The pandemic, the political chaos, the protests, wild weather, and here, closer to home, wildfires — the summer of 2020 is nothing like any summer. Even our beloved “Karl the fog” seems to be in quarantine. And that is why we need something to remind us of better times — when life was a little less complicated. And the Internet was a place of hope and future glory.
Enter Poolside.fm.
It is an online radio station. It is a creation of founder Marty Bell, who lives somewhere in Scotland. And that also explains why he probably needed to create the sunniest place on the Internet. This website is so retro that even I am starting to feel young again.
It has been around since 2014, but it was redesigned last year and relaunched in July 2019. There is a new mac desktop app in the works as well. The website is reminiscent of the classic MacOS desktop and has many features — video clips, music tapes, and even chat. That is right, old school chat, and none of this Slack malarky. If you miss classic MTV, there is Poolside TV. And obviously, there is music to stream all the time.
Did I say that it functions like an old Mac desktop as well — a reminder of times when Apple put its customers and not shareholders first.
“The audio and video streams are curated to inject a healthy dose of serotonin into your brain.” the site states as its motto. To that, I say, amen! For the past month, I have been streaming Poolside mixtapes via AirPlay to my Apple HomePod. Soundcloud hosts the music streams, but the website is what makes the Poolside.fm funtastic.
Tune in, zone out!