Lots of us enjoy listening to the radio while working or driving, and the radio can be a nice source of background noise that helps us focus.
However, it can be annoying when the music is constantly interrupted by presenters and adverts.
Are there any radio stations in the UK that play non-stop music, with no talking or ads?
Unfortunately, there aren’t any stations that are completely free from talking, but some stations have fewer interruptions than others.
Radio Stations with Less Talking & Adverts
Here are some UK stations with relatively little talking and adverts.
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 does have some speech-based programmes, but the station also plays long pieces of classical music without any breaks.
If you enjoy Classic FM but find the adverts irritating, BBC Radio 3 could be a good choice, though the selection of music often includes more challenging contemporary classical music.
Like all BBC stations, it doesn’t have adverts.
- Available on: FM, DAB, online, TV, Amazon Echo
- Plays: Classical and world music
- Adverts? No
- Website: https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3
BBC Radio 6 Music
Compared to BBC Radio 1 and Radio 2, 6 Music has relatively little talking, though this depends on the time of day and day of the week. With a mix of indie pop and rock music from a wide range of decades, this channel will suit quite a wide range of music tastes.
Like all BBC stations, it doesn’t have adverts.
- Available on: DAB, online, TV, Amazon Echo
- Plays: Indie pop & rock
- Adverts? No
- Website: https://www.bbc.co.uk/6music
Smooth Chill
This station owned by Global Media and Entertainment Ltd focuses on relaxing chillout and ambient music. Once simply known as Chill, this station is now part of the Smooth Radio offerings.
With chillout being the main target of this station, any of the talking which occurs in between music programming is less energetic, to keep those Smooth Chill vibes going.
- Available on: DAB in London and Leicester, online, Amazon Echo
- Plays: Chillout, ambient and trip-hop
- Adverts? Yes
- Website: https://www.smoothradio.com/chill/
Magic FM
Magic FM from Planet Radio plays a selection of pop music with relatively little talking.
- Available on: FM in London, DAB nationally, online, TV, Amazon Echo
- Plays: Pop music
- Adverts? Yes
- Website: https://planetradio.co.uk/magic/
NonStopPlay
This online station is aimed at 15 to 24-year olds and plays dance and R ‘n’ B music without the level of speech content of BBC Radio 1. You can use NonStopPlay on your Alexa too. Just ask Alexa to… “Launch NonStopPlay Radio“ or “Launch Pure Dance Radio” – you may need to enable a skill on your smart speaker before this will work.
- Available on: Online, Amazon Echo
- Plays: Dance and R ‘n’ B
- Adverts? Yes
- Website: http://www.nonstopplay.com/
Alternatives to Radio Stations
If you want to completely avoid adverts, news and talking, your best bet is to switch to a paid online service such as Spotify Premium, which will allow you to listen to albums or create your own playlists.
Spotify has lots of “radio stations”, which are really just playlists. Spotify will suggest playlists based on your listening history, which can be a good way to discover new music similar to what you’ve listened to in the past.
Amazon has a similar service to Spotify Premium called Amazon Music Unlimited. This lets you stream music without any adverts or interruptions, and there are also “radio stations” with names such as All 80s, Upbeat Pop and Laid Back Classics.
Another option is to use an MP3 player or CD player. A CD player that plays MP3 discs would allow you to listen to hours of music without having to change the disc.
If you aren’t relying on phone data and have a decent connection to Wifi, you could create video playlists on YouTube and use AdBlocker to avoid irritating and repetitive ads. This means you get to choose your favourite tunes and you can even choose to watch the music videos if you felt like it. However, blocking ads on YouTube does stop creators from making money on their videos, so it’s not the most ideal.
BBC local radio in stereo and no adverts but a lot of speech and music
BBC radio wales in stereo and no adverts speech and music
Radio scotland and radio ulster stereo no adverts
Other bbc local radio cymru stereo and no adverts
Seems like you need to live in London and have DAB.
Some odd people like me actually don’t!
I’m not convinced you’ll get BBC Radio Wales on DAB in Scotland – I certainly can’t find it, but I am fortunate to receive dozens more stations on DAB (we’re not really a backwater here – or odd!). I suspect David was trying to make suggestions for people all over the land – and who may even have an internet connection. If you don’t have that either, then it IS more of a challenge…
I listen to this one at work from the Netherlands
No adverts at all, just the odd jingle in Dutch. Other than that none stop songs.
http://www.cityfm.nl/
Lee thanks for this.
Couldn’t get it to play at first. Manually added this.
http://stream.dar.fm/15913
Now plays in 256mp3. Excellent.