I found out this morning why I’ve been having trouble waking up lately. I managed to get enough sleep and get up early this morning and I was sitting out in my living room when I heard my regular alarm clock start to cough and sputter some kind of mix between the buzzer and the radio that was barely audible.

Seems that my alarm clock is slightly broken - the switch for the buzzer/radio option was right in the middle causing it to be completely ineffective. bah!