The all-seeing i
When he first arrived in the Northwest to attend college last year, Josh Clarke had no aspirations of becoming a radio DJ. Pretty soon, though, he had caught the bug in a serious way.
Olaf Tyaransen, 19 May 2008
“I started first year arts with no real plan except to see what interested me at college,” the 19-year-old explains. “I joined loads of societies and just gave everything a lash. But I started working with college radio and I really liked it.
“And then I heard about the talent search that i-RADIO was doing and I said I’d go, give it a try and get some interview experience. A few hundred people went for it, but I ended up getting through. I basically said that I love music and that was it – they offered me a show.”
Launched last February by the legendary Dan Healy, i-RADIO (or i102-104 as it’s better known) broadcasts to the entire Northwest. Although it’s most renowned presenters are undoubtedly Tommy Tiernan and Hector, Clarke’s i-Test show has proved to be just as big a hit.
“i-Test goes out on Sundays from 6 from 9,” he explains, “and I’ve been given free reign to play whatever I want. I haven’t been questioned since I started, so I can be as eclectic as I want.
We don’t have the JNLR figures yet, but judging from the texts and the emails we receive it’s going down really well. We’re broadcasting to the whole Northwest – Connacht, Clare, Mayo, Sligo and Donegal. You can even pick it up in Derry and North Kerry, so there’s a big audience. It’s a major deal.”
Clarke spends hours each week scouring the net for the newest, hippest tunes to play.
“Most of the stuff comes straight off the net – MySpace sites and things like that. You have to do it that way to keep ahead of everybody else. People don’t really have time to go looking for new music so my show is about doing it for them.”
So what kind of stuff is he playing?
“It’s trying to give people as much scope into what’s new as possible. We play your regular indie stuff, electro, hip-hop, whatever. We try and feature a good bit of Irish stuff, but if it’s not good it doesn’t get played. A lot of artists bitch that Irish music doesn’t get played on Irish radio, but effectively if it’s good enough, it’ll get played.
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