The Infinite Dial

You'd be forgiven for thinking that I didn't listen to much except WCBS-FM this week, but here are a few other interesting things that rate a mention (and perhaps a listen):

* CKJN (Jayne FM) Haldimand County, Ontario, -- The first affiliate of the Jones Radio Networks-distributed "variety hits for women" format "Jayne FM" can't be called typical. The hours I heard were 65% Canadian, and older than the American mix will likely be. But you can now hear VO veteran/creator Robin Marshall's imaging in action--which will give you an idea of what the format is supposed to sound like presentationally. You can also hear the format demo and more of the female-lifestyle imaging here.

* WRCR Rockland County, N.Y. -- You don't hear a lot of full-service AMs that play music these days. I came across this one while driving on the fringes of their listening area this weekend, but they stream as well. Full-service AC with a surprisingly Jack-like feel musically (e.g., everything from War and INXS to Len/"Steal My Sunshine" and Shakira). Also managed to tune them in when their afternoon jock announced that she had gotten married this weekend and played "White Wedding."

* WCBS-HD-2 (Jack-FM)--Okay, this probably doesn't count as much of a departure from WCBS-FM as a topic, but the Jack-FM that moved to the Internet/HD-2 multicast feed still sounds, at this writing, a lot like the one that left the HD-1 frequency last Thursday. WCBS-FM's first hour has been well-documented, but theirs was:

Beatles, "Revolution"
A3, "Woke Up This Morning" (in keeping with the Sopranos theme of the station's sign-off)
Tom Petty & Heartbreakers, "The Waiting"
Elton John, "Crocodile Rock"
Talking Heads, "And She Was"
Third Eye Blind, "Jumper"
Queen, "Another One Bites The Dust"
Styx, "Fooling Yourself (Angry Young Man)"
Depeche Mode, "Strangelove"
Gnarls Barkley, "Crazy"
Billy Squier, "Everybody Wants You"
Loverboy, "Working For The Weekend"
Bangles, "Walk Like An Egyptian"

* KFRC San Francisco -- I turned them in to hear Dave Sholin back in action in mornings, but was also intrigued by this drop at the end of a stopset "Thanks for being patient. Your reward is more Classic Hits on 106.9 KFRC." You might read that as positioning commercials as something to be endured. But knowing that most listeners still regard commercials as a fair trade-off for music, saying "thank you" is a nice (and surprisingly novel) idea.