What do you listen to when working?

[fusionframer]

Carrying on from Rainbow's good idea.

I was wondering what you listen to in your workshop/shop? I guess in a shop you need to be a bit more sensitive to customers coming in. The reason i ask is because it gets boring listening to the same thing all the time and so maybe there are stations worth giving a go for a change. Of course, it is dependent on music tastes as well.

I listen to Planet Rock a fair bit, but despite being into rock music, it does get repetitive. I have tried Radio X but can't stand Chris Moyles or Jonny Vaughan.

What i have moved to for a change is audiobooks. I have an audible account and get one credit for £7.99 per month. I have listened to books i would not get the time or inclination to read. Good for a change. There are some of the radio 4 plays that i have enjoyed.

Some of the builders i do stuff for seem to be into magic fm or smooth fm, personally not for me but that is where the beauty of earbuds come in.

Anyway, interested to know what others have on whilst working.

Cheers

Nick

[Rainbow]

I often listen to accuradio.com which is a free internet station. It claims to have 1400 channels. You can select any genre and within each genre, there are typically dozens of options. Or you can select a decade, and again there are typically dozens of options within the decade. And it's all free, amazing! https://www.accuradio.com

[vintage frames]

Radio 4 from 8.30 to 10am. Then maybe into Womens Hour before it segues into an interview with another non-binary activist.
Radio 3 if I'm gilding and want to feel high-minded, then classic FM to calm me down when it all goes wrong.
Lunch-times listening to Jeremy Vine on R2 (dreadful taste in music). A guilty trip enjoying listening to the phone in but who phones into the radio; who does that?
Why can't it be like in America where you can dial into a huge selection of intelligent rock music stations?
Radio 6 can be just awful at times - trying to please too many tastes.
I'm told pod-casts are a thing, but I've got no wi-fi in the workshop/chicken shed.

[Rainbow]

Why can't it be like in America where you can dial into a huge selection of intelligent rock music stations?

Check out the aforementioned accuradio.com, where there are 67 channels in the Rock section alone. And then there are the other sections for Adult Rock, Alternative Rock, Alternative Rock Classics, Brit Rock, Classic Rock... all with numerous channels within each section.

PS. Oops, just noticed that you've got no wi-fi in your shed

[fusionframer]

Vintage frames, do you have any phone signal?

I recently updated my sim only account with tesco mobile to 60gb of data - £12.50 per month. I can stream stuff all month and only use about 25gb.

[vintage frames]

There is no phone signal here. We do have perfectly good fibre broadband in the house but my shed is at the other end of the field.

I could of course do some sort of a work-around but for some reason best left an accredited counsellor, I am content to suffer the inconvenience and take the little pleasure of having something to complain about.

[Justintime]

I'm on spotify all day long. I can listen to whatever, whenever and just turn it down when necessary.
There is a crazy website I found which allows you to rotate the earth and zoom into anywhere on the planet and listen to whatever stations exist in that area. One day I went from outback australia to bhangra in India to Nashville country stations in 10 minutes!
https://radio.garden/visit/cardigan/DyV8OcNC
Found it!! Enjoy

[Justintime]

Oh... Its saying that stations outside the UK are temporarily unavailable...

[fusionframer]

Radio 4 from 8.30 to 10am. Then maybe into Womens Hour before it segues into an interview with another non-binary activist.
Radio 3 if I'm gilding and want to feel high-minded, then classic FM to calm me down when it all goes wrong.
Lunch-times listening to Jeremy Vine on R2 (dreadful taste in music). A guilty trip enjoying listening to the phone in but who phones into the radio; who does that?
Why can't it be like in America where you can dial into a huge selection of intelligent rock music stations?
Radio 6 can be just awful at times - trying to please too many tastes.
I'm told pod-casts are a thing, but I've got no wi-fi in the workshop/chicken shed.

Audible do podcasts as well as audiobooks. Not listened to podcasts myself, but you are able to download them onto your phone so no wifi needed when listening.

Thanks for other ideas, i like the idea of listening to stations from other countries. I always put on french radio in the car when on holiday. No idea what they are saying, my french is poor and they talk so fast, but i have actually found a couple of bands i like as a result.

[prospero]

I have the TV on all day and night.

Classic comedies (that I have watched countless times before) all on USB sticks so no breaks. I can watch all Dad's Army from start to finish
uninterrupted. I say 'watch', it's more listen.

[GeoSpectrum]

A selection of 1930s onward jazz as i'm learning jazz guitar...

[JFeig]

https://www.iheartradio.ca/am-580

[Justintime]

Alan,
If you use Spotify, I think that you'd like a playlist called "Don't Play Christmas Songs".

[GeoSpectrum]

I use Youtube Music

[Jon_Brooke]

I use my phone to stream stuff, using wi-fi for data, to a bluetooth speaker (actually a Brennan BB1) so I can have it next to me on the workbench and turn it down/off as soon as someone comes in.

I listen to a lot of podcasts - there really are so many on such a wide range of topics that there will be something interesting for anyone.

Also I often listen to LBC during the day which is mainly phone ins on current political topics.

And I use BBC Sounds to stream Radio 6 shows from the previous evening during the day.

Occasionally I will listen to an audiobook - Audible is usually better that the free services that are available because they use better narrators. Rise and Fall of the Third Reich was good value as the monthly free book as it went on for 54 hours - over a week's listening!

Sometimes my listening schedule is so intensive I wonder how I get any work done.

[YPF]

When I first opened my shop nearly 9 years ago I was invited a couple of times to buy a licence from the Performing Right Society and obtain a Phonographic Performance Limited licence to allow me to listen to music. The combined cost at the time was over £350 a year.

A little research led me to some anecdotal evidence of the bullying nature of those 2 organisations, just the suggestion from one of their visiting inspectors that “I think I can hear music in here” could lead to a court case and they always won.

I understand that the 2 groups have joined forces to offer a combined licence for about £175 a year for shops less than 600 square metres.

Anyway, to answer the question - nothing

[Fruitini]

Same. Nothing now… The PRS harassed me a few years back with phone calls and visits. Caught me once listening to talk radio in the workshop and said I’d need a license due to the jingles that Radio 5 play and that there was no permanent door in-between there and the shop!! I refused to pay for one and said I’d put the radio in the bin. No audible radio or music in the workshop or shop since. Ear pods if anything although it’s discouraged. We are too busy these days, music is a distraction and it takes the focus off work in my opinion. I’d rather the team be aware of what’s going on and the work conversations of other staff members to ensure joined up thinking and consciousness of what’s going on. There’s only 4 of us but mistakes happen when people aren’t tuned in.

The bullying tactics of these organisations is abhorrent. If you are using music to generate an ambiance to sell your product or entertain your clients then I agree you should need a licence but to go after those who are using paid for music for their own ears while their hands are earning them a living, is a shitty manoeuvre IMO.

[JKX]

I paid the fee and I’ve never begrudged anything in my life as much, but going without popmaster, live, could not be an option.

I just put it in to my hourly rate anyway!

[Gesso&Bole]

I listen to Times radio to keep me up to date with politics and world affairs, but I do find that too much of that makes me feel depressed, so I usually only do an hour or two of that, then switch over to music.

I like music that keeps me relaxed but upbeat. Particularly if I am hand-finishing. My current favourite is a group called Curawaka.

[Rainbow]

My current favourite is a group called Curawaka.

I'd never heard of them so I listened to one of their songs on Youtube. I don't think I've heard South American music since The Flight of the Condor on television several decades ago! I really enjoyed it, how did you come across them?