The Infinite Dial

... is a Christian rock station, specifically WUFM Columbus, Ohio, flagship of the "Radio U" network.

I spent about 40 minutes with them yesterday afternoon, and if I'd listened to them at my normal office level, none of my colleagues on the third floor would have been able to have a phone conversation. And after two songs with speed/thrash System of a Down-type elements to them, they then ran the promo for the Saturday night show that really rocked.

Now, I'm not a habitual Active Rock listener -- some of whom could possibly tell me that this was nothing on their 1 to 11 scale. And you will hear some less-edgy music on this station that could be Chevelle or Nickelback. But as Active becomes more mainstream and library driven in many places, Radio U stands out. It's been a while since radio stations decided the way to get a 19-year-old's attention was to rock harder, particularly because so few have wanted to get a 19-year-old's attention for a while.

Also standing out, by the way, was a promo soliciting listener contributions which asked, "Doesn't it suck when your favorite music is polluted with commercials?" thus proving, once and for all, that the once-graphic word in question is apparently now barely more profane than saying that something stinks.

Here's WUFM around 3 p.m. yesterday:

The Fold, "Medicine"
Emery, "The Party Song"
Underoath, "Everyone Looks Good From Here"
August Burns Red, "Composure"
Deas Vail, "Anything You Say"
Project 86, "Molotov"
Search The City, "Clocks and Timepieces"

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Every now and then, I caution broadcasters about those breaknotes that sync directly to the "now playing" display on your Website or streaming audio player and often give more information about the internal workings of the station than you might wish listeners to have.

Here's a new one from a very successful station in a top 75 market:

Under the "Artist" field: "Voice Tracker";

Under the "Title" field: "Live Jock."

In other words, there was a live jock on at the time (and it certainly sounded that way), but there were obviously provisions for when there weren't that included letting everybody know about it -- which is a little more oversharing than merely showing listeners that you are playing "Music Image Promo #7."

Have any programmers/Website managers noticed this on their own stations? Is this an easy fix? Or is it one of those onerous things that PDs are aware of, but live with because it's not an easy fix.

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Warren Cosford is a former boss of mine (at WLIR/WDRE Long Island) and a veteran programmer who was at CHUM-FM Toronto in its '70s AOR heyday and through its transition to one of the first Rock ACs (which eventually led to the Hot AC that it is today). There's an interview with him today in the new Canadian radio trade fyimusic.ca which, among other things, has some interesting memories of the early days of FM that might motivate those overseeing HD-2 multicast channels.

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There are a lot of people who just take it for granted that radio is no longer the best way to hear music. And inherent in some of their comments is the notion that radio's "music (of our choosing) + brief personality + commercials" only worked for 45 years because there were no other choices. So why is it then that WCBS-FM New York came back even bigger after the Oldies' format's two-year-hiatus. Didn't listeners realize they were better off somewhere else? We look at the larger implications for radio's future as a music delivery system in this week's Ross On Radio.

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New Diamond Shreddies. Yum!

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I wanted to give Hip-Hop and R&B outlet KXJM (Jammin' 95) Portland, Ore., one more listen before its announced change to all-Sports next week. Jammin' had created a lot of trouble for heritage Top 40 KKRZ (Z100), particularly during that period when many considered Hip-Hop to be the only music that mattered to an 18-year-old. And even as a lame duck, it ended the winter book with a 2.9 share to Z100's 2.8.

Today the station I heard in middays was jockless (teasing that a change was coming Monday, but with no mention of to what) and playing a lot of relatively new music -- a definite difference from the old days when the jocks of a station with an announced format change tended to dig in the crates for their favorite oldies that would never otherwise be heard.

KXJM's change shouldn't be spun into any larger pronouncement on the state of Hip-Hop radio. It wouldn't be entirely surprising to see somebody else show up with its morning show and name/library next week, as happened in Phoenix and (with Top 40) in Indianapolis. Besides, such pronouncements usually only mean that a rebound is imminent. And three hours away, KUBE Seattle -- the station that proved Hip-Hop had a place on Pacific Northwest radio -- remains atop its market.

