Egg Radio

I've never liked conventional radio stations for their music. For that matter, I haven't liked radio for much of anything. When someone complains that the iPod doesn't have FM capabilities, I think, why the hell would you want FM on an iPod, other than maybe for public emergency announcements? (As of Tuesday, they now have FM capability.)

I typically don't like radio stations for the same reasons that other people that don't like them: they play music that is popular so that they can get more advertisements. 95% of all popular music sucks in my opinion. Yeah it may have a catchy beat, but it just seems so hollow and soulless. All a radio station exists for is to make money. It is a business, just like any other. That is not to say they can't have good music, but most of the time they don't. About the closest thing to a radio station that I would like that is actually a paid radio station is the Henry Rollins segment Harmony in my Head on Indie 103.1 FM in LA. The only problem is that no matter how much I try, I can't get into punk music, which is a lot of what he plays. I like some of it, but overall the feeling is bleh. I like a lot of Henry's stuff, but his taste in music can be a bit much for me. I usually listened for whatever tidbits of talking I could find between the music. Maybe I should give it another try, as my taste in music has tended to grow. We'll see.

But for now, the best music station I've ever listened to is an Internet radio station called Egg Radio. To sum it up, this is from their site:

If you're new to the Egg, here's the quick scoop: this is an online radio station that plays an eclectic (egg-clectic?) mix of music. Mostly rock and alternative, but not what you're used to hearing on FM or Satellite.

I'd have to agree with that. I like rock and alternative, but not what you'd normally hear on FM or satellite. I like some stuff that was popular, some stuff that isn't. My musical tastes are all over the place, but maybe not quite as eclectic as some. What I love about this station is that about half the music they play is stuff I either own or I'm familiar with, and the other half is stuff that I really like, even though it's new to me. Yeah, sometimes they play crap, but mostly it's decent or at least listenable. What I really like is that they don't play the indie stuff. I'm pretty sure that they aren't playing that stuff, but if they are it isn't often and I don't notice it. If they ever played Coldplay, I think it would mar my opinion of them forever.

Listen here.

Another shameless promo, taken from their site:

Egg Radio is an internet radio station that plays an eclectic mix of rock, alternative, classic new wave, ska and all sorts of other things that should be on real radio (but aren't).

If you listened to "alternative" music when there really was such a thing, then you've come to the right place. The Cure, Morrissey, The B-52s, They Might Be Giants, Dinosaur Jr, XTC and Depeche Mode were bands that the weird kids listened to. Were you a weird kid?

So were we.

But just because we know good music doesn't mean have to be locked into a teeny-tiny alternative playlist. We're smart. We know that good music occurs in all kinds of formats.

We've mixed great classic alternative music with modern rock, ska, mainstream rock and few surprises to create a station that is the perfect soundtrack to a day of work in the office, or a party at your Soho apartment.

So, click the listen link and give us 20 minutes.

Do it. Seriously.