Dynamic Range Radio vs. Radio Paradise

In the world of eclectic internet radio stations, Radio Paradise is an institution. It was one of the first, and it's still one of the best. I have nothing but respect for what Bill Goldsmith and his wife Rebecca have created, and without Radio Paradise, Dynamic Range Radio almost certainly wouldn't exist.

Radio Paradise kindled my passion for internet radio, but after nearly a year of heavy listening I found myself less than satisfied, and I couldn't shake the idea that I'd love to create something similar to RP that better reflected my musical tastes. And so, Dynamic Range Radio was born.

Bill Goldsmith taught me a lot about how a DJ can turn radio into an art form, but he and I are from different generations, so it's natural that my playlist focuses more on music from the 80s and 90s as opposed to the 60s and 70s. I tend to think of Dynamic Range Radio as a more energetic, Gen-X alternative to Radio Paradise, and I always thought that DRR was every bit as eclectic as RP, but there was never any hard data to back up those claims. Until now.

One of Radio Paradise's loyal listeners has adapted a Last.FM tool that scrobbles every track RP plays, so now I can compare Radio Paradise and my broadcast to see how they match up.



That's what I see when I log in and visit the user page for the scrobbled version of Radio Paradise.

The two stations have a lot in common based on this cursory examination of artists played, but I love digging a little deeper with the various stats tools available through Last.FM, so I'll start with the Long Tail Analyzer and Eclectic Score Calculator, both of which I've written about before.

The Long Tail

If you read this post you'll get a detailed analysis of how the long tail analyzer works. In a nutshell, it determines how often you play your top 50 artists, so the more artists in your playlist getting regular airplay, the longer your tail is.

When I compared Dynamic Range Radio and Radio Paradise with the Long Tail Analyzer, I discovered that both stations had the exact same score: 77%.

In other words, both stations play their top 50 artists a mere 23% of the time. That means lesser artists still receive the bulk of the airplay, and both stations offer a very wide variety of artists.

End result: Radio Paradise and Dynamic Range Radio are equally eclectic according to the Long Tail Analyzer. So, on to the next tool.

Eclectic Score Calculator

My first post on this tool can be found here. What it does is take your top 20 artists, finds the top 5 similar artists for each according to Last.FM users, then adds up the total number of similar artists to find a score. So, if you listen to nothing but British punk from 1977-1979, all your top artists will probably be tagged as similar to The Sex Pistols and The Clash, and your eclectic score will be very low.

End result: Dynamic Range Radio and Radio Paradise are equally eclectic according to the Eclectic Score Generator, with both stations scoring an impressive 94/100.

Super-Eclectic Score Calculator

The same site offers a second test which digs deeper by examining the top 50 artists instead of the top 20 and looks up the twenty most similar artists for each. That yields a score out of 1000, and, for the first time, delivers a clear winner in this analysis.

Dynamic Range Radio: 641/1000
Radio Paradise: 598/1000

End result: Dynamic Range Radio is more eclectic according to this test, whereas more of the artists in Radio Paradise's top 50 tend to sound alike.

So, that gives me a small edge over the flagship station in the eclectic genre, but these tests barely scratch the surface. I'd love to see a Super-Duper-Eclectic test which analyzes your top 200 artists because, as the results of the Long Tail test indicate, the top 50 artists make up less than a quarter of the playlists on both stations. So how does that other 75% compare? And is Dynamic Range Radio really more energetic and more modern sounding? Check back soon for part 2 and you'll have your answer.