Here's Jammin' 99.5 today just before 11 a.m. local time:

Baby Bash, "What Is It"
Day26, "Got Me Going"
Ray J., "Sexy Can I"
J. Holiday, "Suffocate"
Topic, "I Gotta Get It"
Alicia Keys, "Like You'll Never See Me Again"
David Banner, "Get Like Me"
V.I.C., "Get Silly"
Rick Ross, "The Boss"
Sean Kingston, "There's Nothin'"

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Congratulations to Kurt Hanson and all the staff at AccuRadio/AccuTunes for winning the People's Voice prize in the radio category at this year's Webby Awards. With online radio at the workplace becoming more and more important, services like AccuRadio are becoming increasingly attractive alternatives for workplace listening. I've given a few talks this year about radio website design and how important it is not only for "decoration" but also to highlight and focus on what is really important to listeners AND increase conversion for advertisers. I'd love to see more Classic Rock websites, for instance, look more like Pandora and less like the blacklight poster of an eagle clutching a snake that we all had next to our Farrah posters. Let's see some commercial radio websites amongst the Webby nominees next year.

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I for one was thrilled to see the tremendous growth in online workplace listening revealed by our latest research from the Arbitron/Edison Internet and Multimedia Study. With the portion of at-work radio listeners who indicate that they most often listen to radio at the workplace over the internet growing from 12% to 20% over the last year, there can be no doubt that whether your station has figured out how to monetize its streaming or not, streaming is now an essential cost of doing business.

All of this means that it is now more urgent than ever to resolve the AFTRA/simulcast problem. The question is no longer "how do I monetize my stream," or "how do I get credit for Internet listening," but rather this--can you afford to lop off 20% of your at-work audience, and lose them to someone else, whether or not you have the details worked out? Let's hope that this finding gives radio even more leverage to force a resolution between AFTRA and agencies--and let's rescue our streams from the morass of PSAs and dead air that are killing our online brands.

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There's a good piece in yesterday's Washington Post by Marc Fisher looking at the state of local AM -- weakened by the departure of All-News powerhouse WTOP and the recent advent of Gospel on FM. One of the most interesting aspects of Fisher's article is the connection between the type of local content that AM was once famous for and the things that people now look for elsewhere on-line.

"The swap shop call-in shows that once filled the midday airwaves on many local stations are the spiritual godfather of Craigslist and other online classified sites. The sports phone-in shows that have long been an AM staple spawned the fan message boards that have proven so popular on the Internet. And although the great American tradition of ranting -- passionate political tirades, righteous religious preaching, get-rich-quick financial schemes -- surely dates back to Colonial times, it was first propelled into a mass, coast-to-coast culture on AM radio, and has found a happy new home on the Web," Fisher writes.

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When Radio IO announced their launch of an Internet radio station based on American Idol, I was certainly intrigued. My family has enjoyed the show together since the first season, and it seems like the best performances from the show combined with the best tracks from their subsequent albums might really make for an interesting online station.

Unfortunately, that's not what Radio IO is programming. Here's their definition:

"In addition to American Idol and its many international versions, RadioIO Idols plays songs recorded by contestants from other top TV talent competitions, such as Pop Idol, Pop Stars and The X Factor (UK); Australia, Germany and Canada's Pop Stars; America's Got Talent, The Next Great American Band, Nashville Star, Rock Star Supernova and more."

While 12 of the 19 songs I listened to during a stretch today were from American Idol, as you can see the other seven were from shows I never watched (Making the Band etc.) and international shows, which I would call "interesting but not worth it".

Other things became apparent during my trial. Some former Idols lost on that show for a reason. Sorry, Jessica Sierra but I really don't want to hear from you again.

The programming could use some genre coding ...look through the list of songs below and you will see a Bucky-Carrie-Brad-Josh-Miranda Country sweep. While I liked that, how many other people would? But amazingly, despite that clump, the whole sound is really genre-jumping, nearly to the point of distraction. To go from John Stevens doing Lounge, to Danity Kane dance, to Bro'Sis Dance, into five Country songs in a row - well it shows that even when you are inside a niche you can still be too broad.

