If it were possible to tag in every Facebook friend when I publish today's page I would do it.
It is David writing today, just David but I believe I am writing for the whole Radio Love International team and for many, many others.
On my celebrated DOINGS LIST for today I want to pull things together and make something we can show to people explaining who we are, what we are, where we have come from and where we are going to.
My original blog - THE DIARY OF A SILLY OLD MAN - first appeared in January 2017. When Rebekah died in May 2017 it became THE WAVE OF LOVE.
On 18th January it became RADIO LOVE and then RADIO LOVE INTERNATIONAL.
That is not yet a month ago. I know there were people who scoffed, particularly at the word INTERNATIONAL. Let me list the countries of the world where the music played each morning on this page is listened to:
UK USA Canada Poland Ukraine Ireland Germany Russia France Brazil Albania United Arab Emirates Portugal Chenzia Brazil Spain Hong Kong China
20 different countries - you tell me if using the word INTERNATIONAL is truth or an empty boast !
Let's play some music for all of our listeners in those TWENTY countries.
Is that not a beautiful piece of music played here for beautiful people in this beautiful world.
When 2018 dawned there were two people I did not even know existed. Two people who I am now proud to count among my dearest friends.
Jo Tomkin and Josh Morgan. Without them I would not be writing this page, without Weatherman Andy, without technical wiz-kid Sokol this would be an empty page of self indulgence. Without the listeners in TWENTY different countries of the world this would be an empty page of nothingness.
Yesterday I added to our listen on demand playlist some of my personal choices from the world of opera. I am blessed with a passion for music and a passion that extends across all genre. I also have a passion to share the beauty of music with anyone who will listen.
So will you listen, will you listen to one of my pieces of music in the genre of opera ?
Sit back, relax, close your eyes and listen to this.
Wasn't that beautiful ?
This is another beautiful piece of music. Two pieces of music which have been combined together. As you listen you may think the combination a bit strange. Listen then I will explain.
We are all sailing, sailing on the ship of life. Sometimes the waters are not calm, sometimes life brings the most terrible storm to batter us off course. It is then that we need to remember we do not walk alone, we have our friends close by our side. Beautiful people ready to hold our hands, to put a loving arm around our shoulders and support us through the difficult times.
All three of us running Radio Love International have been through some personal hard times. YOU know what hard times are like. Every listener in every one of those twenty countries know what hard times are. It is then that you need to look around you at the beautiful people who are your friends.
Let's play the Radio Love International Theme Tune.
Josh, you are my newest friend. We have been friends for what ? Five weeks ?
Jo, you and I have been friends since early January - not long.
Here we are Jo, Josh and myself setting out to take Radio Love International to become the biggest radio station the world has ever seen.
Sorting through some old photographs I found this.
Technical guy Sokol you were 19 years old when that picture was taken and we became friends. Twenty-eight years later here you are working with us to make Radio Love International a fully-fledged internet radio station.
My friend do you remember this picture - above right ? We went to appear on a BBC Radio programme. Sorry the image is blurred and out of focus, Microsoft screwed up the scanner settings on my laptop during their most recent sad pathetic updating downgrade ! However, blurred and out of focus rather aptly sums up the BBC doesn't it ?
This was the very first song played on BBC Radio One.
I was a teenager when Radio One played that song. We gteenagers hated Radio One. I still do not lie the rubbish it puts out.
This is the first song Radio Love International played here on our daily music blog.
Daydream Believer by The Monkees. Great isn't it ?
Somebody posted this picture on facebook yesterday. How would you answer the question ?
The answer is easy RETRO POP IS BETTER THAN MUSIC IN THE SECOND DECADE OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY.
Why ?
I have always said that the BBC and Radio One destroyed the British pop music. Of course it did but it had as its accomplice - technology.
It should today be easier than it has ever been for people to make music and to share it with people but that is not happening. The music industry is a fading shadow of the 1960's, 70's and 80's. People, are so obsessed with perfection that technology has taken the heart out of music. The BBC is so inward looking it cares little for its audience and does nothing to promote pop music culture.
