The Infinite Dial

For a while now, the declining younger-end listening levels have suggested either that 16-year-olds (or at least half of them) are rejecting out-of-hand the notion that the radio might be the right place to hear music or that, as likely in my view, nobody has offered them their radio station -- a channel that would necessarily look a little different from the "fast-on-Justin and Rihanna/slow-on-rock" Top 40 format template as it exists in most major markets and find some of the music that hasn't yet made it to the radio.

So although it's clearly early days, there's definitely some potential in AmpRadio.com, the HD-2 channel of KCBS-FM (Jack FM) Los Angeles, programmed by Kevin Weatherly with help from Jack's John Michael, Chris Ebbott, and Ralph Stewart, and targeted somewhere between Radio Disney and Top 40 rival KIIS. The station is currently on the air mostly unhosted and playing "100,000 Amp-tunes in a row."

Musically, what sets Ampradio apart from Radio Disney is some songs that you definitely won't find on the latter network--"Love In This Club," "Touch My Body," etc. There's also an element -- small so far -- of that area between indie rock and teen pop (Metro Station, Ting-Tings, Rooney) which seems like a logical candidate for expansion -- both as a point of differentiation, but also because it's one of the things that a 16-year-old might want that isn't on Top 40 radio in a regular enough way.

Here's Amprado.com just before 7 a.m. Los Angeles time this morning:

Ashlee Simpson, "Pieces Of Me"
Usher, "Love In The Club"
Killers, "Somebody Told Me"
Rihanna, "Don't Stop The Music"
Ting Tings, "Great DJ"
Mariah Carey, "Touch My Body"
Jonas Brothers, "When You Look Me In The Eyes"
Sean Kingston, "Beautiful Girl"
Paramore, "CrushCrushCrush"
Timbaland, "The Way I Are"
Aly & AJ, "Like Whoa"
Jordin Sparks, "No AIr"
Fall Out Boy, "Thnks Fr The Mmrs"