Kanye West

desert is.landest. 1942

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desert is.land

“And if you could take only one…” — a semantic wireless tuned to the Desert Island Discs archive.

The listing

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Transmission

Broadcasting since 1942
Long wave 198 kHz
An unofficial archive companion
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Not affiliated with the BBC · Built for the love of the long wave · Made by Daniel Hails

Kanye West — Artist · desert is.land

desert is.landest. 1942

Find a castaway Most requested Browse the archive About Report a fault

Artist

8 episodes

Chosen over the decades

Total castaways

2020s

Peak decade

Decades seen

Castaways who chose this

Dame Helena Morrissey
George Michael
Jasvinder Sanghera
Jimmy Carr
Nick Cave
Romesh Ranganathan
Steve McQueen
Tom Ilube

Romesh Ranganathan
Romesh Ranganathan on drafting his suicide note as a teenager
Castaway · 1 June 2025Lauren Laverne
Nick Cave
Nick Cave on his father asking him at age 12 what he had done to help the world
Castaway · 26 January 2025Lauren Laverne

desert is.land

“And if you could take only one…” — a semantic wireless tuned to the Desert Island Discs archive.

The listing

Find a castaway
Most requested
Browse the archive
About

Transmission

Broadcasting since 1942
Long wave 198 kHz
An unofficial archive companion
Report a fault

Not affiliated with the BBC · Built for the love of the long wave · Made by Daniel Hails

Tom Ilube

Tom Ilube on being blacked up for a school play

Castaway · 3 October 2021Lauren Laverne

Dame Helena Morrissey

19°44′S 066°35′W

Dame Helena Morrissey

Helena Morrissey on her childhood obsession with earning Brownie badges

Castaway · 22 March 2020Lauren Laverne

Jimmy Carr

19°01′S 018°57′W

Jimmy Carr

How Jimmy Carr went from not reading until age 10 to Cambridge

Castaway · 5 March 2017Kirsty Young

Steve McQueen

10°09′S 000°42′W

Steve McQueen

How art saved Steve McQueen from a life of manual labour

Castaway · 21 September 2014Kirsty Young

Jasvinder Sanghera

07°54′S 134°58′W

Jasvinder Sanghera

Jasvinder Sanghera on being told she was dead in her mother's eyes for refusing a forced marriage

Castaway · 24 March 2013Kirsty Young

George Michael

13°30′S 155°03′W

George Michael

How friends persuaded George Michael not to come out to his parents at 19

Castaway · 30 September 2007Kirsty Young

Romesh Ranganathan

Nick Cave

Dame Helena Morrissey

Jimmy Carr

Steve McQueen

Jasvinder Sanghera

George Michael