I’m not sure when The Loft had its final demise on Serous XM, but I’d already started looking for a replacement to it when the writing was on the wall. Corporate music moguls want formulaic play, zero paid DJ’s and a target audience that is well defined. The Loft was none of those things. Built on a reputation of mixing new and old musical styles together, with DJs that had different tastes and different time-slots so that you could tune in to your favorite mixer if you wanted. The Loft was an oasis in an otherwise boring and pasteurized music scene. Too bad that Serious XM couldn’t leave it alone and let it be for those of us who just loved the variety. 

Anyway, so I went searching and what I found was Radio Paradise. Not only do they play that very diverse and crazy mix of new and old plus multiple styles, but they also do so in a way that will make you scratch your head and ask how they did that. A harder-edged rock tune can somehow become in a few songs, a jazz standard, or a folk ballad and there is no jarring mix. A lot of thought goes into how music fits together.  They also have technology built-in to what they do which makes it the most portable of all online music sources. Radio Paradise has a caching system, that allows you to download a huge chunk of the music stream so that you can listen to it offline. That feature alone makes it a worthy musical venture. 

So why is Vodka taking time out from musical posts to let you know about Radio Paradise? Well, Radio Paradise is listener-supported radio, and right now they are going through their very subtle membership drive. They are totally supported by listeners. That’s a huge undertaking for the husband and wife team, Bill and Rebecca Goldsmith. 

If you are a Vodka follower, you know that I’m all about music that is from the darker, more unlit corners. My goal is to find deserving music and shine a light on it. You may not like it all, but you may like enough of it to keep coming back and checking in. Radio Paradise is more open to music that has already had a light shone upon it, but that is totally diverse. We are kindred spirits, I guess you would say, in that variety in music is our mainstay. 

My wife and I decided to donate to Radio Paradise about 6 months ago after we started listening to them exclusively while we were working out at the gym. We could download a cache to our Android devices and then disconnect the WiFi and just use the cache for musical entertainment while we worked out. It is what we still do today. 

So consider checking out Radio Paradise now and if you like it, give them a little something on a regular basis to keep them in business. It’s a worthy venture because music variety is worth the trouble.