Subcity Radio

Subcity Radio is the student radio station of Glasgow university, a non comercial station they "aim ourselves squarely at music lovers across Glasgow and beyond". As a genre statement that really doesn't help much, but Reciva classifies them as Alternative, College and Indie.

A student radio station seems to have the potential to be absolutely terrible, a load of overly trend conscious and eager to please DJ's picking out the most subversive / shocking tunes available. But Subcity's actually pretty good with one notable oddity.

The music is a pretty heavily dance and slightly indie oriented, but the mixes and tracks choosen are both interesting and engaging. I have a bit of a secret like of dance music, I haven't been to a 'serious' club in many years, but I still like the music. If you looked hard you'll even find a couple of dance CD's in my collection. Subcity Radio seems to give a good coverage of the genre, I've not doubt a full time dance nutter would turn their nose up at it, but to me there was a good mix of recognisable tracks (albeit in a new mix) and new songs I'd not come across before.

And now for the oddity.... Subcity seems to have a terrible habit of playing Rick Astley songs... I try to listen to stations at a range of times for a number of hours and i must have heard the same Astley track a half dozen times easily. I didn't really like him in the 80's but at least he was in context. I just don't see how he fits in to this station, and it feels rather like a joke that everyone except you doesn't get...

Rick aside, the technical aspects of the station are fine. No problems connecting via the Wi-Fi, not problems over the PC with several codecs to choose from and a 'listen again' service to catch missed shows.

The website is functional, and may seem a little bland, but I like the minimalist options, allowing listeners to focus on just the station. Basic options to access things like the schedule are of course there, as is the popular online station forum. The only thing they've really missed is some background information on some of the varied music they play.


Overall I give Subcity Radio a TURN-ON rating. Enjoyable overall and possibly worth the highest rating if not for the "turn it off, turn it off, TURN IT OFF!" Rick Astley tracks.