Beatles Radio

Stream URL: http://www.beatlesradio.com:8000/stream/1/
Website: http://www.beatlesradio.com/

At first glance, Beatles Radio seems to have an implausible business model: they only play Beatles music. When you figure Beatlemania only lasted 10 years, you'd think they'd've run out of product long ago.

But when you add up all the various versions of the Beatles' own catalogue… in-house BR remixes … covers by other artists… other Apple acts… the solo acts... things their kids recorded… tracks on which a Beatle performed back-up… stuff recorded by other people that they wrote, arranged, or produced… you do indeed have an immense, eclectic -- and growing -- body of work. Throw in news and listener interest content, personality patter, infrequent plugs for the Beatles Fab 4 Store, and those near-universal canned adverts, and what's left sounds remarkably like old-school small town radio… if your local station had played nothing but Beatles-related music. (Which, as those who were there will remember, wasn't actually that far from the truth…)

The BR listener page offers a range of connection choices, including a "B" channel that runs on staggered time, several mobile apps, and an executable M3U playlist file.

So if you dig the Beatles, pop music history, or the ongoing development of this new medium, swing by Beatles Radio. Sound of the past, wave of the future.


The Gouge:

Genre: Canadian radio
Location: Vancouver
Time zone: NA
Stream URL access: Excellent
Bouncer: No
Type of radio: Net-only
Mic presence: Pre-recorded (?)
Stream reliability: Excellent
Format selection: MP3 128 kbps, pop-up Flash player
Song ID: Yes
Found it on: iTunes Internet Radio catalogue

Radio Burgenland

Stream URL: http://194.232.200.146:8000
Website: http://burgenland.orf.at/radio/

This fun station is the Burgenland regional service of Österreichischer Rundfunk, Austria's national public radio network. Aside from the usual hourly news and smattering of public-interest spoken-word programming, Radio Burgenland broadcasts for the most part a stunningly eclectic selection of music. At any given moment, listeners risk encountering American classic country; German sea chanteys (Austria once had a navy); zydeco (sometimes also in German!); German-language pop from all eras; classic rock in several languages; and J-Pop, to name just a handful.

The daylight format is essentially a multilingual, slightly hipper iteration of MOR; after local 2000 the programme becomes "Schlagernacht", more or less the same thing in German.

It all adds up to a music-lover's dream. IRLs who enjoy discovering new favourite songs and genres, as well as those who speak or are learning German, will find a favourite in Radio Burgenland.

The ORF listen page offers a 192 kbps MP3 stream, and also a WMA feed, though URL access is a bit problematic; listeners have to click on the "Mehr Radioangebote" link next to the Radio Burgenland entry on the affiliate list; links to clickable url files are at the top of the menu that opens.

The Gouge:

Genre: Austrian radio, German-language radio
Location: Burgenland
Time zone: GMT + 1 (Central European Time)
Stream URL access: Fair
Bouncer: No
Type of radio: Broadcast
Mic presence: Hourly news, some talk programmes
Stream reliability: Excellent
Format selection: MP3 192 kbps; WMA; embedded player
Song ID: Only on embedded player
Found it on: TuneIn

Radio Recuerdo XENL 680 AM

Stream URL (updated 4 January 2016): http://13743.live.streamtheworld.com:80/XENLAM_SC
Clickable .pls file: http://provisioning.streamtheworld.com/pls/XENLAM.pls
Website: http://www.mmradio.com/formato_romantica_radiorecuerdo.php#

Radio Recuerdo is like an on-air time capsule. Good old-fashioned AM radio, its mic presence, commercials, station IDs, and best of all music, sound like they haven't changed in 57 years of broadcasting to north-central Mexico. Even its low-band (24 kbps) online stream has a tubey, mid-20th century AM vibe.

During the day the music is interspersed with news on the hour and lots of adverts, plus a few blocks of religious or public service talk. But in local evening it's virtually all music; very few commercials, and only canned station IDs and robotic temperature announcements. All else is the neatest stream of Spanish oldies we've found. In the words of the station's Facebook page: "La mejor música del ayer, música con historia."

And that's about it for Recuerdo's net presence; its only other pages are a brief blurb and a Flash player on the website of the media syndicate that owns it.

The XENL stream fails very occasionally, making iTunes skip abruptly to the next station. But even then it rarely goes down; just hiccups. Click on it again, and you'll find the station's still there.

As we're only an hour off Monterrey time, Recuerdo is one of our favourite night-time stations. Just click it in, dim the lights, and enjoy that buttery-smooth Spanish MOR of old.

The Gouge:

Genre: Spanish language radio, Mexican radio
Location: Monterrey
Time zone: GMT – 6 (Central Time)
Stream URL access: Fair
Bouncer: No
Type of radio: Broadcast
Mic presence: Day and early evening
Stream reliability: Good
Format selection: MP3 24 kbps, onsite Flash player
Song ID: No
Found it on: Yourmuze

Radio Caroline

Stream URL: http://sc3.radiocaroline.net:8030/ (AAC; many alternatives available on the listen page.)

Mi Amigo, Radio Caroline's first studio ship

Probably the most famous of the 1960s offshore pirates, Radio Caroline now broadcasts (legally!) from dry land to the whole world, via livestream. As "Europe's First Album Station", Caroline's new Web-based service streams an eclectic mix of oldies, adult contemporary, hard rock, and roots music. She's one of the rare net-only stations to have live mic presence, as well as pre-recorded and automated blocks; some shifts feature original DJs from the pirate era, in the usual welter of accents from around the English-speaking world.

As the most well-planned, well-designed, and ambitious net radio station to date, Radio Caroline boasts one of the most up-front listen pages (with a spectrum of formats and bitrates; several in-browser Flash-based players; and a string of mobile apps); comprehensive website; and plans for an on-air broadcast service when someone can convince the UK government to grant a license.

The live blocks are mostly scheduled sporadically during local day. For old-fashioned interactive mic presence (on net-only radio!), check out 60's and 70's Request Show, Tuesdays at 2100 GMT.

So swing by. The Ship That Rocks is off the sea, and on the stream.

The Gouge:

Genre: Pirate radio, UK radio
Location: UK
Time zone: GMT + 0 (Western European Time)
Stream URL access: Excellent
Bouncer: No
Type of radio: Net-only
Mic presence: Live, pre-recorded, and automated blocks
Stream reliability: High
Format selection: Windows Media Player (.asx); RealPlayer (.ram); M3U (iTunes etc.); MP3, in a full range of bit rates
Song ID: No
Found it on: Virtual Radio (mobile app)

Recipient of the Clear Crystal Award! (Graphic pending.)

Ross Revenge, Caroline's
 final studio ship

(Photo of Ross Revenge courtesy of Mark Hawkins; photo of Mi Amigo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and a generous photographer.)