
Berlin, Germany
Electro Swing is a modern swing revival with electronic music infused with it. It is such a niche genre, it’s really cool to see that there’s a radio station that plays it somewhere. I didn’t think it was really very well known outside of YouTube. There’s so much more variety on the radio in Germany.
Anyway, I probably still haven’t discovered all the radio stations I would like. If you know of any you think I would be into, go ahead and let me know here or on Facebook.
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