With an unexpected surprise.
I’ve not mentioned it for a while, but decided to play “Battle of the Beats” on a local radio station and I’ve taken part in it about 10 times. Usually, it ends up with my arse getting whipped. I started playing it for the first time this year, just for a bit of fun. The radio station is known as “V2 Radio”, you can listen on DAB if you have one of those radios and on the south coast or online. https://www.v2radio.co.uk). Super friendly radio station and a lot of what is advertised is mainly around West Sussex and Hampshire in the UK, so bear it in mind.
With Steve, he plays anything and everything, so you can listen in and put a request in.
Battle of the Beats is a part of the show where 2 listeners of the show go head to head, like during the day, they do Battle of the Businesses where the steaks are higher, in that you win free pizza for your team with knowledge. No prizes for Battle of the beats, but bragging rights.
The idea is you present 4 songs, the person challenging has to give you either:
- A year
- A decade
- An Open selection
Out of that, you pick 4 songs plus a backup in case of duplication and the audience votes who they like. Some couples get involved with the voting and some households get split. Obviously, some do better than other with their choices and some manage to stay on for weeks and weeks. The voting is easy, Whatsapp, email or calls, Steve or the DJ counts up the votes, the winner stays on for another week, unless its a draw, then the roles are reversed. Its basically a bit of fun. Some can take it more competitive than others, like my second week when I usually end up defeating to a listener, this time, it was the other way round.
You tend to get some surprises from some of the choices (see below), but I have tried in the past putting Dizzie Rascal and Kid Cudi together, I was told that was way too risky.
I started by challenging someone to the year 2008 for music, and I thought “Lets try something”, I thought it would be close, but not what I expected! My plan was to go for club beats, what you would find in a club, this is what I had
If you listen again (Follow this link: Steve Freegard – V2 Radio), it was aired on the 16/08/2025 from the 2 hr mark. Winner decided from the 3hr 15 minute mark.
If you listen to this link and listen from about the 2 hour mark, you’ll hear my selection. The votes? Well, landslide, you’ll have to listen, either way, I was on for another week. One of my friends (known as Steve the Taxi Driver) wanted to play against me and he was like “you better win!”
Oh I did!
So week 2, the year 1993. If you listen again, it was aired on the 23/08/2025 (2hr mark), winner from the 3 hr 15 minute makr.
Usually, I’d get my arse kicked, not this time! I predicted it would be a draw, Steve FG predicted a loss, Steve TD predicted he would lose. I think Steve TD was right, but my guess of a draw was in fact very close. I’ll give you a hint, it was 1 vote (later declared 2 votes) between us – out of 21 votes! He wasn’t happy, I was shocked. Really.
Also, I wanted to replace Corona with Urban Cookie Collective – Key, the secret (Which probably would of got me more votes), but I think the artist repetition would have been a problem. I was told I couldn’t use it though.
Now comes week 3, which I am challenged to the year 2000, I think this could be one of those difficult ones to judge.
| Me | Opponent |
| Rui Da Silva – Touch me (Gulty pleasure of mine) and was released 01/01/01, but was played from Oct 2000) | Melanie C – I turn to you |
| Darude Sandstorm | Darude – Feel the beat |
| DJ Alligator Project – The Whistle Song (I got that wrong in my email) | Watergate – Heart of Asia |
| EDIT: Changed to Ian Van Dahl – Castles in the sky | Rank 1 – Airwave |
Of course, we have to have back ups, For me, I’ve chosen Alice DJ – Better off alone, which I am considering of swapping out DJ alligator project with either of those 2. I don’t know, someone comment? DJAP doesn’t get much air time, while Kylie does. I’m also trying to go for that EuroDance theme and as it has to be from 2000 or thereabouts, some of the ones I wanted to include like DeeDee is a little too late and adding an instrumental (Yomanda – Synth and Strings) was a little too early.
EDIT later: I changed Kylie Minogue for Ian Van Dahl. Tell me why, Do we build castles in the sky?
I think the voting might be close, Darude – Sandstorm is a very popular choice, I’ve had a landslide where ATB and Darude were both together and proved to be an incredibly popular choice.
Still, I don’t know the voting will go, but if I end up on another week, I’ll be shocked. If I stay on, the one thing I am hoping is an open choice, in that case, I know what I am going for already. Anyone want to challenge me on that? Or you could pick a decade, which I have an idea for 90s. All instrumentals.
If you want to listen to it, it takes place 21:00 BST (British Summer Time – we are still on that), on Friday evening – next show is 29/08/2025 on V2 Radio. (Links open a new window).
Edit 29/08/2025:
Ousted out by one vote! It was nerve racking, I knew it was going to be close. So 3 weeks, I think that was a good run.
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