Originally published in print  March 2021.

There are few feelings more exhilarating than suddenly landing on some decipherable, familiar sound after flicking through various genres of garbled static. Realistically, that intelligible noise you’ve come across is a song you never would have chosen to listen to on your own, have perhaps heard a million times before, and in any other circumstance would even have demanded be changed to something else; but somehow, on the radio, hearing it feels different. Maybe that feeling is the prideful refusal to admit defeat after having scanned the entire radar fruitlessly with one hand off the wheel – radio tuning in this day and age is unlikely except in an older car that’s not yet transitioned from the cigarette lighter to the AUX cord – or maybe it’s that you haven’t heard Maroon 5’s ‘This Love’ in an awfully long time and now can’t stop the pre-teen memories flooding back. Who can really know what stirs emotions? But regardless of feelings’ provenance, you concede all agency to the radio gods, and sit patiently waiting for the upcoming song to clarify the genre of the station and get to the meaning of all this. It could go either way really. ‘This Love’ might arguably be considered either pop or rock. Spoiler, it was pop; revealed by some strange forgotten Katy Perry relic. You’d never have imagined queuing up these songs yourself but now you’re hooked.

But perhaps we don’t always want to play roulette. Spotify (or maybe the sophisticated Apple Music) is so convenient, and the four euro ninety nine student plan, is *chef’s kiss* considering the unlimited potential of exploring world artists and hand-picking all your favourite singles. You are essentially the master of your own universe, but this comes at a cost. I am not going to go into the ethical or moral dilemmas regarding online streaming royalties, though we can keep in mind that artists don’t get the money they would if we were all out there buying albums; but I would like to bring to light the discussion of a lesser acknowledged issue: the isolation of online music streaming services.

There is an obvious level of intimacy lacking on any algorithm-based platform, especially one geared towards private account usage. You can share songs with friends, collaborate on playlists, or publicly display your recently listened to artists, but unless you are physically in the company of another person, chances are you are listening on your own. At times this can be a pleasantly sublime experience, but it carries equal potential to be a lonely one.

On the other hand, when tuning into the radio, you’re listening to music selected on the spot by another living, breathing person. This person has chosen to broadcast these songs to the locality at precisely that moment, for a myriad of reasons we might never understand (maybe it’s heartache, or maybe they just really like ‘Faithfully’). You, them, and all the other listeners are together sharing the same little slice of life. You are not simply listening to music, but instead are partaking in some larger, communal, almost ritualistic activity.

The same sense of excitement that comes from a mention of your hometown in the book you’re reading, or the introduction of a film character who shares your name, follows hearing some mysterious person out there DJ a song which you might enjoy or are simply vaguely familiar with. You might even be introduced to a song which you have never heard before, followed by the host’s anecdotal explanation of their choice or maybe a weather forecast. All great trivia. Song titles and weather forecasts you could get online, as well as any number of artificially compiled playlists; but in the amount of time we spend using technology, it almost feels more novel to hear about these things from another human being. The beauty of technology is in its ability to connect us as individuals to one another, rather than render our interactions redundant.

At Trinity we have our very own student run station, Trinity FM! An alternative route to the car radio by which you might find yourself tuning in: You have somehow befriended the host of an ironically titled show, who’s embarrassing ad-lib ramblings you’ve now been sympathetically induced to enable (a special thank you to these friends, it means more than you could know). All the potential radio has for making connections can be seen in our very own college community; students can host talk shows or play thematically arranged set lists to anyone who cares to tune in. Being introduced to the eclectic range of music that other students on campus are listening to and sharing the listening experience together through personally curated radio broadcasting renders an entirely different atmosphere for music appreciation than the more introverted online streaming. Through radio we create an open, non-discriminatory community of listeners and appreciators, who can enjoy the listening experience of music together rather than alone, call in to the station to share their thoughts, and be introduced to music across various genres that no algorithm could dream of throwing together!

With the various nostalgic musical movements in recent years (record players and vinyl, cassettes tapes, Walkman, etc.) the radio’s Renaissance should be next! Radios offer a far more interactive method of revelling in the old classics and seeking out the new alternative, creating an intimate bond among their listeners through the shared experience. Despite being one of the oldest methods of sharing music, aside from MTV modern technology has done little to embellish this original concept of group listening; a disappointing blind spot seeing as the appreciation of music has historically been a collective experience. While online streaming services conveniently broaden our horizons, and provide us with some potential for collaboration, the communal and temporal bonding experience of sharing music is lost, still existing only in radio.

With modern lifestyles becoming increasingly digitised, it is important to use the technological resources at our disposal for connecting with one another rather than replacing one another. Next time you need a song recommendation don’t turn to Spotify; check out what other students want to share with you on https://mixlr.com/trinity_fm/ and be sure to leave some comments in the chat box!