Pssst: Interested in good stories?

Look no further (also because this is more like a full blown blog article than a short announcement)...

as there is:

RADIO IRRTUM! Special: Spoken Words in Music
(on air from Berlin)

↓↓↓ This is the English language announcement ↓↓↓

Da next issue of #RadioIrrtum! will air this Saturday, 2025/12/20, 8:00pm UTC+1, Berlin time. At Alex Berlin FM at 91MHz / DAB+ K7D around #Berlin + worldwide at https://www.alex-berlin.de/radio-livestream .

Last time on FM air waves, as civic stations in Germany are banned from using "UKW" starting 2026. Because everyone has nice sustainable DAB+ radio receivers nowadays. Right? RIGHT??

#Radio Irrtum! usually is a German language #radioShow exploring the sonic vastness of the #underground. Emitted transmissions may raise attention for new unheard #music all over this planet's genre spectrum. Don't worry about that #GermanLanguage - it's all about the #music!

But this time it's different! It will be a Special. About Spoken Words in music. That is, because I think Xmas - among other things - should also be about listening. To each other. To stories. Or like in this case to stories told within a musical construct.
While doing my research for this, something became quite apparent: #SpokenWords in music, beside it's powerful materializations in various genres, doesn't seem to be much of a topic in music science or music journalism – despite the lasting emotional impact that all the better pieces of Spoken Words music are able to inflict.
I.e. I couldn't find a simple historical timeline here. What are the roots? I have only one hour, so I cannot provide any deep dive, just a simplified overview. The time line of this show will range from 1966 until 2025, spoken words, 40% in German language, 60% English language.
Even if you d don't speek German: This combination of words and music will give you a sense about what's going on. This may be the only "genre" in music that will carry the emotions of the words over into your soul.

Covering music styles like

- #WordJazz from 1966
- #GermanRap from 2025
- UK #RetroAcid from the 2010ths
- #ExperimentalPop from the 80s + 90s
- 80s #IndustrialMusic
- #EastGerman Cassette-Underground
- UK Trash #ElektroPunk from the 2010ths
- German Experimental #EasyListening from the 2000s

Some of this couldn't be found on Spotify, despite being all iconic tracks. And most of those tracks happen to be my absolute all time favorits btw.

Consider this a little acoustic Xmas gift :)

If at least a bit interested in kewl unusual #music, tune in! 📻

Got questions? I'll gladly answer! Just ask here!
Playlist + manuscript after the show also here.
CU all (?) on Saturday.

BTW: German Announcement here:
- https://mastodon.de/@herr_irrtum/115748085466698302
"In his article Mark #Twain – The Licensed Jester (Tribune, 26 November 1943), George #Orwell
...
Mark Twain’s pamphlet was not reissued until 1961 when Seven Seas Books, an East #German #publisher, reprinted it with an introduction by Stefan Heym. Stefan #Heym later became a dissident but remained a socialist until his death in 2001 aged eighty eight. #SevenSeasBooks was of course owned by the #EastGerman government and published radical English language #books. "
https://orwellsociety.com/down-the-memory-hole/

Tomorrow (Thursday) I co-host the Radio FM4 Spielekammerlshow @radioFM4 with @glashuettner about East German computer games! 💾🇩🇪🥳

Starting on 5 p.m. CET in German at https://twitch.tv/radiofm4

#retro #ddr #retrocomputing #eastgerman #kc85 #robotron

radiofm4 - Twitch

Wir sind das Jugendkulturradio des ORF. Jeden Donnerstag von 17-20 Uhr spricht und spielt hier die FM4 Spielkultur-Redaktion diverse Games. Das sind Michi Pichler, David Riegler, Robert Glashüttner, Conny Lee, Anna Theiretzbacher, Gersin Paya, Michi Haslebner.

Twitch
@lauren Just adding my 2 pennarth , of course 'they'll target 'us' 🐘 types. Personally not overly concerned, I appear to have survived 40+ years of being 'Red Flagged'*by the UK's version of the #Stasi. Not as visible or as physical as the #EastGerman variety but there all the same.
*customs don't need a warrant, neither do MI5 (internal) or MI6 (all the rest). On their lists too. 😎🫵🏾

@EU_Commission Yes & thanks 🥰 I grew up seeing my #EastGerman parents being able to travel at 🎯 right time in their lives: Careers 📈, nice family vacations, #ERASMUS

When I travel now 🇩🇪🇩🇰🇫🇷🇪🇸 border controls r common again 🤨

Sometimes even with health risk to 👮 because train stops ventilation, CO2 spikes >2000ppm (https://xcancel.com/BristolChem/status/1723000607911428152 👀), nobody wears #MasksWork.

Not #DavosSafe, so #CoVIDisnotOver degrades public institutions via 📈 sick leave, #BrainFog & 📉recruitment of good new employees!

What was the view like from the other side of the Wall?

NEW EPISODE - The #EastGerman #tank #Commander
Listen here ⬇️⬇️ https://coldwarconversations.com/episode326/ @histodons @ColdWarChannel

The East German Tank Commander

 In the mid-1980s Dag was a T72 tank commander in the NVA, the East German Army and is now a volunteer at the Tank Museum at Bovington in the UK.  Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on Spotify

The #EastGerman flag still flies!

Seen by a listener at the Canmore Nordic Center in Canada last week. It was the venue for cross country ski and biathlon on the 1988 Olympics… @histodons

The Lives of the Others that wrote "The Lives of Others"

"The Lives of Others" is a decent #film, but something felt off to me while I was watching it. It was as if the #EastGerman people weren't meant to be related to, but instead were just there as plot points. It felt like every action in the film was meant to justify a hatred and dehumanization of #EastGermany. It came as no surprise when I found out that there was almost no East German work on the film and that the man whose life it was loosely based on said it bore little resemblance to his actual life.

This wasn't an East German story, this was a #WestGerman writing a #propaganda film. This said, it was still a well-made film.

https://youtu.be/mcBzp_9ZJcw

Today on the Kings of Battle Dev Server we take a look at the Swedish Pbv-501, essentially a slightly downgraded Soviet BMP-1 that was originally used by the East Germans, sold for use by Sweden and subsequently used by the Iraqi and Ukrainian armies!

#warthunder #warthundertanks #bmp1 #pbv501 #sweden #swedish #swedisharmy #iraq #ukraine #ussr #eastgerman #kingsofbattle #toreno #YouTube

Pbv-501: Swedish BMP-1! - Kings of Battle Dev Server - War Thunder

YouTube

#Germans piece together millions of lives spied on by #Stasi - The Guardian ( March 2011 This article is more than 12 years old )

The #EastGerman secret police ripped up much of its #archive but a group is now assembling the scraps of the story
#secretpolice #history

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/mar/13/east-germany-stasi-files-zirndorf

Germans piece together millions of lives spied on by Stasi

The East German secret police ripped up much of its archive, but a group is now assembling the scraps of the story

The Guardian