With more than 73,000 song requests and counting, the triple j audience has gone nuts for the shut-in request format.

Young listeners are hearing things they never heard before, or discovering the original artists who wrote songs that they know from current artists, but never knew were covers of much older songs.

Older audience reaction from fans can be summed up by this comment from Rob Kaldor, a 40 something podcaster and digital marketer currently studying at AFTRS. His request was ‘Change in Mood‘ by Kids in the Kitchen.

I am wondering if Triple J is breaking its raison d’etre by essentially appealing to me as 40 something year old Gen Xer. On its website, Triple J is the national youth broadcaster for young Australians. Their music is alternative with a focus on new Australian artists  and they have launched a range of musicians from Silverchair, Missy Higgins through to Vance Joy and Bear and Boy.

Don’t get me wrong – I am a long-term fan of the network. Over the years I have spent many an Australia Day weekend listening to the Hottest 100 whilst attending a BBQ or driving up or down the coast. But alas, my listening habits have long since moved in an easier listening direction. I share my ears with ABC Sydney, Double J, WS FM and dare I say in this forum – Spotify. 

But this week, I turned the dial (or more accurately asked Siri) to return to my old listening habits. My reason for this return is the current democratisation of the station via its Requestavil week. 
 
Triple J has thrown the keys to the car to anyone who downloads the Triple J App and requests a song. Literally any song can be requested. The only rule is that each person can only request one song per day and there needs to be a reasoning or a story behind the request.
 
The outcome has meant that the usual Triple J staples such as Tame Impala, Ocean Alley are now sharing the ‘Wireless’ with Michael Bolton, the Wiggles, Britney Spears and even Beethoven.
 
I am loving it and finding the reaction of the announcers as entertaining as the actual melange of music in my headphones. The stories behind each request have been as expected, incredibly varied from family road trip memories, recollections of sexual exploits as well as other completely random and often moving music triggered yarns. So as entertaining as the offering is to me, I wonder if it is democracy gone mad or simply a case of ‘be careful what you wish for.’

It has become almost like a game, to craft you story well enough to justify the presenters playing it on the national youth network. As one post on the triple j website said: “It’s a lot more fun convincing a radio station or presenter to play you a song than Siri or Alexa.”