The Infinite Dial

Since its launch in late 2004, iconoclastic Classic Hits (iconoclassic hits?) station WKLU Indianapolis has become an interesting mix with elements of both '70s deep cut progressive rock radio and '70s top 40. That always made me wonder what owner Russ Oasis would do with an Oldies station (or, for that matter, Top 40). After all, if somebody spikes "Legend Of A Mind" by the Moody Blues on a Classic Hits station, what would they play on their Oldies outlet?

The answer is now available on "KLU-HD-2 Gold," one of the two new multicast stations streaming, along with WKLU, at www.klu.net/home.php. (The other station is "KLU-HD-3, the Club," Oasis' version of Jammin' Oldies.) Although it's positioned as Oldies, KLU-2 is less a traditional station than a poppier mirror image of WKLU, in terms of era. It's mostly '70s, but with some odd '60s spikes as well. (As I write, it's playing the Mamas & the Papas rarely heard 'Twelve Thirty.'")

KLU-2 is up to 1,300 titles so far and Oasis, emphasizing that the station is still a work in progress, says there are another 500 titles on the way. There's also a jingle package--the package heard on the Drake Solid Gold stations of the early '70--which, by itself, is a pretty formidable expenditure for a multicast station. And there's some punchy imaging, including:

* Not AM, not FM, but HD . . . and it's free;
* In a house . . . in a car . . . In A Gadda-Di-Vida;
* When Jack replaced Gold, that was the final straw. We're now returning your music to its rightful owners, you!"
(That line is a reference to the former WGLD, now "Jack FM" WJJK.)

Here's a recent hour of WKLU 2

Creedence Clearwater Revival, "Fortunate Son"
Guess Who, "Albert Flasher"
Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds, "Falling In Love"
Average White Band, "Pick Up The Pieces"
Al Green, "Tired Of Being Alone"
Billy Preston, "Nothing From Nothing"
Grass Roots, "I'd Wait A Million Years"
Box Tops, "Cry Like A Baby"
Crosby Stills & Nash, "Just A Song Before I Go"
Stevie Wonder, "Sir Duke"
Loggins & Messina, "Your Mama Don't Dance"
Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell, "You're All I Need To Get By"
Lovin' Spoonful, "Summer In The City"
Dave Clark Five, "Bits And Pieces"
Elton John, "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road"
Albert Hammond, "It Never Rains In Southern California"
Mamas & the Papas, "Twelve Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming To The Canyon)"
Stevie Wonder, "Fingertips, Part II"
Doobie Brothers, "Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me A Little While)"