Amazing!

Normally I would not get too excited about Facebook, but now darlings, let me just say this is simply amazing!!! Obviously there are "some" (like the Red Hot Chili Peppers) other people as well who are sad about diminishing culturally valuable yet unprofitable media!!!

Radio Helsinki – the boat that rocks!!!

Check this out: https://www.facebook.com/SaveRadioHelsinki

Listen to the radio, oh listen to the radio

When was the last time you sat down and read the daily news? Or a book? I mean really read, from cover to cover without checking your Iphone, Ipad, Ipod, Idon'tcarewhat? Better yet, when was the last time you listened to the radio? And jumping from channel to channel while you're driving on your way to work doesn't count.

Yeah, I thought so – you don't remember.

Not so long ago, I used to love reading the Sunday paper for hours with a huge pot of coffee and nowhere to go. Sometimes I put the talk radio on and let the soothing voice of the dj mutter on the background. My favourite moments were those, when the lovely Lasse Kurki (a Finnish musician and a radio host) played a song and I could shout in my mind "Oh, this! I had forgotten". Lasse used to have a program called Rakkaudesta (it means out of love) which was streamed every Tuesday and Sunday on Radio Helsinki – one of the last local radios in Finland where there are no playlists.

And here comes the but. The news corporation that owns the station recently announced it is going to shut down the radio. It is no longer profitable. And while going through the accounting, they are right. Why should unprofitable be maintained just because some nostalgic hipsters want to listen some neverheard-songs?

The euphoria of modernity and gadgets has made us restless. Browsing through all the possible media from Twitter to Instagram to Facebook to What'sup has made us so busy (beacuse we want to know everything every second) that most of us have actually no clue what's really up.

The online papers circle around the same topics and only compete with who has the most clicks – who cares if the headlines give totally wrong idea about reality. Every radio and tv-channel are stuffed with formats that all resemble one another. Books and records are on the sale basket two weeks after their release because no-one has the time. And if there are independent media that try to do thigns differently, they won't last.

Old formats are dying out like it has been for generations, so what? you say. But is it really like that? Or do we like to convince ourseleves so, because it is easier?

Perhaps, there could be another way. But to realize that, we should first stop for a second and listen to the radio – while it's still there.