The Radio's on the Deckchair! (Magic 105.4 FM)

Member Name: cmh4135

Product:	Magic 105.4 FM
Date:	24/02/09 (111 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lots of music

Disadvantages: Repetitious and mindless

Magic 105.4 FM you'll either love it of loathe it. Broadcast in the South East of England (and further afield online and through DAB) Magic is dedicated to easy listening music. Formerly known as Melody Radio, Magic broadcasts easy listening hits from all eras but particularly 50s through to 00s. As a station I hold it in high regard but there is a downside too.

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The Upside
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The absolute joy of Magic is that it only plays music. There is no annoying chat or discussion, which means that it is the ideal station to work to. Often up to three tracks are played before you are told what they were by a DJ. At certain times e.g. between 2 and 3 pm there is a non-stop music hour. Speaks for itself - you will get 1 hour of non-stop music (save for comments below).

The tracks are selected for suitability and are themed at different times of the year - you will get cheesy Christmas music around Christmas and slushy love songs on Valentine's day. Your gran will not be offended by what she hears here. You will get chart hits played but they tend to be "soft", easy hits - think boy bands, ballads and no rock!

A short but comprehensive news and weather bulletin is given on the hour, every hour. This increases to twice and hour in the early morning. Travel reports are given at suitable intervals during the rush hours and in the evenings financial bulletins are read. At weekends don't expect much news at all!

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The Downside
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Magic is a commercial radio station and so the wall-to-wall music can be somewhat disrupted by the advertisements that can get very tiresome.
The music also has a tendency to repeat itself (albeit over a period of a day) and so the station can seem a little bit 'samey' after a while. This may be symptomatic of the target audience - I would guess 40+. I would guess that when I first started listening in my 20s I was an a-typical listener being only 26but I guess I'm not that out of target now! I'm not certain that it is any different to any other pop radio station either - think how many times you will hear the same track on Virgin or Capital over the course of a day.


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In Summary
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Magic is an excellent station to listen to if you do not want chat and like to take it easy. It is good to have on as background music whilst working or whilst relaxing. It is certainly not for you if you want to hear the latest top 40 but is for you if you just enjoy easy listening music.

Summary: Easy listening station