Get your signal from Signal One (Signal 1)

Member Name: jo1976

Product:	Signal 1
Date:	23/04/09 (298 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great mix of current and older tracks, interesting DJ chat

Disadvantages: Local to Staffordshire and Cheshire

I never listen to the radio at home but always have to have some music on in the car, particularly during my forty-five minute commute to and from work in Stoke on Trent. I've always tended to 'channel hop' - switching from station to station whenever a song I don't like comes on or when the DJ's chat starts to annoy me. The other day, I realised I haven't needed to adjust my station for weeks and my dial has remained tuned into Signal Radio. This shows two things, that they've been playing the songs I like to hear and that the chat is actually quite enjoyable!

Signal Radio (or Signal One, to give it the official title, as they introduced a sister radio station called Signal Two) can be picked up within North Staffordshire and South Cheshire and is commercial radio, rather than the local BBC alternative which is Radio Stoke.

On my drive into work I listen to the Breakfast show, presented by Perry and Louise, a couple who have such a great rapport and brilliant chemistry between them that they are really easy to listen to. I can't stand listening to most DJ's waffling on first thing in the mornings, which is why I don't listen to Radio One any more as Chris Moyles' relentless self-obsessed drivel drives me up the wall! Perry and Louise manage to find just the right balance between providing friendly, funny banter as well as talking about topical issues without taking away from the music, which I think should be the main focus of a music station, after all.

The music played in the mornings is a great mix of current chart pop stuff (The Killers, Lilly Allen, Take That etc) alongside classic tracks from the eighties, nineties and noughties. They always seem to play great tunes that I haven't heard for ages. Every time a great classic track comes on the radio I turn the volume up a little bit and, by the time I've actually got to work, my ears are nearly bleeding as I've got the radio turned up so loud. This morning, I was singing along to 'Starlight' which is one I haven't heard for ages (I forget who sings it) and I noticed the driver of another car was also singing along to the same song! They tend to play a few blasts from the past - we had Blondie, Spandau Ballet and Crowded House the other day. I can honestly say that I haven't had to sit through any song that I haven't enjoyed listening to for weeks.

The other features that I enjoy are a quiz called 'Little Kidders' where they play recordings of children giving cryptic clues to a person or object and people have to phone in and guess the right answer. Only one clue and one answer are given each day, so the same problem can drag on for weeks and weeks without anybody getting the answer right. This can get a bit annoying when I've managed to guess the right answer after the first couple of clues but, usually, I have no idea until about four or five little clues are given as they can be so bizarre and cryptic! They don't remind listeners about which answers have already been given by other people so sometimes you find the same answer being suggested day after day. The only silly thing about this quiz is that the number of prizes goes up each day, where logically you'd expect the number of prizes to start high and go down according to the number of clues given out. Never mind - it's only a bit of fun, I suppose, and I never bother to phone up and answer myself.

The only feature of the morning show that I don't enjoy is the 'Cool Ride to School' where a group of local kids are given a free ride to school one day in a limo. Nice idea and great for the kids involved but I just don't think that it really works as a feature on a radio show!

I don't tend to catch much radio during the rest of the day although they do promise a 'no repeat 9-5' so you never have to listen to the same song twice in one day. Again, a refreshing alternative to national radio stations which tend to plug the same chart songs over and over again!

My commute on the way back home is to the accompaniment of the 'drivetime' slot which, again, plays a really nice balance between current chart records and popular classics. The local news is really useful as are the regular traffic updates, which give me some idea of ways home to avoid and keeps me informed as to why I'm stuck in yet another traffic jam! Despite being a commercial radio station, the obligatory adverts aren't intrusive at all and have never been annoying enough to make me want to change radio stations.

If you ever find yourself driving through North Staffordshire or South Cheshire, I'd recommend turning your dial to 102.6FM and listening to some decent music and pleasant banter.

Summary: Local radio at its best!