Size Is Everything

I don't know if it was the realization that the iPod Shuffle could hold the station's entire playlist, or just a desperate attempt to revive it's moribund ratings, but the Sun-Times reports big changes at local alternative station Q101.

They're expanding to a 1,000-song playlist that stretches back 25 years. I have absolutely nothing snarky to say about this, as it could be the best thing to happen to Chicago rock radio since either The Drive or The Zone aired commercial free music from a single artist every day while they ramped up the station's real format. You had to listen to even a half-hour of a full day's worth of Weird Al to fully appreciate that effort.

This is the kind of thing I expected Bill Gamble to do with the Zone, actually, in order to differentiate the newer station with the "original" alternative station. Tacking more toward the Loop crowd never made sense to me, and if Q101 succeeds with this format shift, I suspect it could make that decision look even dumber.

I'm with Feder on the conspicuous absence of Mancow from the marketing release and the lukewarm denial that anything's up with the pale Howard Stern imitator. There have been persistent rumors of him jumping ship for the Loop after some management changes over at the classic rock station.