Ballroom Glitz

Have you ever started something and almost immediately think why have I done this? Tuning in to Ballroom Glitz was a little like this. It started with good intentions, I’ve watched that Aussie classic Strictly Ballroom, I’ve watched several series of the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing, the station will be a radio version of these surely?

Sadly no, as I enjoyed my other forays into this activity. Ballroom Glitz describes itself as “a variety radio show” and a “celebration of Ballroom and the Music of Dance”. I’m just not convinced it does it very well, or perhaps ballroom just isn’t meant for the radio?

The music was a bit of an eclectic mix, a little bit of disco, some old time swing, a little latin here or there. I’ll be honest, on paper this sounds pretty good to me, a hotch potch of different styles means I don’t have time to get bored, but somehow it just doesn’t gel. The disco isn’t that good and the mix doesn’t seem to flow, it’s as if someone’s selected the appropriate genre’s, then hit the random button. Individual tracks of interest pop up, but appear in a sea of mediocrity, rather diluting the effect.

So, the music is more miss than hit, what about the rest the technical side? Starting with the good, the Wi-Fi connection is strong, with very few ‘buffering’ pauses. The quality of the music does seem to differ, but that may be due to the age / availability of some of the older tracks. There is reasonably high level of self promotion, bordering on the intrusive at times, but the station does have active DJ’s to support, so maybe they need the extra cash? Now to the bad… To listen via your PC you have to sign up to their site. I don’t like this for places like Live365, but at least they are a collection of stations.

This idea really annoys me, not just because it inconvenienced me, I had to go via reciva’s site, but because it could really damage internet radio if everybody started to do it… I don’t really get it either, why make it harder for listeners to enjoy your station? I’m sure they’d say it was about keeping in touch with there listeners, but it feels more like a data gathering exercise.

So anyway, the bottom line… Ballroom Glitz has annoyed me on at least 2 fronts and we the listeners should actively discourage the ‘sign up to listen’ crowd.. For these reasons I give it a dismal DROP-IT rating. I liked the musical concept though, is there any other station that does it better?