“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.
“Last weekend I included a lot of MGMT, Warlords Of Pez, The Ting Tings, Messiah J & The Expert, Infomatics, Japanese Popstars, Blood Red Shoes – so it’s a big mix of everything, really.”
He says he’s careful not to allow his own personal tastes to dominate: “It’s not always what I personally like, but I try and play stuff that I think people will find interesting. There’s so much boring fucking music on Irish radio so anything interesting at all gets played.
“Not as a policy but if Bruce Springsteen or REM come out with a new album, I’m probably not going to play it. They’re both really good, but those guys are big already. I’d rather give new guys the chance. So I’ve got three hours on a Sunday night to introduce people to bands they may not have heard of. It’d be a shame to waste it playing the same stuff they’ll hear elsewhere.”
While he still has no fixed ambitions (“I’m young and there’s still loads of time!”), Clarke has deferred his second year of college at NUIG to concentrate on his burgeoning radio career.
“Yeah, I’ve finished up in college for the moment,” he shrugs. “With this whole radio thing starting up, college was wrecking my head. To be honest, I was so excited about this that I couldn’t get my head around having an essay on Hamlet in for Monday morning. Probably if I was more organised I could’ve handled it, but I’m not that type of person. So I decided to pack it in for a year and see how the radio thing goes.”