Time for another record, something again from Radio Love International's IF IT AINT VINYL THEN IT AINT MUSIC COLLECTION.
That really is a beautiful piece of music.
Life is like a vinyl record - if it does not crackle then you are not living it properly.
Go into any supermarket and you will find vinyl records on sale. Look at the CD's on sale in those same supermarkets, which are the top sellers ? Music from the 1960's, 1970's and 1980's. WHY ? Because it was better and people recognise that fact.
In my life I have made more mistakes than I care to remember. Mistakes do not matter ! Not trying is what matters. Beautiful people make mistakes. Without those mistakes this would not be a beautiful world. THINK ABOUT THAT. I can applaud mistakes. I DETEST underachievement. Underachieving sets out to tarnish and spoil this beautiful world.
BBC Radio One is an underachiever and that is why I dislike it so much. If Radio Love International achieves no more than what it is doing right now then we will be achieving more than Britain's so called pop music station.
Where are the pop music charts I knew as a teenager ? Where is the radio programme Pick Of The Pops ? Where is the TV programme Top Of the Pops ? GONE !
All of our music pages are tracked by Google Analytics.
Why is our audience primarily made up of younger people ?
Why do they like the music we play more than that put out as modern pop and Radio MINUS One ?
BECAUSE IT IS BETTER !
Google Analytics also tracks the devices people use to listen to the music we play.
Radio Love International is using technology to its advantage.
Let's have some more music then I will show you the results.
Something again from our vinyl collection.
Radio Love International's audience is made up of younger people listening on mobile devices.
Not even a month into operation and this surely shows that we have the potential to become something really big. We have the potential to make a difference.
Radio Love International has a very clear mission:
Using music to share love, make people the world over smile and be
happy
Supporting charities and good causes who are working to make this a
better world
Josh, Jo and I are attending meetings day after day after day as we seek to develop what we are doing beyond our draft website and daily music page.
I said to Josh yesterday that I will be so pleased when the talking stips and the ction begins. ACTION in the form of our roadshows.
On Thursday Josh, myself and listener Rachel are running a sound test of the equipment.
Jo has set up our first roadshow event on Friday 24th February.
We are all counting down the days with excited anticipation.
Time for some more music. I am a great fan of Herman's Hermits.
I played that for PRS/PPL - the licencing authority for music in Britain.\
They are a bunch of underachievers, they are Sleepy Joe's. Well today I am about to wake
We do not need a licence for our Roadshows. All the music we play here and on our website comes via YouTube. However, to stream the music direct into the website and to start broadcasting on-line we do need a licence.
Getting a ,licence is easy. It can be done on-
You are familiar with the 1970's stacked heel shoes I sometimes wear. Today I will be putting them on to give PRS/PPL an almighty kick up the backside.
The thinking is to have the technology in place to start Internet broadcasting in May them move towards a full programme of live shows by the end of the year.
Let's play another piece of music. The Thunder and Lightning Polka by Johann Strauss II. PRS/PPL you can today change your tune from Sleepy Joe to this. There is no room in this beautiful world for underachievers !
The last thing Andy, our resident weatherman is, is an underachiever. Here's today's weather report. THANKS ANDY YOU ARE A FRIEND AND A STAR.
My favourite piece of music is BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER.
Weatherman Andy is Radio Love International's BRIDGE OVER ICY FOOTPATHS !
Sokol you will remember me quoting this song to you more than twenty-five years ago. Josh I keep quoting it to you. It is central to Radio Love International as we outwork our mission.
A friend is only a stranger you have yet to meet. I remember the first time Sokol and I met, he was wearing a baseball cap with the American flag on it and the words THESE COLOURS DO NOT RUN. I thought he was an American.
Somewhere out in this beautiful world are some strangers waiting to be friends. There is a friend which Radio Love International needs as our Commercial Director who will reach out and sell advertising both here on this page, on our blog and when we start broadcasting on-line. We have the love, we have the mission, we now need this new friend to take us to the next level.
Do you like Disney music ?
Let's make this all make this a Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah after all we are BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE LIVING IN A BEAUTIFUL WORLD.
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