An eclectic, carefully dayparted mix of Indie, Rock, Pop, Dance & Chillout - played in real time. Great music for grownups who are young at heart.
The Roolz
An eclectic, carefully dayparted mix of Indie, Rock, Pop, Dance & Chillout - played in real time from SW France. "You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else"
(Albert Einstein)
05/01/2026
Well... we seem to have got by the worst two months of the year in terms of music programming. Only two new titles this month – ‘Kumbaya’ by JERUB, a Nigerian from Nottingham who wrote this song for the charity Stand Up To Cancer. Kumbaya is pidgin English for a plea to God to ‘come by here’. I think you’ll like it.
Tano Jones is a proud Detroit-born singer, songwriter, guitarist, producer and founder of The Tano Jones Revelry. His music is for anybody who can’t contain their lust for life and dreams for a better tomorrow. ‘What About Me’ is pure Americana: a song that’ll compel you to bust out your Christmas air guitar.
Happy 2026.
05/12/2025
December is quite the hardest month to programme. Research has taken as long as ever; this month I have found only four new tunes to add. ‘Barbed Wire’ by the Cardinals is due for release next February – they’re an Irish group and the song is a fine rocker. Sebastien Tellier is a French singer/songwriter who represented France in the 2008 Eurovision contest with a song called ‘Divine’. He actually sounds like a woman, but the addition of Nile Rogers on ‘Thrill of the Night’ compensates for any lack of Seb’s testosterone.
Ashe hails from San Jose. She recently was forced to cancel a tour down under in order to preserve her sanity, but it was ‘Fun While It Lasted’. Emmett Jerome was born some way north of Ashe – Alberta, Canada, in fact – and he graces The Roolz with a style of authentic country rock on ‘Come Down’ which I think you’ll like.
And that’s it for new releases.
And so to Christmas. All the charts and music lists are littered with the same old tired stuff. I actually take the meaning of Christmas seriously and I really can’t do the Noddy, Roy, Pogues, Sirs Paul & Elton thing all over again. It seems extraordinary that no-one has come up with a meaningful new Christmas tune in more than half a century. The only one that has snuck through is John & Yoko’s: this year perhaps more relevant than ever. Instead, I have broadened the musical scope to include choral and orchestral works, folk, gospel and even some traditional French Christmas songs.
Careful with those mince pies, Eugene.
13/11/2025
The Roolz back to full service at last - I hate to imagine how many listeners we've lost. Keep on keeping on... and recruit a few friends.
13/11/2025
Server trouble at The Roolz. Trying desperately to contact the operator ☹️
31/10/2025
Been listening to new music. I screwed up while loading it and listeners were treated to about 15 minutes of faff. Sorry about that.
Having owned up, there are some exceptional new tracks for November.
I have to start with a track that has blown me away - the most remarkable recording I have heard in ages. I can't find any background information on Urban Choir other than they didn't release their first song until July of this year. The format is lead male vocal with gospel choir and chugging strings. I hope 'I'm a Mess' will amaze you as much as it does me. Why is the BBC not on it?
I've added another track from Brandi Carlile's excellent new album Returning to Myself' - this one is 'Human'.
Will Brown is a soul singer from Kansas, and a very good one too. Check out 'Golden'. It has a bass line which pushes the song along at a cracking pace. 'They say don't call when you′re drunk in love. But I don′t think that I'm drunk enough.'
From London hails Sienna Spiro. She is but 20 years old and she vaunts a rare talent. Two of her songs make the cut: 'Die On This Hill' is A-rated while 'You Stole the Show' goes into the chill category.
There are other new songs, too. There are always others...
..but Urban Choir stole the show.
10/10/2025
Following my musings on radio listening habits, I'm now pleased to resolve all your difficulties. Well, perhaps not all of them - but at least those concerned with shouting at a smartspeaker.
If you have a smartspeaker that answers to the name Alexa, she should obey willingly if...
You go to your territory's Amazon site and search for “roolz” in Alexa Skills
That should take you to a page with our logo and an option to 'enable' on your smart speaker. Click on it. This is free and instant.
Now say “Alexa, play The Roolz, France”.
The music will play and once enabled the voice command should work forever.
You can also use the Alexa app on your phone. Search for Roolz and select from the list to enable on all your devices.
If you have problems finding us in the search, depending on where you are in the world and which Amazon your account is with, go to one of these pages:
It’s been a long, hot summer - but as the sun sinks gracefully into a lower trajectory the time has come to greet the new season. The Stereophonics acknowledge its arrival with a song called ‘Colours of October’. Halloween beckons; at The Roolz we’ve anticipated that with ‘Soul for the Taking’, a song from J-Pop artist Olivia Millin. It’s fun. J-Pop has now superseded K-Pop (do keep up – Ed).
