He has to be better that the rest of the dribble that comes out of the FM band here. I haven't listened to FM for music at least for some time. They say that they play what they want, but form a coporate station?? Kind of a oxy-moron do you think?

If you really want to hear what a radio station should sound like when the people there play what they want, point your PC to www.radiofreephoenix.com This is the best station I have heard in years. Give it a try.

There's a fabulous radio station that broadcasts out of Florence, AZ and hits most of the Phoenix Metro area, 103.1 KCDX FM. (Available online at www.KCDX.com.) Two things distinguish it from the "Jack" format. First, it possibly pre-dates "Jack" by a year or two, and second, it broadcasts totally commercial free. It's the poor man's satellite radio.

After several years of listening in the car, I'm to the point where I can't even tune in a commercial station anymore and listen to all the ads for cars and stereos and jewelry stores, and the constant repetition of the same fifty or seventy songs I've been hearing since the seventies. When I get to areas where there's no reception, I'd rather listen to KCDX's static than "commercial" radio.

While Jack may appeal to quite a few people, it doesn't appeal to us radio folk who have been put out of work because of this "wonder format."

Some say they don't want to hear chatter. Okay, I'm all for that, to some degree. But what about wanting to know about some weather disaster? i.e., tornados, hurricanes, and the like. Don't count on Jack for that sort of info. You'll get the automated voice from the National Weather Service. Public Service? Screw that. Jack has the so-called thousands of songs to get through, and a smug voice telling you to forget about asking for a request. Not gonna happen. Not that it ever did in the first place. It's a rare day when it comes to requests. No radio station plays them except during lunch, or a lame variety weekend show.

I could go on about the need for a live body in the studio, but companies like, Clear Channel, Infinity, and Entercom, are going for this soulless format, if they can get their hands on it. It comes down to who can change the format faster, and with what. Jack is the latest thing. Enjoy it. I think it's going to be around for some time.

I have to admit, I've been sucked in by Jack too. At least every now and then. The depth of the playlist is both infuriating and charming. But interestingly, my second radio obsession these days is Indie 103.1 (Los Angeles market) because they actually do REAL radio, with DJs who actually know the music and have opinions and are eclectic in that old fashioned human sort of way. Unfortunately most commercial radio has become overreliant on limited playlists and market research and "on air personalities" who don't care one whit about music. Anything that breaks that mold is refreshing... it's unfortunate that radio has to sell it's human soul to learn that lesson.

The sound of the announcer's (or whatever you call him) voice makes me want to rip my own fingernails out. But I listen from time to time. I confess. Still and all, Jack confounds me. I mean, is there really any reason to hear Huey Lewis again ever?

Williams mentions "Mike," the Boston equivalent of a Jack station, which I occasionally listen to in the car. I'm occasionally pleasantly surprised when I scan past the station -- I caught most of New Order's "Blue Monday" last weekend, always a treat -- but honestly, it's basically just the playlist of an average "hits of the 80s, 90s and today!" station forcibly mixed with an average classic AOR station. I mean, yippee.

The problem is, commercial radio -- even supposedly inclusive formats like Jack -- strive for the great bland middle, tending to avoid not only the songs that people actively hate (you're not gonna hear "Ice Ice Baby" on Jack, most likely), but also a lot of songs that people passionately love. Their goal is to make the listener just entertained enough to stick around for the ads.

And the audience has to take a huge share of the blame as well. For all that people claim that they want to hear new and interesting music on the radio, any music that jars people out of their comfort zones is reacted to negatively. I've worked both at freeform college radio stations and at tightly programmed commercial radio stations: my experience is that the supposedly more enlightened college radio listeners are FAR more likely to call and complain about the music the DJ is playing, saying either that it's "too weird" or "boring."

I just looked at my iTunes "Party Shuffle" feature, which is showing me about an hour's worth of songs:

Ivor Cutler -- "Java"

Game Theory -- "Nothing New"

Liz Phair -- "Go West"

R. Stevie Moore -- "Flowers Sleep Into the Night"

Brian Eno -- "Baby's On Fire"

Menswear -- "Daydreamer"

Everything But the Girl -- "Little Hitlers"

The Monkees -- "Take A Giant Step"

The Decemberists -- "On the Bus Mall (live)"

Amy Rigby -- "Knapsack"

The Buzzcocks -- "Walking Distance"

Natasha Bedingfield -- "The One That Got Away"

Paik -- "Jayne Field"

Pylon -- "Cool"

Elvis Costello -- "Man Out of Time"

The Corn Dollies -- "Forever Steven"

Cecil Seaskull -- "The Bruise"

Barbara Lewis -- "Hello Stranger"

Show me a radio station that'll play that setlist and I'll follow it to the ends of the earth. Otherwise, for those jonesing for in-car entertainment, I suggest a quick finger on the scan button, an XM receiver or one of those dongles that transmits your iPod through a low frequency on the car radio. Or you can just play license plate bingo with the radio off.

The writing is superb, the tone pitch-perfect, the analogies as straight on as a stiletto heel. Well done, Mary Elizabeth.

These articles are becoming far too common in the new shallow-female demographic that salon is cultivating, of the incessant I-Have-Been-Suckered-Into-Loving-What-I thought-Was-Soulless-Crap variety, with women breathlessly revealing their bulimic cultural tastes. The writer ponts out she once dated a "douchebag" because she needed the horniness, as we are all wont to occassionally, but please don't use it to justify listening to a station whose idea of diversity is Run DMC followed by Billy Joel. A human being with taste and creativity could outprogram Jack's shuffle function any day of the week. And Jack's uber-annoying, "We play what we want" 20-something apathetic voice reveals the corporate cynicism behind the format. Unlike the writer, I don't need Jack.