The Infinite Dial

South Florida radio has always sounded different--and not in a way that outsiders always appreciate. It's always had its own music. (Edison's Larry Rosin remembers hearing Miami Sound Machine's "Conga" at No. 1 on Y100's 1985 year-end countdown, just as it was starting to get played anywhere else.) It's always been a market of less-produced stations with jocks that were offhand-sounding, not "boss." That's the norm now, but Miami was 15 years ahead of the rest of the world on this one.

Laid back or not, Miami/Ft. Lauderdale is still an exciting place to step off the plane and turn on the radio. Only New Orleans edges it out for the "sense of place" that the radio conveys, but South Florida offers more dial choices.

Some of the things we like about South Florida radio:

* The revitalization over the last year of Beasley's heritage Rhythmic WPOW (Power 96)--one of the format's starter stations for music-- and Clear Channel's Top 40 WHYI (Y100). It's also been nice to hear at least a little dance music creep back on to both stations after several years' exile in the market. (Power 96 was doing a giveaway where listeners had to know the lyrics to Enur's "Calabria" on Tuesday afternoon.)

* The ongoing representation of local music on both Power 96 and Cox's WEDR--always one of the best Mainstream Urban outlets in the format. WEDR boasts strong talent in all dayparts ("Big Lip Bandit," Shelby Rushin, Lorenzo "Ice-Tea" Thomas, and recent chartmaker DJ Khaled co-hosting nights with K-Foxx) and an sister, WHQT (Hot 105) that was one of the first stations to prove that Urban AC could be a market leader.

* The wide variety of Spanish-language choice, including a Spanish-language News/Talk station, WAQI (Radio Mambi) in the Top 3 and SBS' pioneering Spanish-language Oldies WCMQ (Clasica 92), which also plays unusual English-language disco.

* The all-female air staff (at least until you get to syndicated overnighter John Tesh) on LFG's AC WLYF (101.5 Lite FM), one of the few Mainstream ACs that hasn't ceded the soft R&B of the '70s and '80s to its Smooth Jazz rival, WLVE (Love 94). And unlike most markets, there's a tight AC battle with a very different rival, Cox's more '80s pop flavored WFLC, which itself has a two-woman morning show.

* A CHR-flavored Country station, Beasley's WKIS (Kiss 99.9), that has ridden out the ups-and-downs of the format in a "non-Country" market.

What else is here: Classical just came back to FM on WKCP. There is Classic Rock (WBGG) led by morning hosts Paul Castronovo & Young Ron Brewer, Active Rock (WHDR), an Urban AC battle between Hot 105 and WMIB), a heritage Oldies station in WMXJ (Magic 102.7), which only began to move its era window into the early '70s relatively recently.

On the Latin side, there's an AC battle between Univision's powerhouse WAMR (Radio Amor), SBS's WRMA (Romance FM), and now Clear Channel's WMGE (Mega 94.9), and tropical rivals WRTO (La Kalle) and WXDJ (El Zol), now the station playing the most reggaeton following Mega's change.

What's not here? No alternative rock. No Hot AC, although Modern AC WRMF West Palm Beach, Fla., qualifies for a mention since it does show in the Miami book. (Much of West Palm radio does reach large parts of the market.) There is, surprisingly, no Rhythmic AC or Jammin' Oldies station playing the music that Miami helped make famous.

Like New Orleans, this is also a market with an increasing number of syndicated morning shows (Tom Joyner, Steve Harvey, Elvis Duran, Ramsey Lewis, Michael Baisden) as the veterans move to other dayparts, but the local honor roll still includes WAMR's Betty Pino and "Desayuno Musical" morning host Javier Romero, WPOW's DJ Laz & the Morning Pimp Show (in one of the few markets where mornings could be so named), WMXJ's Bruce Kelly, controversial WQAM veteran Neil Rogers, WHQT's James T, and N/T WIOD's Footy.

And the countdown so far:

10 - Louisville
9 - Salt Lake City
8 - Austin, Texas
7 - Washington
6 - Los Angeles
5 - New Orleans
4 - Miami/Ft. Lauderdale