Radio Vest

Local radio in Germany lives or dies by how well it knows its own backyard. Radio Vest knows the Vest Recklinghausen district that well. The playlist is broad on purpose: German pop, international hits, the occasional Schlager, plus the Ruhr standards everyone in the region grew up hearing. Expect Herbert Grönemeyer and Nena rubbing shoulders with Ed Sheeran. Nothing revolutionary there. That's the point. What separates it from a national pop station is the local layer: district news, road reports, football results, the small stuff the big networks skip. There's plenty of talk between the song…