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The thirty fifth edition of Bridges, Radio Northumberland's show dedicated to electronic / alternative music will air at 1900 hours on 16th July 2022.
The show is repeated several times across Radio Northumberland's schedule: Mondays @ 2200 hours, Thursdays @ 2200 hours, Saturdays @ 1900 hours so there are plenty of opportunities hear the music if you've missed it.
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The thirty fourth edition of Bridges, Radio Northumberland's show dedicated to electronic / alternative music will air at 1900 hours on 2nd July 2022. This programme is a new and original show with a focus on the artists Kate Bush and Steven Wilson, as well as a fair number of local artists. Sad to say, my voice still hasn't fully recovered from this thoroughly wretched throat infection so I sound more than a little croaky in places. Apologies for that. Normal service etc etc etc...
The show is repeated several times across Radio Northumberland's schedule: Mondays @ 2200 hours, Thursdays @ 2200 hours, Saturdays @ 1900 hours so there are plenty of opportunities hear the music if you've missed it.
The thirty third edition of Bridges, Radio Northumberland's show dedicated to electronic / alternative music will air at 1900 hours on 18th June 2022. This programme is a revised repeat of Show 6 from May 2021. Sadly, David's voice has more-or-less packed up and he's been unable to record a new show. Please accept our apologies. Normal service will be restored next week.
The thirty-second edition of Bridges aired at 1900 hours on 28th May 2022. Tonight's edition of the show is a tribute to the Oscar-winning composer, Vangelis, who sadly passed on May 17th.
The thirsty-first edition of Bridges aired at 1900 hours on 14th May 2022.
The thirtieth edition of Bridges aired at 1900 hours on 30th April 2022.
The twenty nineth edition of Bridges aired at 1900 hours on 16th April 2022. Back to normal this week... or as normal as this show gets...
The twenty eighth edition of Bridges aired at 1900 hours on 2nd April 2022. This is Part Two our Ultravox special and covers the years 1983 up to 2012.
The twenty seventh edition of Bridges aired at 1900 hours on 19th March 2022. This is our first Ultravox special.
The twenty sixth edition of Bridges aired at 1900 hours on 5th March 2022. This is our first Tangerine Dream special. Expect lots and lots of full on TD as well as an interview with the band.
The twenty fifth edition of Bridges aired at 1900 hours on 19th February 2022. This is our first anniversary programme so we're going back to revisit that first ever playlist.
The twenty fourth edition of Bridges aired at 1900 hours on 5th February 2022. Tonight's episode focusses on remixes by Manchester-born DJ and record label owner Mark Reeder.
The twenty third edition of Bridges aired at 1900 hours on 8th January 2022.
The twenty second edition of Bridges aired at 1900 hours on 8th January 2022.
The twenty first edition of Bridges aired at 1900 hours on 23rd December 2021.
We'd love to acknowledge the special guest presenter but we don't want to annoy LucasFilm/Disney. So there...
The twentieth edition of Bridges originally aired at 1900 hours on 4th December 2021. This listing applies to the second cut, a remixed and remastered version of the original show. Two tracks were dropped from the running order, the first because the sound quality was poor and we received a couple of complaints, the second because it didn't fit in with the rest of the show. Two new tracks by UK synth whizz, Mark Shreeve, were added to the mix...
The nineteenth edition of Bridges, Radio Northumberland's show dedicated to electronic / alternative music aired at 1900 hours on 20th November 2021.
The eighteenth edition of Bridges, Radio Northumberland's show dedicated to electronic / alternative music aired at 1900 hours on 6th November 2021.
The seventeenth edition of Bridges, Radio Northumberland's show dedicated to electronic / alternative music aired at 1900 hours on 23rd Cocktober 2021.
The sixteenth edition of Bridges, Radio Northumberland's show dedicated to electronic / alternative music aired at 1900 hours on 9th Cocktober 2021.
The fifteenth edition of Bridges, Radio Northumberland's show dedicated to electronic / alternative music aired at 1900 hours on 25th September 2021.
Tonight's edition of Bridges is centered around a personal theme - artists and albums that somehow completely failed to appear on my radar at the time of their release, sometimes only registering many years later.
The fourteenth edition of Bridges, Radio Northumberland's show dedicated to electronic / alternative music aired at 1900 hours on 18th September 2021.
Tonight's edition of Bridges is a revised version of last weekend's show. The sound quality of two of the tracks was substandard and they have been swapped out. Another track contained a profanity so it too was removed.
