French radio station FiP fm. Photograph: Eric Cabanis/AFP
My first experience of internet radio was not a roaring success. Having mostly given up on British music radio years ago, I was enthused by the concept of being able to hear pretty much anything from anywhere (the illegal broadcasts of French station FiP in Brighton had already alerted me to the fact that, elsewhere in the world, you could hear a genuinely eclectic selection of music largely unencumbered by the noisome presence of a DJ), but a bit overwhelmed by what was on offer: there's too much stuff out there, there's no regulation, I couldn't find a decent guide or listings on the net. Just as for every great blog there's a thousand solipsistic nutters telling you what their dog did over the weekend or informing the world that Arayan might will prevail, so it's hard to find decent internet radio stations or podcasts for junk.
I decided that randomly clicking on stuff might lead me to something spectacular. It led me to a something that described itself as a dada-inspired redneck-situationist punk rock cabaret show. When I tuned in, I was greeted by someone shouting over the top of Zaeger and Evans' 1969 hit In the Year 2525. When I tuned out, about half an hour later, he was still shouting over the top of Zaeger and Evans' 1969 hit In the Year 2525, which, it was gradually becoming apparent, was on a loop. Back to Radio 4 I went, and the comforting embrace of James Naughtie verbally kicking the crap out of a parliamentary under-secretary.
Over time, I started to find a few things I liked. There were some genre-specific stations that catered to music ignored by digital stations in Britain - for some reason, you don't get much really obscure rockabilly and whimsical British psychedelia on the Scott Mills show - it's always a pleasure to hear whatever's happening on WFMU-FM and Resonance, and after Ofcom did for FiP in Brighton, I tuned into that on the internet as well. But I've settled on them, I'm aware it's the tip of an iceberg, and I'm after new suggestions. Have you found a really great internet station you'd care to share? A decent (music-heavy) podcast? The more eclectic or geographically far-flung the better.
