As programmers begin to look at radio formats that transcend musical genres, it’s surprising that more stations haven’t been specifically geared to exercise. In various sessions at the RAIN Summit and NAB Radio Show in Chicago last week, streaming radio’s place in the gym came up on a number of occasions. (A few days earlier, Pandora had announced a suite of workout-targeted stations.) In terms of usage you might hear pitched by a traditional radio station, however, the workout room usually has to settle for being lumped in with “some other place.”

The gradually proliferating formats based around tempo and variety (e.g., Canada’s Up! FM stations) usually work for a workout. So, for better or worse, does Top 40 radio now that ballads have become a less frequent occurrence over the course of an hour. Even now, however, exercising to an FM music station has its challenges. One is finding music if you exercise in the morning. Another is the spotload—the gym I go to recently switched from satellite radio back to FM. The music is rarely a problem; exercising to a dry-voice debt-relief spot, however, kind of saps your momentum.

I discovered Aupeo Personal Radio’s “Running Mix” channel in mid-August, a few weeks ahead of the Pandora announcement. The German Internet broadcaster has a breadth of channels that rival most pureplays and some very distinctive ones. Besides the typical channels, Aupeo’s pop stations alone include German pop radio, Italo pop radio, “Match Day” (“great music to watch your favorite sport”), Douce France (“Chanson’s greatest artists”), and Viva La Woman (“great female artists of all genres”). Aupeo also has mood-based stations, another offering that I’m surprised hasn’t been duplicated more often elsewhere.

I tried “Running Mix” for the first time a few weeks ago. On Aupeo’s iPhone app, the pop sub-channels were difficult to navigate, and when I finally did get to the channel that I wanted, it wasn’t all that uptempo. And within a few songs, I ran into the first of several ballads. So I went back to the music on my iPhone.

But after the RAIN/NAB discussions, I decided to give the Aupeo station another try. This time, it was more consistently uptempo with a variety that stretched from ’60s Oldies through today. It was mostly music that could be on one of the tempo/variety-based AC/Greatest Hits formats, although there was also an indie rock/dance component that you wouldn’t have heard on a traditional FM.

First Listen: Aupeo’s Running Mix

Here’s Aupeo’s Running Mix as streamed on Sept. 18:

Avril Lavigne, “The Best Damn Thing” (the main “pop” station that launched automatically gave me Avril’s “What The Hell,” then switched to this, when I switched channels)
Lipps, Inc., “Funkytown (Long Version)”
Goldfrapp, “Ooh La La” (underrated Eurodance act; this song was the spiritual godfather to all the shuffle-tempo hits that dominated radio in 2008-09)
Cake, “The Distance”
Pointer Sisters, “I’m So Excited”
Bloc Party, “Helicopter”
Van Halen, “Jump”
Sly & Family Stone, “Dance To The Music”
Neon Trees, “Animal”
Queen, “I Want To Break Free” (the first misstep, uptempo, but without workout intensity)
Pitbull, “I Know You Want Me”
All-American Rejects, “Dirty Little Secret”
Bjork, “Big Time Sensuality”
Fatboy Slim, “The Rockefeller Skank”
M.I.A., “Paper Planes”
James Brown, “I Got You (I Feel Good)”
’N-Sync, “It’s Gonna Be Me” (midtempo and without quite the right intensity, but better than…)
Jordin Sparks w/Chris Brown, “No Air” (the ballad, not a remix)

First Listen: AOL Radio’s WorkOut Songs

Aupeo’s Running Mix prompted me to go looking for other similar Internet stations. The next one I came across was AOL Radio’s WorkOut Songs. AOL Radio is in its last days as part of the CBS Radio.com player, so it’s hard to know what it will sound like after the transition to Slacker.com, or what Radio.com will replace it with.

AOL’s version was more consistently dance-driven. All of the songs were CHR hits from the last decade or so and almost all were the remixes. Here’s a stretch from the same evening. I’m not specifying various mixes, but if you come across something you don’t think of as a dance song, rest assured that it was.

Lady Gaga, “The Edge Of Glory”
Michelle Branch, “Breathe”
3Oh!3 f/Katy Perry, “Starstrukk”
Kylie Minogue, “Love At First Sight”
Christina Aguilera, “Keeps Getting Better”
Onerepublic, “Good Life”
Adele, “Someone Like You”
Beyoncé, “If I Were A Boy”
Green Day, “Boulevard Of Broken Dreams”
Maroon 5, “Misery”
Gwen Stefani, “The Great Escape”
Nicki Minaj, “Super Bass”
Katy Perry, “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)”
Black Eyed Peas, “Boom Boom Pow”
Jesse McCartney, “How Do You Sleep”
Jason DeRulo, “Don’t Wanna Go Home”

First Listen: Pandora’s Workout Stations

Pandora’s 12 workout stations are pretty tightly defined, but spread across the major genres—“Hard Rock Strength Training,” “Dance Cardio,” “Alternative Endurance Training,” “Pop Fitness” (comparable to Hot AC), and Country Fitness among them—as well as two less-mainstream Yoga channels. I started with ’80s Cardio.

(Disclosure: my other employer, Edison Research, performs work for both Pandora, with which I have no involvement, and CBS Radio, although not with Radio.com.)

Outfield, “Your Love”
Bon Jovi, “You Give Love A Bad Name”
Go-Go’s, “We Got The Beat”
Queen, “Another One Bites The Dust”
Scandal, “Goodbye To You”
Pet Shop Boys, “West End Girls”
Cutting Crew, “(I Just) Died In Your Arms”
INXS, “New Sensation”
B-52’s, “Love Shack”
Michael Jackson, “Thriller”

And here’s the “Pop And Hip-Hop Power Workout” Channel:

David Guetta, “Where Them Girls At”
Maroon 5 f/Christina Aguilera, “Moves Like Jagger”
LMFAO, “Party Rock Anthem”
Britney Spears, “I Wanna Go”
Cascada, “Evacuate The Dancefloor”
Taio Cruz, “Break Your Heart”
Sean Kingston, “Fire Burning”
Kevin Rudolph, “Let It Rock”
Lady Gaga, “Just Dance”
Pitbull, “Give Me Everything”
Far East Movement, “Like A G6”