Zurich – Next week sees the return of the International Radio Festival in Zurich, between the 9th & 19th June, will feature this year as Guest Country the United Kingdom which has one of the biggest and wildest broadcasting histories and traditions and is set to make the 2011 IRF one to remember.

United Kingdom

Through BBC Radio the UK has become second to none in broadcasting yet since 2008, after the Brand/Ross affair Auntie has taken a harder stance in what they have called ‘quality control and decency’ which has led to BBC 2 presenter Chris Evans recently attacking the BBC’s “culture of compliance”:

It’s “a complete pain in the backside. The compliance department of the BBC is so extensive it’s an unbelievable nightmare,” Evans was talking to Anne Robinson at the Hay Literary Festival.

The news does not end there for old Auntie as the BBC has continued to chip away at their radio portfolio with the BBC World Service, the worlds largest radio service reaching 188 million listeners, reducing the languages the station offers at a loss in 2010 of some 30 million listeners.

IRF will also feature UK broadcasting legend and Radio 1 DJ Tony Blackburn who originally started off on one of the UK oldest pirate radio stations Radio Caroline. Now back on Radio 2 with Pick of the Pops Blackburn is a icon in his own right and his lustrus career speaks for itself, he is a real coup for IRF and his presence only signifies further just why this festival needs to be taken seriously.

Radio is the one of the oldest forms of media the world has and it’s reach, power, and need has never been greater than now. The IRF is an apt festival in showcasing those radio traditions from all over the world, the technological innovation, the connection to hundreds of millions of listeners, and the need/demand for radio’s globally.

The IRF will also feature shows from the rich bedrock of UK Pirate Radio stations that have been since the 1960s instrumental in keeping radio traditions free, independent, and . Some of the 2011 Highlights include Normski, Karen Pearson Folded Wing for the British Council, Tony Prince, Larry Tremaine, Emperor Rosko, Ed Stewart, Paul Burnett, Kerrang Radio, Urgent FM Belgium, Radio Nova Paris, Samurai FM Japan, Scanner FM for Sonar Spain, Radio P6 Denmark, M2O Radio Italy, Dublab, KCRW, and East Village Radio USA.

TNC is going to be at the 2011 International Radio Festival bringing you all the news and interviews from this years IRF as well as having the live stream on our site throughout the entire festival.

You can find out all the news, releases, and line up for the 2011 International Radio Festival on their website  www.internationalradiofestival.com

Based on private confessions made by the audience prior to the show, this improvised comedy by The Maydays offered some hilarious moments: on the spot, they produced sketches and musical numbers on themes such as masturbation and turds-that-won’t-flush.

At the gate to the Hendricks’ enclosure, one was fittingly greeted by a gin and tonic, served by men who, in tailcoats and pointed moustaches, looked suspiciously similar to characters from The Wind in the Willows. Indeed, the enclosure, with is wooden paneling and compartment train, echoed an image of 19th century society.

[Part Two] My body was done. It wanted to get rid of the festival food, the festival smell and the festival sleeping facility’s – since my air mattress had died in the first night, as always. My head on the other hand, isn’t fond of quitting and decided we would go on strong and would not surrender. That said, we went to a few acts. We also went to Calvin Harris, who had the honor of closing the main stage. Pretty cool show, but since my body wasn’t having as good as a time as my mind.. it didn’t work out quite as well for me as for the rest of the crowd.

To be honest, I don’t really know which other artists we came across. One name does come up, the closing act for my Dour 2010, The Glitch Mob. Even my body was convinced of this last party and sucked it up. That show made body and mind come together, so to speak.

Dour is a festival with a big variety of people. You have the midday people, who check out a lot of bands and make sure they drink a lot of beer. Then you have the night people, who don’t really care about the bands and just want to party all night long. As a last group, you have the morning people. This group are not the ones who wake up early so they wouldn’t miss anything – the program does not begin before 12am -, this group are those who can’t get enough. Can’t stop the party and move their asses off to camping site B, where the every night after party is.

They numb their body and activate their mind and party as long as their stock will let them.

Off course you can be two kinds of people, or even three, but the important lesson here to learn, is that you can only be awake for so long. You will need to sleep, somewhere during those four days. And if you manage to do that, the rest will be taken care of by itself. Because Dour is one of those festivals where it doesn’t really matter where you are or what you do.. as long as you make sure your body and your mind are willing to party hard, real hard – together.

As for Dour 2011, I don’t know if you have already seen the line up but it’s sick. Where the line up of 2010 was kind of disappointing, the festival still was real good…therefore I can only imagine how incredibly insane this year will be.