When dogs get lonely, they sometimes keep themselves busy by wreaking havoc around the house, and that doesn’t really sit well with their owners. That’s why one German radio host, who also happens to be a dog owner, came up with the idea for a 24/7 program designed to relax canine listeners and make them feel like they are not alone.
When 30-year old Stephan “Stocki” Stock, a radio moderator at RadioTon, in Germany’s Baden-Württemberg region, announced the creation of a program aimed at dogs, everyone thought it was just a clever April Fools prank. Only it wasn’t. For the past three and a half months, “Hallo Hasso” has been pumping out music for lonely pooches both on the radio and online.
Stocki says he was inspired to create the special program by his pet dog, Layla, who would sometimes get so bored when left alone that she would keep herself busy by making a big mess and destroying things around the house. He and his colleagues at RadioTon started researching what kind of music usually appeals to dogs, and learned that it should have as little drum and electric guitar as possible, and should be very slow. They realized that stuff that doesn’t usually make mainstream radio playlists, like classic music, old hippie songs and even obscure YouTube clips fit the profile perfectly, so they compiled several playlists for broadcast on Hallo Hasso.