The Infinite Dial

A few interesting odds-and-ends heard in this week's listening:

* More "Sex And The City" -- It's become a lot less ubiquitous on the radio since the movie actually opened and all the promotional tie-ins went away. (I never did hear any station getting paid spots for all their troubles.) But there's still no escaping it: I was listening to a station in the Ukraine this morning and there was the theme song (playing as a bed under what seemed to be an entertainment report).

* The new AOL Radio/CBS Radio tuner sent me punching among the AOL stations for the first time in a while, and I settled on one that billed itself as "New Pop First." And in between some genuinely new records, I heard "SOS" by the Jonas Brothers, "How Far We've Come" by Matchbox Twenty, Mariah Carey's "Touch My Body" and a handful of other songs that had already run their course. To which I can only say that at a time when we're hearing that identifying, say, "Handlebars" by Flobots as "new music" on a Top 40 station would be considered lame by the 15-year-old music junkie who knew it months ago, the bar for any "new music" station is pretty high these days. The good news is that there is certainly a need for this now and it's a great thing to have on a tuner that also contains mainstream commercial stations. But it's a big promise to deliver on. And perhaps a franchise that could support much more than a jockless Internet channel.

* WEBX (the Source) Champaign, Ill., is the flagship of the new gold-based Alternative format from Jack Taddeo and Dan Binder. As you might expect, the hour I heard was more pop-flavored than some of its counterparts. Here's the station from last Monday:

Police, "Spirits In The Material World"
Tonic, "If You Could Only See"
Billy Idol, "Dancing With Myself"
Alice In Chains, "Would?"
Matchbox Twenty, "Push"
Stephen "Tin-Tin" Duffy, "Kiss Me"
Blur, "Song 2"
Depeche Mode, "Just Can't Get Enough"
Bush, "Comedown"
Replacements, "Merry Go Round"
Blink-182, "All The Small Things"

* Best Promotion Name of the Week: KCBS-FM (Jack FM) Los Angeles doing sticker stops and giving away bomb pops as part of its "Stick It and Suck It Summer Tour."

* Oldie Of The Week: I usually go for an obscure one, but there was no denying "Do Ya" by ELO, especially since I've heard it three times in the last eight days in various places, probably the most I've heard it since April, 1977.