Also, sadly, one of the tracks violated our policy on links to videos containing adult material (some boobs). Bridges was always intended to be a family-friendly show - it airs before the watershed - and we don't want to encourage children to go looking up smut on Youtube. They can do that on their own.
The fourteenth edition of Bridges, Radio Northumberland's show dedicated to electronic / alternative music aired at 1900 hours on 11th September 2021.
A slight change of tack tonight. Rather than play a collection of tracks that nobody has heard of and nobody can remember, I decided to play a mix of old favourites and some slightly more commercial pieces. That approach didn’t quite work in that the number of listeners coupled to the interaction via Facebook actually went down... so it’s back to the usual format next week.
Update : a revised version of this show will be broadcast next weekend. The sound quality of two of the tracks was substandard so they'll be swapped out. There's also a profanity and, even though I got as close to the watershed as possible, it's still a bit iffy. Worst of all, one of the tracks (I'm not saying which one) violates our policy on links to videos containing adult material. Bridges was always intended to be a family-friendly show - it airs before the watershed - and we don't want to encourage children to go looking up smut on Youtube. They can do that on their own without my help, thanks.
The thirteenth edition of Bridges, Radio Northumberland's show dedicated to electronic / alternative music aired at 1900 hours on 28th August 2021. This edition should have been broadcast last weekend to coincide with the Let's Rock the North East Retro Festival n Herrington Park, Sunderland but, due to some unforseen technical issues, was delayed by a week.
The twelth edition of Bridges, Radio Northumberland's show dedicated to electronic / alternative music will air at 1900 hours on 7th August 2021. Tonight's edition is an Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark special so expect lots of funky dancing and heavy bass guitar...
The eleventh edition of Bridges, Radio Northumberland's show dedicated to electronic / alternative music will air at 1900 hours on 24th July 2021. Tonight's edition has a space theme...
The tenth edition of Bridges, Radio Northumberland's show dedicated to electronic / alternative music will air at 1900 hours on 10th July 2021. Tonight's edition has a space theme...
The nineth edition of Bridges, Radio Northumberland's show dedicated to electronic / alternative music will air at 1900 hours on 26th June 2021.
The eighth edition of Bridges, Radio Northumberland's show dedicated to electronic / alternative music will air at 1900 hours on 5th June 2021.
The seventh edition of Bridges, Radio Northumberland's show dedicated to electronic / alternative music will air at 1900 hours on 22nd May 2021.
The sixth edition of Bridges, Radio Northumberland's show dedicated to electronic / alternative music will air at 1900 hours on 8th May 2021.
The fifth edition of Bridges, Radio Northumberland's show dedicated to electronic music will air at 1900 hours on 24th April 2021.
The fourth edition of Bridges, Radio Northumberland's show dedicated to electronic music will air at 1900 hours on 10th April 2021.
Note : This is an updated version of the original show with a better vocal mix, tighter running order and two track changes to reduce the overall running time (so that we don't cut Gary Numan off in his prime...)
The third edition of Bridges, Radio Northumberland's brand new show dedicated to electronic music will air at 1900 hours on 27th March 2021. This is the Hurrah! We didn't get cancelled edition...
Churches Wonderland @ Moog Soundlab: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjxsabBjmfI
The second edition of Bridges, Radio Northumberland's brand new show dedicated to electronic music will air at 1900 hours on 13th March 2021.
The playlist looks a lot like this:
More fun next week... unless we get cancelled... :)
The very first edition of Bridges, Radio Northumberland's brand new show dedicated to electronic music will air at 1900 hours on Satuday 27th February 2021.
The playlist looks a lot like this:
This is the first show. Expect some rough edges. I haven't quite found my radio voice yet. Be patient. We'll get there.
David
Here are a rough set of guidelines for submitting tracks to Bridges
1. First and foremost, we aim to be a family-friendly show. We don’t play tracks which are linked to strong sexual content. End of. If your track features an explicit video then we won’t play your track. This is non-negotiable. Why? Because our audience includes children and young adults, and kids these days are highly proficient at using web tools. They can find age-restricted videos with comparative ease so if your track features a lot of sex, nudity and general smut then, sorry. We won’t touch it. Mild sex is okay. Profanity is okay, within reason. Ask yourself this. Would you be happy showing your video to my Aunty Pat from Shiney Row? If you think Aunty Pat would disapprove then please find another track. Remember, your Aunty Pat is not the same as my Aunty Pat. My Aunty Pat swears like a Hendon Docker and has more tattoos on her bosom than entire The North of England Chapter of the Hell’s Angels but she is easily offended. So tread carefully.
