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50 Reasons to Listen to Funky Corner Radio

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I recently discovered Funky Corner Radio, and it quickly became one of my favorite radio stations to listen to. Here are 50 reasons why you should listen to it:

  1. FCR is a radio station that is dedicated to funk, soul, R&B, and 70s Disco
  2. It’s proudly run by “Italian Funky Lovers”
  3. They focus on music made by black musicians…
  4. …but they’ve played the Bee-Gees at least once since I’ve started listening…
  5. …and I’ve heard a few songs from Japanese musicians on there.
  6. It has multi-cultural, international appeal. Their website is in English, Italian, and Japanese.
  7. They’re playing The Isley Brothers as I’m typing this reason.
  8. They have a block dedicated to Studio 54 and the history of dance music.
  9. They named that block “Studio 54 - The History of Dance Music” so you know exactly what it offers.
  10. They focus on music made in the 70s and 80s…
  11. …but they occasionally play newer music to change things up a bit.
  12. The station features an excellent rotation - it’s uncommon to hear the same song twice in a week.
  13. Exception to the rule: you’ll hear repeats during their Top 100 Songs block. It’s great to listen to that block if you want to hear familiar music.
  14. The top 100 songs that play during that block are seriously great.
  15. During their Soul Funky Passion block, they highlight deeper cuts and rarities.
  16. You should listen to Funky Corner Radio if you like Prince - they play his hits, album cuts, and live material on there.
  17. A regular music block of theirs is Philly Sound Show - nothing but music from Philadelphia.
  18. Whenever they play something from Stax Records, they let you know.
  19. That’s a good thing because their Stax Records selections are always fantastic.
  20. They play with limited commercial interruptions - there are a few commercials every 30 minutes or so.
  21. They have a block of music that I haven’t seen or heard them promote. “Mellow Storm” comes on at 5:00 PM on weekdays (maybe not Wednesdays?) and transforms the station into a “Quiet Storm” format. They start playing Brian Culbertson and such.
  22. They played Teddy Pendegrass’s version of “Love T.K.O.” during that block and I was absolutely stunned. I’ve heard Reuben Studdard and Fourplay’s version of the song, and that was great, but nothing beats Teddy Pendegrass’s take on it.
  23. On Sundays, they play Clive Brady Jazz, Funk and Soul Show. It’s a syndicated show featuring a live DJ, and it’s a fun listen.
  24. Their logo is in the style of a vinyl record label. Probably a 12” due to the style of the logo, if I had to guess.
  25. You should listen to Funky Corner Radio because I said so!
  26. Their station IDs are endearing. They usually feature computer-synthesized speech and never annoy me.
  27. It’s named Funky Corner Radio.
  28. “Funky Corner Radio” is a name that describes the station very well.
  29. The flow between songs is usually excellent.
  30. As I’m writing this reason, they’re playing a song from The Persuaders.
  31. I’m not familiar with The Persuaders, but that’s cool - I’ve heard a lot from artists that I wasn’t aware of on this station.
  32. This station inspired me to look more into black music made in the 70s and 80s, and I’ve listened to albums from Teddy Pendegrass and The Three Degrees as a direct result of hearing them on Funky Corner Radio.
  33. It’s given me a newfound appreciation of Cameo.
  34. They occasionally play reggae. It’s usually Bob Marley or Jimmy Cliff.
  35. There was that one time that they played “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” and it was mysteriously attributed to Bob Marley. Hey, even professionally run radio stations can label songs incorrectly. Last time I checked, 99.5 ROCK lists Rush’s “Closer to the Heart” as “Closer to Your Heart”
  36. You should listen to Funky Corner Radio just for the funk of it.
  37. They sometimes play rap. I’ve heard LL Cool J on there.
  38. They also played Childish Gambino one time on Soul Funky Passion. Just when you think you have the station figured out, they throw you a curveball.
  39. You’ll regularly hear music with excellent, catchy basslines.
  40. They’re on 24/7.
  41. Their online radio stream is more reliable than many that I’ve tried.
  42. Someone reads the time (Central European Time Zone) at the top of the hour every hour. It’s helpful to know this because their music blocks start at the top of the hour at scheduled times of the day.
  43. I love 80s R&B for some reason I can’t quite put my finger on, and they play plenty of it on Funky Corner Radio.
  44. They play plenty of Parliament, Funkadelic, George Clinton, and Bootsy Collins.
  45. They play music that is old enough to be originally released on 45 RPM records. (Get it?)
  46. The audio quality is excellent…
  47. …and so is the music quality.
  48. You can tell others that you’re listening to Funky Corner Radio. They’ll immediately know what’s up.
  49. You can listen to it through Shoutcast, TuneIn (and your Sonos), on their website, and on dedicated apps for just about any device that you have. It’s very easy to listen to Funky Corner Radio.
  50. You should listen to Funky Corner Radio to play the (completely unofficial) drinking game. Take a shot every time a song has “funk” in the title, and take two shots every time a band has “funk” in their name.

Have a listen at Funky Corner Radio!

(You may not want to play Funky Corner Radio over speakers at your workplace. Some of the songs get freaky.)

Updates:

  • 5/31/2020 - Funky Corner Radio started running ads sometime in April, so I changed item #20, which was “They’re ad-free and supported by listener donations.”