There’s actually a bunch of great new stuff out this month. Special mentions for The Last Dinner Party and ‘Scythe’, ‘Old Tape’ from Lucius (an American four-piece relocated to Los Angeles from New York) and ‘Through My Soul’ by Enlly Blue. This track gives a glimpse of things to come. There is no such person as Enlly Blue. The vocals are entirely AI generated. But the song is worthy of airplay just because it’s so bloody good. Frightening, really.
Lastly, Ozzy remembered with an Earth song...
.. I’m just a dreamer who dreams of better days.
05/10/2025
When I were a lad t'radio were a box which sat in corner of room: bakelite for kitchen and posh wood for sitting room. Two k***s for kitchen :– 1) on/off/volume, 2) tuning; and three polished k***s for sitting room :– 1) on/off/volume, 2) tuning and 3) treble & bass.
Each set was generously marked with romantic sounding names like Athlone, Luxembourg and Kalundborg. My granddad used to listen all day. So did I when I was in bed with flu: Heinz tomato soup, Smith's crisps and t'radio. Bliss.
Times have ineluctably changed. The radio is still a box (although usually spherical in shape) which sits in the corner. It doesn't have k***s; instead you shout at it when its services are required. A lot of people do this, I'm told. So we at The Roolz, never wishing to be thought of as laggards, have followed suit. Wherever you are in the world, just shout at your spherical friend ''Alexa – play The Roolz, France''.
It works. Or, if it doesn't, the only k**b in the room is you.
04/09/2025
While midsummer listening was a mite disappointing, late summer has mined a rich seam of new artists and tunes. Kid Kapichi is a punk band from Hastings. I normally stay away from that half-spoken stuff, but for every rool there is an exception and ‘Stainless Steel’ proves just that.
Björk is not the only girl from Iceland to melt our musical hearts. Laufey Lín Bing Jónsdóttir is another. For obvious reasons she has chosen the handle Laufey. There’s a really lovely retro feel about ‘Tough Luck’. Laufey will be laufing all the way to the bank.
My favourite new add is Mavis Staples’ ‘Beautiful Strangers’. It’s from her new album ‘Sad and Beautiful World’, which will be released in November. Mavis, the only surviving member of the Staple Singers, is incredibly still singing at the age of 86. Her voice sounds like it’s been soaked in a vat of Kentucky bourbon for at least half of them.
Lastly, a mention for Brògeal and ‘Go Home Tae Yer Bed’. Their name is pronounced Brogale. The band is a Scottish 5-piece from Falkirk, unashamedly inspired by Ireland’s Pogues. They are already making big waves. Watch this space. Lots more new stuff too: listen with love.
Lastly, I have A-listed Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On’...
..just because.
04/09/2025
20/08/2025
The Roolz is temporarily off air and won't be restored until tomorrow evening (Thursday). Many apologies.
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The Roolz
An eclectic, carefully dayparted mix of Indie, Rock, Pop, Dance & Chillout - played in real time from SW France. Great music for grownups who are young at heart.
"You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else"
(Albert Einstein)
About The Roolz
The station is the lovechild of David Symonds, after fifty years' broadcast experience accumulated on three continents: Australasia, Europe & the U.S. David was a founder member of the first Radio 1 team; opened Capital Radio, London, 1973 and Radio Victory, Portsmouth, 1975; managed & programmed two properties in L.A. during the 1980's. In the 1990's he moved back to the BBC, then Capital Gold before emigrating to Cyprus. David designed, built & managed Coast FM in Limassol, which was sold to Russian owners in 2013. He now lives in Agnac, Lot-et-Garonne.
David's core belief is that art is either good or bad - there is no such thing as OK art. Therefore why restrict output to specific genres? If something is good it deserves to be heard, regardless of which pigeon hole it may occupy. So pigeons, yes, but no turkeys.
Internet radio is the future. Norway has already announced its intention to scrap the FM waveband in 2017 and other countries will follow suit. Contemporaneously, manufacturers are developing an explosion of new platforms & apps with which to receive web radio. In the U.S. internet listening has grown from 93m in 2010 to 170m in 2015. The next generation of silver surfers will be completely web savvy. It is nigh on impossible to qualify our USP - but the answer to the question "why?" is that our intuitive feel for what makes people go, "WTF was that?" is what will separate us from the rest. Terrestrial players are all safety-first merchants working with playlists of 200 - 300 songs. They do not appear to realise that they are actively driving people to seek alternative listening.
What does this radio station promise its listeners?
Great music for people with grown-up tastes. Independent acts will feature prominently - this is tomorrow's talent, today. Just as book writers have moved to self-publishing on Amazon & Kindle, and the world of analogue publishing is shrinking, so in music the digital trend is firmly established. Independent artists account for 27% of the UK music inventory, which is a multi-billion pound industry. We will also introduce information and magazine contentincrementally and as one recognises editorial need, but there will be no talk for talk's sake. Bought-in programmes will be considered on merit and guest presenters will be invited to contribute.
As far as prospects are concerned - yes, there is a lot of competition out there. But success is all about content. There is nothing intimidating about being in a saturated market if you are the best at what you do.
