All year long, this column tries to spotlight interesting radio—sometimes recently launched, sometimes rediscovered. Some of it is just fun to hear at the time. Some of it is game changing. Every January, we try to sort it out into the Most Intriguing Stations of the Year.

The Most Intriguing Stations of 2010 aren’t necessarily the year’s success stories—although it often happens that way. They’re the stations that helped alter the programming landscape, or reflected larger changes. There are a lot of stations that were perfectly consistent year-to-year that don’t show up here and it’s not because they’re not great operations.

There are years when my colleagues have come down the hall and said, “Gee, wonder what you’re going to write about this year.” This wasn’t one of them. The year was bookended by a barrage of format flips and informed by a larger sense that it’s time for people to start programming their radio stations again. It’s also a good sign for 2011 that there were enough stations to write about here that they had to be split into two issues, which gives me time to include your suggestions next week. But let’s start with…

KIIS Los Angeles

KIIS Los Angeles – Last year, rival KAMP (Amp 97.1) perched itself in the narrow straits between Mainstream and Rhythmic Top 40 where L.A.’s KIIS-FM had lived happily for many years. That sent KIIS a little further to the pop side, and with everything from Taylor Swift to Dirty Heads in the (still mostly rhythmic) mix, the station posted its best PPM numbers ever last year, recalling the 10-share excitement of KIIS-FM in its first, early-’80s heyday. And you might have read that they just re-signed their morning man.

KBKS (Kiss 106.1) Seattle

KBKS (Kiss 106.1) Seattle – Having Rhythmic Top 40 KUBE next door was the apparent impetus for Kiss 106.1’s unique Mainstream Top 40 formula with an emphasis on teen punk/power pop/emo. It’s a successful major-market station that finds its own hits, including some that are on no other station. And it, too, was No. 1 last year. Now, Sandusky is attacking from both sides with Top 40 KQMV and Modern AC KWJZ (Click 98.9).

KUMU Honolulu

KUMU Honolulu, KOAS (The Oasis) Las Vegas, KISQ (Kiss 98.1) San Francisco – For more than a decade, Jammin’ Oldies was industry code for “fad format,” a victim both of some launches that were too big to be realistically sustained and some quick thuds in markets where it never should have been done at all. But every now and then, somebody would launch a Jammin’ Oldies station anyway and in the right market it would be devastating. That happened several times in 2010, with KUMU in particular catching the industry by surprise, then prompting a younger-leaning flanker in KHJZ (93.9 Jamz), which had a pretty good fall book itself.

KTWV (The Wave) Los Angeles

KTWV (The Wave) Los Angeles – Everybody expected a segue to Soft AC. Instead, the Smooth Jazz format endured (if not the name) and the station’s presentation was what became more like AC. And while there is ample nationwide evidence that Smooth Jazz can’t sustain itself as a market’s third Urban AC, The Wave is doing a pretty good job of doubling as L.A.’s leader in that format.

CHBM (Boom 97.3) Toronto

CHBM (Boom 97.3) Toronto, WOYE (Magic 97.3) San Juan – Boom’s positioner was the one that evolving Oldies stations all over North America are using, “Toronto’s Greatest Hits.” The music was the era associated with Jack- and Bob-FM, but with ’70s dance and ’80s new wave instead of corporate rock. And launching with the already ample holiday cume of the market’s second Mainstream AC, it took hold immediately. As important, Boom and its San Juan counterpart are both stations with a unique set of records in markets with a unique musical history.

CHNO (Now 102.3) Edmonton, Alberta

CHNO (Now 102.3) Edmonton, Alberta, KMXP (Mix 96.9) Phoenix – It’s not the sexiest thing you can do in the industry today—an ’80s, ’90s and now, pop/rock-leaning Hot AC. And in Canada, where rhythmic-leaning CHUM-FM Toronto has been the playbook for the Hot AC format for several years, it’s even less fashionable. But these were two traditional Hot AC successes in 2010. And while Hot AC rarely “opens big” anymore, Now 102.3 scrapped its way to the top in a few months’ time. Some in Canada will point out that they spent a lot of money and played a lot of commercial free music, which in itself is kind of old-school.

MR2 Petofi Hungary

MR2 Petofi Hungary – Regular readers are used to my ongoing calls for an American version of BBC Radio 1 – a Top 40 station that finds a place for all that indie pop/rock that doesn’t quite fit at Alternative. Until then, I’ll make do with the Hungarian version where Bruno Mars, Kylie Minogue, and Cee-Lo Green play next to The xx, Mark Ronson, Elle Goulding, and Marina & the Diamonds.

Glide FM Oxford U.K.

Glide FM Oxford U.K. – Glide FM fashioned itself as Mainstream AC for twentysomethings and honed its playlist by using Spotify—the U.K.’s highly successful combination of iTunes, Pandora and Last.fm. Their format is an idea that’s been waiting to happen here ever since AC listeners heard Snow Patrol and realized they had more in common with a TV music supervisor than they thought, or since CHR listeners dumbfounded PDs by gravitating to Taylor Swift, Colbie Caillat, Lady Antebellum, the Script and all sorts of other mellow pop that they weren’t supposed to like. Part of the ongoing torrent of innovation from Clive Dickens, who held two different panel rooms spellbound at the NAB Radio Show last fall describing this station as well as other ongoing innovations at the U.K.’s Absolute Radio.

WKMK (Thunder Country 106.3) Monmouth/Ocean, N.J.

WKMK (Thunder Country 106.3) Monmouth/Ocean, N.J. – How did the most hard-driving, Country-rockin’ station in America end up in the sort of Northeastern market where programming law has always said to lean AC? I don’t know, but I’m glad they’re here, and I’m glad they’ve just expanded their signal. And while a station that can play Charlie Daniels’ 1986 “Drinkin’ My Baby Goodbye” or a brand new current might seem a little broad, it’s actually a stunningly consistent sound.

KUDD (Mix 107.9) Salt Lake City

KUDD (Mix 107.9) Salt Lake City – In the late ’80s, Salt Lake City was home to KCPX (Power 99), one of the most musically aggressive CHRs. Over the last two years, it’s been that again thanks to KUDD, the pop-leaning CHR that plays what it wants, finds the Owl City and Train-type outlier hits well before the rest of the country, and lives to tell about it, despite being in a PPM market with a direct competitor in KZHT.