Spreading the toe-tapping joy

A couple of new developments we wanted to share with longtime members of the Cladrite Community:

If you’re one of those cutting-edge, early-adapting, beta-testing types who have gained early access to Google+, you can follow Cladrite Radio there. Just do a search on “Cladrite” when you’re logged in at Google+ or follow this link to find us. We’re only now up and running, but in the coming days and weeks, you’ll find the sort of updates and info there that we’ve long shared on Facebook (where we’ll continue to post as well—we’re not inclined to choose sides in the social media wars).

You can also join in the fun in the Cladrite Room at Turntable.fm, which, like Google+, is still in beta, but not so hard to gain access to (all you need is a Facebook friend who’s a member). Turntable.fm is a fun music streaming site that allows up to five people at a time to share DJ duties. So not only can you pop over and listen to the sort of toe-tapping tunes you’re used to hearing on Cladrite Radio, you can contribute to the mix by taking over the DJ duties and playing songs you’d like others to hear, either chosen from Turntable.fm’s impressively extensive selection or uploaded from your own collection.

As you might expect, we do ask that you limit the tracks you play to ones recorded in the 1920s, ’30s, and ’40s, but otherwise, we’re open to hearing whatever you choose to share.

The Cladrite Room at Turntable.fm is private for now, but we don’t mind you sharing the URL with like-minded pals. We just want to make sure that the music played there is from the Cladrite Era. And while we’re not there manning the turntable 24/7—we do have to sleep sometime—you’ll find we’re there much of the time, and we do hope you’ll join us.

Cladrite Radio, everywhere you go!

Did you know you can take the toe-tappin’ tunes of Cladrite Radio with you anywhere you go, and it won’t cost you a cent?

It’s true. As many of you know, we stream our music to you via the services of Live365.com, which offers free apps for all the popular mobile platforms—iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Symbian OS.

You don’t have to miss a minute of the memorable music of the 1920s, ’30s, ’40s and ’50s you’ve come to expect from Cladrite Radio. And you’ll get a five-day VIP membership free trial, to boot, so you can dip your toe into the cooling waters of ad-free listening to see if it suits you.

Check out the mobile devices page at Live365.com for more info.

Improving the signal-to-noise ratio

We don’t mention it very often, but you may have found, if you’re a regular listener of Cladrite Radio (and surely you are), that the commercials can become awfully intrusive at times.

We sympathize, believe you us. Our stream is hosted by Live365.com, which does a fine job, all in all. But they do tend to throw plenty of ads into the mix, there’s no denying it. They’ve got to pay their bills, after all.

What to do about it?

Consider signing on for a Live365.com Preferred Listener VIP membership. It costs as little as $5.95, and you can finally enjoy Cladrite Radio’s memorable musical melange with suffering through advertisements.

What’s more, Cladrite Radio receives a percentage of your membership fee, which helps us keep the toe-tapping tunes of the 1920s, ’30s, and ’40s flowing freely to you, our listeners.

There’s even a free-trial period, for the skeptics among us.

So consider becoming a V.I.P. member; you’ll be doing yourself—and your pals at Cladrite Radio—a favor.

Follow the link above or click on the ever-present icon in the lefthand column. And thanks!

The wheels of progress continue to turn

We’re still a work in progress here at Cladrite Radio, and we continue to work to offer the optimal music experience to our listeners. We’ve made a change today that we hope you’ll agree is an improvement.

As longtime listeners have no doubt noticed, we use the services of Live365.com to host and stream our music. For some months, we’ve simply linked to our page on the Live365 site from the picture that was in the upper left corner of our own site. That worked fine, but we like the idea of keeping you here at our own site (we’re selfish that way), so we’re now trying out an embedded Live365 player.

The ideal is to have all listeners use a pop-up player, since that allows them to explore our site without an interruption in the music. So, if you’re a Live365 VIP listener at Live365 (a paid member, in other words, which we recommend because you get to listen virtually ad-free), you can just click the pop-up icon on the upper right corner of the player on the upper left. It looks like the one on the right.

If you click the Play button instead, you won’t get a pop-up window; the music will play directly from the embedded player, and if you begin to explore the rest of the site, the music will be interrupted. So clicking the pop-up icon is definitely the way to go for VIP members.

You non-VIP listeners (that’s Live365′s designation, by the way — you’re all very important people to us) won’t see the icon pictured above, but you’ll get a pop-up window any time you click the player, so it’s a not a concern for you — the music will keep streaming as long as you keep don’t close that pop-up window. But if, by chance, you’re interested in checking out a VIP membership, just follow the “Support This Broadcast” link in the lefthand column — not only will you enjoy ad-free listening upon signing up for a membership, but we’ll get a cut of the fee, which helps us stay in operation.

Please let us know how you feel about the pop-up players. If you prefer our old set-up, in which you were sent to the Live365 site to access the music, by all means, let us know; we just want you (well, the majority of you) to be happy. And you can always go directly to our page at Live365.com to listen, if you prefer.

But we think you’ll find this new arrangement pretty swell. Either way, you’ll be enjoying the same memorable music you’ve come to expect from us, and that’s the most important thing.

It's now or never

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