Here's a sample of IO Idols from this morning:

Jordin Sparks, "Young and In Love" (American Idol Season 6)
Clay Aiken, "Invisible" (American Idol Season 2)
John Stevens, "This Love" (American Idol Season 2)
Danity Kane, "Pretty Boy" (Making the Band)
Bro'Sis, "You Better Not Come Home" (German Pop Stars)
Bucky Covington, "Hometown" (American Idol Season 5)
Carrie Underwood, "So Small" (American Idol Season 4)
Brad Cotter, "Blue Collar Nights (Nashville Star Season 2)
Josh Gracin, "Telluride" (American Idol Season 2)
Miranda Lambert, "Famous in a Small Town" (Nashville Star Season 1)
Brooke White, "You Must Love Me" (American Idol Season 7)
Will Young, "Don't Let Me Down" (Pop Idol UK)
American Idol Season 4 Finalists, "He Ain't Heavy He's My Brother"
Darius, "I'm Not Buying" (Pop Idol UK)
Taylor Hicks, "Levon/Trouble" (American Idol Season 5)
Jessica Sierra, "Every Reason" (American Idol Season 4)
Michael Johns, "Light My Fire" (American Idol Season 7)
Ruben Studdard, "After the Candles Burn (American Idol Season 2)
Leona Lewis, "Yesterday" (X Factor UK)

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As long as we're on the subject of ampradio.com and a national younger-skewed music channel, it's worth a mention of Busradio.com, the Boston-based service that offers three channels of audio for school buses and is now streaming what appears to be the oldest-targeted of the three versions online. While parts of the station sounded voice-tracked, there was a real afternoon drive team handling such topics as letting your best friend tag along on a date. There's also the "win a free concert for your school" promotion (with Boys Like Girls, in this case). In other words, it's much more of a "real" radio station than the great bulk of what I'm uncovering on the Web or HD-2 multicast channels.

Here's BusRadio.com just before 4 p.m. ET yesterday:

Jesse McCartney, "Leavin'"
Sum 41, "With Me"
Lloyd, "You"
Taylor Swift, "Our Song"
Jordin Sparks & Chris Brown, "No Air"
Colbie Caillat, "Bubbly"
Teyana Taylor, "Google Me"
Panic at the Disco, "Nine in the Afternoon"
Ciara, "1, 2 Step"
Natasha Bedingfield, "These Words"
Creed, "One Last Breath"
Mario, "Crying Out For Me"
Fall Out Boy & John Mayer, "Beat It"
Timbaland & Onerepublic, "Apologize"
Sara Bareilles, "Love Song"

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In our most recent research on podcasting, our data showed a significant rise in audio podcast consumption, from 13% of Americans 12+ last year to 18% this year. The rise in video podcast consumption was even more dramatic, rising from 11% to 16%. Finally, if one examines podcast consumption only within the past month, video nearly catches audio, trailing only by one percentage point (9% to 8%.)

Certainly, anything that even smells like video has shown hockey-stick growth on the Internet over the past 18 months. I was asked on an analyst call yesterday if I thought that video would eventually overtake audio in terms of downloadable media consumption. Maybe it will, and maybe it won't--but even if video surpasses audio I don't expect that gap to be large. Content producers may be in love with the power of video, but as podcasting and downloadable media continue to become more and more viable as advertising vehicles, a lot will depend on just who an advertiser is trying to reach.

For example, if Disney is trying to reach my family (me, wife, son, dog) to convince us that a Disney vacation would be just the ticket to escape from our oppressive jobs for a while, where and how might they reach us? If they want to dangle images of Mickey in front of Sam, poolside lounging for Miriam and, uh, "It's A Small World" for me, their best bet is to catch us when we are all together--after dinner, around (if not in front of) the TV. For that messaging, video makes a ton of sense. However, if an investment bank or software company wants to get to me through some kind of downloadable media, their best bet is to grab me alone in the early morning--in the car or at the gym--and that begs for audio.

One of the great opportunities for podcasts is to create "appointment media," just as broadcasters have been doing for years. The fact that podcasts can be consumed any old time can mean that they aren't consumed at all if they lack priority or relevance. Associating a podcast with an activity, for instance, trains listeners how and when to use the podcast. Maybe it isn't "9-2-5" like a broadcast radio promotion, but maybe it's listening to an investment show whenever you are on the treadmill, or a lawn care show whenever you are outside gardening. Audio has advantages in this over video as a true companion medium, and while audio podcasts may lack some of the shared experience of broadcast media, there is an intimacy, engagement and connection with podcasts that few media can top. As long as audio podcast producers can tap into that intimacy and also become more associated and relevant with various lifestyles and activities, there will always be room between the earbuds for audio podcasts.

