Clare FM

Ok, I admit it I generally choose which stations to review based on whatever whim takes me as I spin my little Pico's dial. This one was entirely personal, I had an feeling it would be a local radio station in County Clare, Ireland, but it's also the name of my wife (obviously without the FM bit...).

So station choosen, how did Clare FM get on? I had high hopes after my last foray into commercial territory with Brisbane's Best Mix getting my highest rating. I'll keep this short and sweet, Clare FM is everything Brisbane wasn't, and most definitely not in a good way.

Skipping quickly over the music, which was for me, an overly light take on the current pop songs and some of the eightes most vacuous hits, nothing different from any of your local stations and certainly nothing to make it stand out against the thousands of other choices on the dial. The biggest issue for me was the almost claustrophobic localness of the DJ's banter, it was like a radio version of The Framley Examiner, except without the satire. I tried to pinpoint why the Brisbane station felt exotic and the Clare station felt provincial and I couldn't. So it could just be too close to home...

Connection from the wifi radio was good, but the PC seemed to pick up a tinny vibe every time I tuned in. Nothing too serious but noticable if you wanted to tune in on a permenant basis. The Clare FM website needs some toning down colour wise, but is a servicable if basic front end for a small commercial station giving you a way to access the station, a basic schedule and some attempt to provide additional content.

I'm pulling back from giving Clare FM the bottom rating on the basis that they're no worse (although no better) than dozens of local commercial stations out there. They have however pushed me away from reviewing commercial stations, I think there's too many good internet only stations out there that need my attention... So back to the rating, Clare FM gets a DROP-OUT rating, please only listen if a.) you live in County Clare or b.) you lived their and need a nostalgia fix.

Houndogradio.com

This stations a bit of an oddity in that in ONLY seems to be available on wifi radio's. Searching for the station on google or going straight to the station name, houndogradio.com takes you to a placeholder site. No links to the station, no links to much at all...

But what about the station on wifi radio? It came up under the genre 'Bluegrass', but to my untrained ears, it definitely has a heavy country influence in it's playlists. I better start off by saying that country and western music isn't my normal genre, I don't especially dislike it, but other than the odd Johnny Cash CD I'm not a big listener. Having said that I really enjoyed the music on this station, I really enjoyed the mix of tracks played. The songs were interesting and that little bit different from my normal tastes while being accessible enough not to put me off. I didn't recognise even one artist or track, alhough that's probably no bad thing given my main knowledge of C&W finished at Shania Twain and that fella who had an achy breaky heart. Overall the music was a nice gentle introduction to a new genre.

Connection to the station via wifi radio was simple and relatively problem free. The station dropped every now and then, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Station jingles were relatively short and well intergrated with the music really not interrupting the flow of the station.


All this leaves us it the mystery of the missing website, a shame really as the station should be one to try out, but without a front end on the web I feel they're really missing out on most of their audience.

The disappointing lack of a front end website is just outweighed by the excellent blend of music to give houndogradio.com a TURN-ON rating.