2. Don’t send us files. If you send me a 100Mb AIFF file of your latest hit then I’ll blacklist you and you won’t ever hear from us again. Send us a link to your file on Youtube or Soundcloud or a code for Bandcamp instead. Please do not send us Spotify links. Spotify is part of the problem if not the whole problem.
3. We don’t play tracks by certain artists. It's a long story and it's probably best not to ask... except to say that they know who they are and why they're blacklisted. It's probably not you so don't fret.
4. The programme concentrates on a mix of Dark Electro, Machine Rock and Alternative. Basically, we play what we like and what we enjoy, as well as artists who, we feel, deserve to be heard by a wider audience. In particular, we’re interested in those artists who are having a really hard time getting noticed. Guess what? We were in the same boat when we started out. Got a hard-luck story? Tell us all about it.
So long as the piece is fundamentally electronic, your musical style is unimportant - content and context is paramount.
Length - we will, on occasion, play longer tracks. However, the majority of the pieces we play are between three and six minutes in duration. If your track takes fifty minutes of long slow aimless meandering before getting to a vague and nebulous conclusion then sorry, Bridges is not for you.
We won’t play noise tracks. If your track is just five minutes of car alarms going off or an hour of filter-swept noodling then this programme is not for you.
We do play ambient, usually as part of our Sleepy-time thread. We can’t guarantee that you’ll have an audience though. Most of our listeners will use Sleepy-time as an opportunity to visit the loo, put the kettle on, get a beer from the fridge or put the cat out. It’s your nickel.
We don’t play drones. Our aim is to keep the listener entertained and engaged, and to provide the backdrop to their Saturday night in. We do not want our listeners to switch to another station. Careful, detailed precise scientific analysis has clearly demonstrated that nearly every scientient living being in the Universe would rather gnaw its own foot off than listen to another artfully crafted three hour drone track. So, no... Don’t.
You Sir, are not metal.
We like our metal. We like our punk. We love our guitars. How heavy will we go? We don’t know. Try us. However, if it sounds like a Machine Gun blasting off two hundred rounds a minute with lyrics that appear to have been written by a hoard of Satan’s more playful minions then we’re unlikely to give it airtime. Fans of Norwegian Death Metal and Des O’Connor’s later works should look elsewhere.
Quality
We’re not massively bothered if you gift wrap your latest release in a roll of newspaper that’s been at the bottom of the cat’s litter tray for a month or if you stick it in a Jiffy bag with around a dozen or so nice, crisp ten pound notes. Art is subjective and we’re not critics. However, we do insist that you pay attention to the quality and format of your recording.
We must be able to read your files. It's not important if your track has been artfully rendered in glorious 24-bit, 96kHz pro audio or just hacked together with bits of old cassette tape. What matters is that we can import it easily into our audio system (Logic X running on Apple Mac). Our shows are rendered and exported as 320 kps MP3 files so the source is not hugely important. WAV, AIFF or MP3 files are ideal. We can deal with other formats if we have to but we’d rather not. If it will take two hours to import and edit your Meisterwerk into Logic then we’ll probably just replace your track with something by Rammstein or Rick Astley. Your choice really, bubs.
Recording levels is very important. If the levels are so low that they’re barely above the noise floor then we cant play it. Similarly, if your levels were recorded at such a level that the waveform is just a dense wall of black that hits 0dB 100% of the time then… No. I probably won’t even look at it. I have no desire to blow my speakers out. Or my ears.
One final word - If you do send us something then it's very, very important that you send us your best possible work. If it's not your best possible work then why are you sending it?
“Hey, Dave. We’ve been friends for thirty years. Why don’t you play my stuff?”
We play the music we like. We play the music we think our audience will like. Our aim is to build an audience that keeps coming back to the show week after week, year after year. We want to develop and support a community of musicians, a scene, in the North East of England that is second to none because we believe we have a deep, deep well of highly skilled, very talented musicians and bands in this part of the world that deserves to be heard. We’re not partisan.
We’re also happy to work hand-in-hand with other radio shows within this region to develop and enhance the scene. I’m a massive fan of the BBC’s Introducing series. Credit to them for the work they do in supporting artists.
However, just because we’re friends does not automatically mean that you’ll be pushed to the forefront of the programme and given top billing. We work strictly on merit and nothing else. That said, insincere flattery and Terry’s Chocolate Oranges sent anonymously will help.
Great, you made it this far. Still want to send us something? Even better.
Our submission form has stopped working so... Send us a message using your standard mailer by clicking
here with the following details:
Your name
Your e-mail address
Your band name
Link to your track (ideally Bandcamp or Soundcloud, preferrably not Spotify)
Talk soon,
David