Nightwaves Radio nightwaves.radio
No Signal: 10 v 10 theresnosignal.com
Race and Covid-19 BBC Local Radio | BBC Sounds
Much is written – often by me – about the intimate connection between podcasts and their listeners, but radio shows have that too. Plus radio is live: an exciting quality in a time when living on the edge means shuffling your bum forward a little on the sofa. “Everyone’s making a podcast,” observed Gemma Cairney, early in her first live internet radio show, Nightwaves Radio, which made its debut broadcast on Wednesday evening, “but I’m very, very passionate about creating something live during lockdown.”
Cairney, an audio veteran who’s presented for BBC Radio 1 Xtra, Radio 4 and 6 Music, was trying to do a non-podcast: a live show, with her producer working remotely, that played great music, offered lovely interviews and had listeners call in to chat. Just a normal radio programme, really: but tricky technically, without hordes of tech-heads in the same room as the microphone, internet server, mobile phone and host.
Partly, Cairney’s motivation was to ease lockdown loneliness. “I’m desperate to pour out my love for music and art and people,” she said. Partly, it was to create sonic inventiveness (the producer, Buddy Peace, works with musician and podcaster Scroobius Pip). A lot of ambition for a small show, and the first few minutes were shaky – Cairney has a lot of friends and too many people were trying to listen for her technical setup to cope, you suspect – but things settled down.
Exemplary music choices helped (Marvin Gaye, J Dilla, Gil Scott-Heron). Cairney herself was a little scattered, but better when talking to others, especially the wonderful Bob Harris about his pirate radio years. Perhaps one question or theme per show would focus energies, and give everyone something to talk about other than the weirdness of social isolation: Nightwaves Radio is an experiment that could grow into something wonderful.
Another, very different, live internet radio show has exploded over the past few weeks. No Signal’s 10 v 10 shows are a massive worldwide success, with over a million listening to Vybz Kartel v Wizkid last weekend, on YouTube and on No Signal’s website; plus equally enormous numbers for its three shows this week. 10 v 10 is a soundclash show. Two artists’ tunes are put up directly against each other, track by track. Each artist has a champion, who chooses the tracks and gives out a bit of banter and argy about it. There’s a host, who keeps things moving, and listeners react online. Doesn’t sound like much? Honestly, these shows are such a buzz. When 10 v 10 goes out live, Twitter goes bananas (Burnaboy and his mum went live on Instagram in support of WizKid, who won 10-0, causing much emotion). Tens of thousands of listeners vote on each track-clash: madly impressive, given they only have 10 minutes to vote. On Monday it was Chris Brown v Usher (Usher won 6-4; on Wednesday, WSTRN v N-Dubz (N-Dubz won 6-4).
Spotify has started putting up the tracklists from the shows, but the real buzz is from listening as they go out. 10 v 10 has the blow-your-head-off hit of live sport, the who-will-win excitement of a TV game show final, the Twitter jokes-rush of both – but with brilliant music, so it’s even better.
More liveness. On Wednesday, BBC local radio stations came together for an important hour-long show, Race and Covid-19, which discussed why BAME people have been more deeply affected by the coronavirus. Hosted by Karen Gabay in Manchester, Summaya Mughal in Leicester and Dotun Adebayo in London, this was a vital listen. Medics and experts came on to explain the various, interlocking reasons why people from minority ethic groups have suffered so much more, and relevant points were made regarding work, housing, culture, religion and language. It was left to the callers to bring up racism directly. Vinnie from Liverpool talked about being “second-best” in the UK; Tamil, a junior doctor from London, said “it comes down to racism and discrimination”. Public Health England is conducting a governmental review into “what role ethnicity has played in this pandemic”, but no spokesperson would come on the show. Too live, perhaps. Catch up on BBC Sounds.
Three shows doing lockdown well
Frank Skinner’s Poetry Podcast
Yes, you did read that right. Frank Skinner, comedian and host of Absolute Radio’s Saturday morning show, has a new poetry podcast. This might seem a new direction for a man once known for his promotion of football and porn, but Skinner is a poetry enthusiast. Each week, he takes one or two poems and talks about them, with insight and delight. The most recent, about Donna Stonecipher’s 2015 poem Model City, has him in raptures (“meaning is only part of the deal”) and his joy is catching. I would shave 10 minutes off each show, but otherwise these are perfect.
Elis James and John Robins: The Isolation Tapes
The 5 Live presenters stay apart together with a funny show about… well, all the stuff that’s caused by these strange times. Whether kicking a ball with your daughter is allowed or not. How having a big cry is OK. Though there are guests, the listening pleasure is all in their gentle geniality (along with that of producers Dave Masterman, and sometimes Jess Temby), and the celebration of each other’s foibles. Robins has many, including being obsessed with Queen (the band), and bringing accountancy folders to stay with his girlfriend, just in case. Hilarious and sweet.
Katherine Ryan: Telling Everybody Everything
This show started strongly a month ago, with comedian Ryan talking about her miscarriage, and has been in the iTunes Top 10 every since. Ryan is acerbic and honest, straightforward and relevant – the show is recorded every week, with her quick-witted reaction to what’s happened to her, whether major (pregnancy loss), middling (watching The Last Dance, making TikToks) or minor (reacting to odd people on social media). Her Canadian accent isn’t soothing, but abrasive. And some of us enjoy that.
• This article was amended on 12 and 13 May 2020 to correct the name of Katherine Ryan’s podcast and a reference to her “American accent”. She is Canadian.
