Tragic FM

“Home” music video, Michael Bublé, 2005

From The Guardian:

Stormzy’s love of Magic is sincere and profound – and sometimes it cannot be contained. A year earlier, at the Mercury prize, an interviewer had introduced themselves as a reporter from Magic. “Magic Radio – are you mad?” responded a visibly amused Stormzy. “Before my career’s over, I need to have a song that Magic just play. ’Cos that’s when you know you have a legacy. If your song is just on the Magic playlist, and it sits there for the next 30 years, you have made something special.”

Tune into Magic Radio and you will hear Rio by Duran Duran and Don’t Stop Me Now by Queen and Careless Whisper by George Michael. You will hear Moving on Up by M People and Don’t You Want Me by the Human League and Hello by Adele. And you will hear them over and over again. In the week beginning 20 January, the station played the 1997 Natalie Imbruglia track “Torn” no less than 10 times.

In the popular imagination, particularly in London, where it began broadcasting under its current name in 1998, Magic Radio is still often referred to as Magic FM. “Magic FM is my life,” said James Corden in 2018. “I genuinely miss it when I’m away.”

Since 2016, the Magic empire has expanded.

“Magic moments: the indestructible appeal of easy listening radio”, Simon Akam, The Guardian