Mix Clouding the water

Glade Festival in Norfolk in  June, a 4 day electronic music experiencehttp://www.mixcloud.com/GladeFestival/

Extract from my Radio Websites column in RadioUser, April 2012 http://radiouser.co.uk/

Clouds and podcasts are certainly with us to stay, and in a big way. They add to a choice of radio listening which is now wider than at any time in the medium’s history. While I am sure that analogue radio is here for the medium term and DAB will develop one way or another, mainstream radio stations will all have to offer their services on a variety of platforms to maintain an audience share.


Thousands of individuals, be they high profile or unknowns, are producing quality and quantity and building audiences via Smartphone apps, clouds, wi-fi internet radio, as well as creating cleverly on channels such as Vimeo and YouTube. The use of ever emerging new technologies doesn’t have to be a young person’s thing, although inevitably that is where most of the new talent and audiences are. But there is plenty for older audiences to discover too.


Personally I am almost overwhelmed by the daily decisions I have to make when it comes to what to listen to next; talk or music? Which genre? Which station? Which programme? Via traditional radio or an app, online or mp3 player? But it is a rich dilemma to have.


Mixcloud hosts hundreds of innovative (and sometimes dull) podcasts and programmes from all over the world. DJs, music and talk genres are all represented. Just start at http://www.mixcloud.com/ and as you would with YouTube, set up an account if you want to keep tabs of interesting programmes you stumble upon. A selection of varied styles I have listened to lately include Jose Padilla’s chilled out Balearikus Electronikus at http://www.mixcloud.com/josepadilla/balearikus-electronikus-i/  


The Musical Festival section is good http://www.mixcloud.com/categories/music-festivals/  and other music sections are by genres, although possibly apart from jazz at http://www.mixcloud.com/categories/jazz/  they are aimed at the under 50s or young at heart (I fall into both camps here!), with urban, drum and bass, indie, dubstep, funk, soul and World as examples. As for talk productions you can dip into politics, technology, sport, news, business and comedy to name a few.


Monocle 24 is an online station I enjoy, when I remember to check for their podcasts. It has been running a two hour Sunday show for five years. It looks ahead at the events and people that will shape the week, plus “...music to make your day. Monocle is a global briefing covering international affairs, business, culture and design.” You can find them on Mixcloud http://www.mixcloud.com/themonocle / Like many up to date media organisations, it’s available as a Smartphone app and on wi-fi radios as well. Headquartered in London with bureaux in Tokyo, Zürich and New York, Monocle also appears 10 times a year in print and is updated constantly at www.monocle.com  


Podcasts by The Guardian newspaper and reports from the House of Commons are amongst the mainstream examples at Mixcloud. If you want something more offbeat, and to my mind worrying, the Freedom Bunker is a right wing American channel at http://www.mixcloud.com/chrisfuture/  My preferred talk genre at Mixcloud is the culture channel which includes Radio Lab, produced by a New York public radio station http://www.mixcloud.com/nypr/  


The Royal Society of arts channel http://www.mixcloud.com/RSA/  


and the New Yorker fiction channel http://www.mixcloud.com/newyorker/