The Infinite Dial

Officially launched at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival this weekend with a simulcast on KAJR (Jack FM) Palm Springs, Calif., eRockster is Clear Channel's bid at a national "indie rock" channel with a social networking component, pitting it in various ways against CBS's LastFM, Bonneville's iChannel.fm, Greater Media's Radio You, and others.

Here's erockster.com as heard on KAJR at 7:40 local time this morning, mostly unhosted but with various artist drops:

Yeah Yeah Yeahs, "Maps"
Beach Boys, "California Girls"
Tegan & Sara, "Burn Your Life"
Michael Jackson, "Billie Jean"
Bright Eyes, "Old Soul Song"
Ambulance LTD, "Yoga Means Union"
Sex Pistols, "Anarchy In The U.K."
Breeders, "Cannonball"
Pixies, "Gigantic"
Broken Social Scene, "Windsurfing Nation"
Grand Master Flash & Furious Five, "The Message (Part I)"
Blind Melon, "Tones Of Home"
Portishead, "Small"
Killers, "Bones"
Sly & Family Stone, "Family Affair"
Chemical Brothers, "The Salmon Dance"
Johnny Cash, "I Walk The Line"

In many ways, eRockster.com plays as a cross between KDLE (Indie 103.1) Los Angeles and Clear Channel's own WRFF (Radio 104.5) Philadelphia and that station's other adult modern bretheren, with the latter's emphasis on library. If, three years ago, you were one of those people who liked to point out that Bob- and Jack-FM were not your iPod on shuffle, this may well be.

That said, no matter how much credibility the Sex Pistols and Pixies/Breeders may have maintained over the years, if you're playing three in a row from them, you're not exactly the voice of the disenfranchised 19-year-old. This is a good-looking, well-thought out effort, worthy of a major broadcaster in a way that many of the HD-2 afterthoughts are not, but there's still a hole for somebody to fill.

And for that hole approached from another angle, see ampradio.com below: