The Infinite Dial

For the last year, Top 40 has been sporting its widest variety in years. Somebody who doesn't listen to the format these days will tell me they pine for the variety of the '60s and '70s and I'll tell them about Taylor Swift, Taio Cruz, and Train on the same radio stations.

But broad doesn't necessarily translate to balanced. I was listening to a very well-programmed station this morning and the pattern, for a while anyway, was Hip-Hop record, modern AC record, Hip-Hop record, modern AC record.

Thanks to Train, the Script, and others, the poppier records that cross to Top 40 are poppier and more modern AC'ish than they have been in more than a decade -- since the days of Shawn Colvin and Paula Cole on Top 40 radio. They're real hits. But what's missing is the uptempo pop/rock music with bite in the middle. Right now, there's no Finger Eleven/"Paralyzer" or, taking it back to the Lilith era, no "Semi-Charmed Life."

Usually Top 40 radio gets its uptempo pop/rock records from the teen punk sector, but there's not one of those in the top 10 right now. There are a few things on Alternative that it could play--but Top 40 isn't really checking Alternative much right now.

At a time when younger listeners have broader, less didactic tastes than ever, it's unlikely that those listening to Top 40 radio are sitting around wondering where the Linkin Park/"In The End"-type record is. But if anybody who schedules Top 40 on a regular basis is reading this, I'd be curious if they ever feel like they're whipsawing? And in a good or bad way?