The Bard Radio Project: France

I closed the most recent Bard Radio Project post stating that Google's A.I. had picked France when I asked it to name me a country.

That resulted in me spending some time - within the last week - listening to radio stations based in that part of the world.

The first channel I tuned into was RTL. Bard told me that the station plays 'a mix of pop, rock and dance music'.

I have seen the RTL's German television channel when I had satellite TV back in the 80s and early-90s. I remember I once tuned in and watched part of a Quantum Leap episode I hadn't seen at that time. I also scrolled onto the station when it was replaying WrestleMania IX.

I also knew someone who used to work for RTL in Germany, But that's going off on a tangent. I'm not here to write about any of RTL's television output. In fact - I'm not even here to write about anything to do with the German-side of RTL's media delivery.

The French radio station didn't have any music playing when I visited it. There was a discussion going on between two people. As you've probably guessed - I couldn't understand what they were talking about.

I switched off when it appeared as though they were doing a traffic or weather update. 

Next up was FIP - a station which plays 'a variety of genres including jazz, soul, funk and world music'. The 'world music' turned out to be accurate because the second song I heard was English-speaking. However, and as has become a theme in these Bard posts, Shazam was unable to identify it.

With that said, the app was able to work out the first song I heard when FIP began to play on the radio.

I thought it was Leonard Cohen singing in French. I was wrong. The music was by Etienne Daho and Dani. Its title of  'Comme un Boomerang' translates to 'Like a Boomerang'. That would have been a perfect tune for when I listened to a station from Australia.

The third song I heard on my visit to FIP was also in English. To continue its dreadful run, Shazam didn't work. Good old Google was able to find out the title and artist after I typed a couple of its verses into the search engine.

'Lost Dimension' by Magic Castles appears to have been released two years ago.

I didn't need Shazam, or even Google, to work out the final song I listened to on FIP. It was 'Heroes' by David Bowie.

I moved on after that.

'Flowers' by Miley Cyrus was playing when I tuned into NRJ France - a station which Bard announced played 'pop, rock and dance music'.

The second song I came across on NRJ was yet another in English. Shazam failed me once more, but it was sang by an American female.

In the quest to hear French music, I tuned into France Bleu.

Wikipedia states that France Bleu was created in 2000 when two stations - Les locales de Radio France and Radio Bleue - were combined.

Ironically, the first song which played - when I tuned into France Bleu - was Mr. Blue Sky. I could be wrong - because it sounds perfect - but I don't think it was the original. Shazam was once again unhelpful.

Moments after Mr. Blue Sky closed out (the end part was cut out to reintroduce the DJs to the air), the radio's batteries tapped out.

I took the cue to surrender this edition of the project.

This wasn't a good trip across radio stations within France. All but one of the songs I listened to across all of the stations I listened to were English. If I wanted English/American music, I could have listened to some of my local stations.

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After once again choosing China, I asked Bard to pick a different country. Next up is Canada. I might finally get some French music after all...