The Infinite Dial

We've long felt that HD Radio -- whatever its challenges -- would be better off with national brands instead of a suite of ill-tended brand extensions. So it's worth noting that Citadel has put its Scott Shannon's True Oldies Channel network on WPLJ New York's HD-3 multicast, effectively replacing an all-'70s station. It's not a hard call, of course, since Shannon is WPLJ's morning host and TOC is far more fully realized than the all-'70s format (which, for those of us who enjoy "Chevy Van" occasionally, is still being used as the fill music for network breaks). With WRXP having exiled the former WQCD Smooth Jazz format to HD-2, it's actually a relatively good month for new multicast content -- always a frustration -- at least in New York. (A note on that, as well, the HD-2 outlet is actually calling itself "Smooth 101.9," although the CD101.9 name perseveres on the Website.)