Brisbanes Best Mix 97.3fm

This one came up in the 80's genre again, and I have to admit that I choose it based upon a little twinge of nostalgia for the the 2 months I spent in the Queensland city of Brisbane.

The first time I listened to this station was a bit like listening to a 'Best of the 80's soft rock' compilation, and I loved every minute of it. The Australians to seem to like a bit of the rock and this station delivers it. Over time there is a bit more of a balance in the tracks but still heavily 80's orientated. The closest to current music I heard was an interview with James Blunt, based on the fact he was touring out there. I'd add one small note on this station, much as I liked it, there's only so much classic 80's a person can take. I can't see this station being one for day after day listening, there's GOT to be a lot of repeats (I've not heard it yet, but they've got to play Khe Sanh at least once a day surely...)

97.3fm is a local commercial radio station and as such has all the normal features such as news, DJ's, traffic etc. This in itself is quite an oddity, as I was getting ready for my commute to work I was listening to problems on the roads in Brisbane... One thing I haven't noticed is the adverts, maybe I'm just not tuned in to them like the UK ones, but if they're there they blend into the general DJ chatter. Again it could be the change from the norm, but I quite liked the Australian accent to the voices and the list of unusual place names.

The stream is pretty low quality, but one advantage to this is very few drops in the connection,in fact I can't recall one pause while it rebuffers the stream.

The 97.3fm website is a fairly typical commercial station site but really focuses on the lifestyle of it's listener rather than its choosen music. The site doesn't really add anything to the listening experience, unlike something like the UK's XFM station which realy trys to dig behind the music. But there are plenty of links to listen to the station, request songs and access podcasts /mp3's of the stations popular shows, all paid for by a number of banner adverts across the site.

A hard one to rate, I really enjoy the music they play but I can see it getting tired all too quickly (like a great song overplayed until it becomes irritating). All the same, I give this a TUNE-IN rating.

Xfm

Now a series of stations, Xfm started out in London playing new alternative music. Over the years, to my ears the station has either played more mainstream music or that their style of music has become the mainstream. I'd sum up their music as alternative or indie. There's no pop, although you'll find plenty of their playlist in the charts. Looking at the playlist as I write this I see the likes of Biffy Clyro and Hard-Fi as well as some classic indie from the likes of REM.

Their online provision comes with its own player if your using your PC and a hi and low bandwidth version if you're using a wifi radio. This is a standard radio station with DJ's, news reports, the weather and most importantly ad breaks. This has a couple of effects, firstly it really eats into the music time and secondly as they are a commercial station they need to please their sponsors. To my mind this does lead them at times to a fairly repetitive playlist, often playing the latest popular alternative songs on a daily frequency. Having said that they do make a better effort than most with a number of features seeking out new music makers. They also sponsor a series of gigs showing their commitment to live music.

Strangely enough for a major station (compared to some of the internet only ones) I do have problems with connections to Xfm. Generally it's just a refusal to connect rather than the station dropping, but with all the choice out there I don't give a station a second chance in that sitting.

Their site is pretty detailed with a decent tracklisting showing what's been played, a schedule informing you about the next DJ and their features and a host of information about current music news.

Xfm have recently introduced mi-xfm a personalised radio station. Similar in essence to Last.fm, it allows you to pick an Xfm sub genre and then start to rate tracks allowing it to learn your taste. A great idea for the PC (although not as wide a choice as last.fm) the concept doesn't click at all with wifi radios.

Let down overall by it's unavoidably repetitive nature Xfm still scores a TURN-ON rating and is my favourite in-car station.