I’m not a big fan of listening to the Radio for several reasons. I grew up in Jeddah where the radio wasn’t particularly good, and to this day it’s pretty crap. I haven’t been living there for the past 4 years but every time I end up going back I don’t even bother with the radio. Growing up, there was only one good radio channel, AFN (American Forces Network). It was acceptable back in the day considering the only viable alternative was to splurge money on cassettes that contained only 1 or 2 good songs. But the radio business never picked up in Jeddah, it didn’t cater to all types of music tastes and quite frankly, sucked.

It’s much better here in Lebanon but still isn’t the BEST option there is. I have a problem with radios in that you can’t quite control the music you listen to. Many of you would consider me a moron at this point since not being able to control the music is the whole point of radios. I hear you. But something about not being able to skip a song that I don’t like irks me. The only thing that you can do is switch radio stations, and we don’t have that wide a choice here. We only have 3 main radio stations that I dub “The Big 3″, they are:

You know what the worst part is? All of them play the same kind of music at the same time, sometimes, they even play the same damn song. HOW ANNOYING IS THAT! There’s no running away -_-

I really don’t want to be hearing cheesy girly music on 3 different radio stations during the afternoon and at the same time, I don’t just want to hear DUM TISS DUM TISS in the middle of the night. Why can’t they offer a wide range of types of music to cater for even MORE people?

It’s really annoying to listen to hard (usually crappy) techno in the middle of the night. Not everyone wants to go clubbing people. Some of us actually have lives outside the club, so why not play some calm music perhaps. I personally love listening to Cafe Del Mar or Buddha Bar on the way back home.

What happened to Radio stations actually defining the music industry? They used to have an instrumental role back in the day, defining what becomes popular and what doesn’t. Now radio stations are just an infinite loop of the same 30-40 songs that have been out for a month!.

What I expect from a radio station is to keep me up to date with the new music that is JUST being released. There are shows where the listeners call in and request songs. There are shows where they countdown the top 20 hits. But is there a show where they splurge all the latest music to come out? And of all genres?

I see radio as the last resort if my iPod is dead and I have no CD’s! Seriously, that sucks! And I’m sure that I’m not the only person who thinks like this. I miss having NEW good music on the radio and thinking to myself: ‘Damn, that’s good!’

Another problem with radio stations, and those from the North of Lebanon (HELLO!) have a tough time getting access to the Big 3. They only get access to Radio One, half the time. Drive towards the Northern Province of Lebanon and as soon as you pass through the Chekka Tunnel you get an eery static with the hope that you’re going to get your wonderful song after you pass through. You see the light, you get excited and OUT of the tunnel. Static. Thank you NRJ and Mix FM. Are you purposefully trying to cripple those in the North. Call me a negligent idiot, I believe the reason for the drop in signal is because there’s a big obstacle in the way called a Mountain. But if people in Switzerland can have radio all over the place, why should one relatively TINY mountain affect the whole North? Just add a signal booster, it’s an investment but you have the 2nd largest city in Lebanon (Whattup Tripoli!) that you aren’t catering for. Aren’t they your customers also?

I do acknowledge that the radio stations in Lebanon are the way they are because that is what the majority of the people want. We have calm radio stations to cater for the calm, we have the frenchy radio stations for the frenchies, the arabic for the Arab fans (I’m not one that’s for sure!) and the BIG 3 for the mainstream music.

I’m not saying that I have the solution to radio stations in Lebanon, and by all mean they are doing a very good job at keeping me entertained in the unfortunate event mentioned above. But I avoid it at all costs and make sure that my iPod never dies, and if it does, I’ve got my iPhone.