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Earlier this week I heard one of New York's most prominent morning shows promote the fact that they had a live interview with Patrick Dempsey coming up 'in a couple of hours' at 9:30 that morning.

Honestly, I didn't really care to hear that interview. But I've had Podcasting on my mind lately, especially since we debuted our most recent report on Podcasting (available here). So I went to that station's Web site later that day out of curiosity to see if I could download that interview as a Podcast.

Of course, the answer is no.

So I kept digging on the Web sites of major New York radio stations. At best, what is available today is a mixed bag. Power 105 seems to regularly update its site with a feature or two from that morning's Ed Lover show. Hot 97 periodically posts from Miss Jones's show, and allows you to subscribe to her Juicy Juice feature - but oddly one cannot listen to it on demand from the site. Z100 does an admirable job of posting 'What we talked about today' on their site, but frustratingly doesn't seem to let you listen to 'What they talked about." They do post the listing of birthdays that they announce on the air as a daily podcast. They also, to their credit, post their highly-discussed 'Phone Taps' for download, although it is not clear from the site which day they are from.

The rest of the stations, and I checked the site of every major commercial station, either has a mish-mash of old material or, more likely, nothing.

Of course, down at the non-commercial end of the dial, every single story from today's "Morning Edition" from NPR is immediately available, as it is every day. If you want to hear today's Chris Moyles show on BBC's Radio 1, it's there immediately as a stream, including a Web page showing the 'running order' so you can easily find the place on the stream you are looking for.

And then, this morning I was listening to a Philadelphia morning show, and they were promoting their own interview with a high-profile guest coming up Friday at 9:30am. "Don't worry," they assured their audience, "we will repeat it Monday in the 7 o'clock hour so you can listen if you aren't available at 9:30." And while I admire this approach, and would recommend it myself, the fact that they didn't add "and it will be available as a podcast on our site" just serves to make radio seem so 1994.

I say this without hesitation - we simply have to start putting all our non-musical material up on our sites immediately, and the entire morning show should be available as a stream immediately after the broadcast. We are in an on-demand world, and with TiVo and YouTube our consumers are trained to be able to find content when and where they want it. Bear in mind these Podcasts can be a revenue-generator if you put a pre-roll spot in front of them. But we have to start picking up those people who missed listening to things the first time around, or want to hear it again, or are just fans of our shows.

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There's a story posted yesterday on MSNBC.com that an online study on "American Idol" is being undertaken in this season of declining ratings, including at least two perceptual questions about host Ryan Seacrest. From this, the story concludes that, in the words of its headline, "Seacrest's 'Idol' future may not be so secure" and speculates that Seacrest's multi-media ubiquity might finally be catching up with him.

Before you start worrying too much about Ryan though, consider that the producers of "Idol," if they're smart (and that's pretty well-established) have probably done perceptual research on the show since the beginning. In those studies, they've probably asked the same questions about Seacrest every year, in the same way that a radio station perceptual would typically ask about the morning show. That doesn't mean that every element of the show isn't under scrutiny this year, or that this study wouldn't resurface at contract time. But it does mean that to look at the inclusion of any one item is to look at it out of context.

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When I first heard Clear Channel's KOLZ (Kolt Country) Cheyenne, Wyo., in the late '90s, it was a very different sounding station: more traditional (as you'd expect, given the market), and playing some interesting older library titles at a point when the "hits and legends" approach wasn't as widespread. It was, in short, a market leader that sounded like the market. KOLZ didn't stream its signal at the time, so I hadn't heard them since. But I found them streaming again this morning and am happy to report that Tuesday at the station is double-play "Chris LeDoux'sday," something that couldn't possibly work in many other markets. "Whatcha Gonna Do With A Cowboy," LeDoux's big duet with Garth Brooks was indeed one of the songs, but so was "Call of the Wild," which I didn't know. They're worth hearing here.

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