I just recently stumbled across KORL at 97.1 on FM radio. Radio? What’s that? In this age of MP3, digital streaming, there still does exist old school radio. I remember the KORL call letters from decades ago, but can’t quite remember what the format was. It’s gone through a number of changes. It is now featuring J-Pop. They claim to be the only FM J-Pop station in the nation, 24-7. They’ve actually been on air for a number of months already.
Anyway, I’ve been listening to it a fair amount lately and it’s not bad. Get to hear stuff I otherwise wouldn’t listen to. They don’t seem to have a whole lot of live DJ going, which can be a good thing. One drawback is that they almost never announce the artist and title of a track they’ve played. Thanks to the miracle of Shazam and other music recognition software that is easily remedied. I do feel a little ripped off, so far a good number of the tracks I’ve run through that for ID ended up being Korean! Maybe its because those are ones I totally don’t recognize the style or something. Anyway, check it out if you’re into the J-Pop thing. The broadcast station is in Waipahu so I don’t get good reception in HK with crappy antenna, but I can catch it in town.
Their website is pretty weak, but there is a link where they are live streaming the broadcast on the Net, although again there is no info on artist or songs.
わい! 日本語ラジオ!
I’m sure Tarepandahi would enjoy hearing KORL. If you’re reading, check out the lame website for internet streaming. I think they mentioned that you can link to various smartphone apps from their facebook page so you can listen on your mobile device too.
I wonder how long this will last. 99.5 didn’t last a year. Then there was that other “part-time” Nihongo FM radio station a couple of years back.
You can easily identify the K-pop stuff: it sounds derivative, sounds like J-pop stuff from about 3-5 years ago, and has gratuitous use of the Engrish – especially the word “boy”.
Yeah, maybe my tastes are stuck in older JPop style so when I hear something more dancy/Eurobeatish it catches my ear instead of the more hip hoppy stuff showing up now. Although I do dig Koda Kumi’s skank stuff, prob because it conjures up images of her dancing around like a skank!
Every time they play Girls’ Generation, I can visualize them with their over-rehearsed walking choreography and weak vocal hand-off lip-synching. It always reminds me of the original Star Trek “That Which Survives” episode (“I am for McCoy”/”I an for Kirk”/”I am for Sulu”), and I imagine how if something went even a little wrong in their routine, they would all fall apart and it would be a total train wreck on stage.
I think the other thing about K-pop is that there is no fun in it: They all tend to take themselves too seriously. I guess that’s part of the condition of the downtrodden.
I guess I’ve been tuning out the chaff and only hearing the bubblegum like Momoiro Clover Z and the various 48 gumi. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not!
That’s why it was so fun to see how habut they were when AKB48 won the Japan Music Awards, and honestly I have to say that AKB48 are good performers.