Highlights from the author’s week of (always decidedly random) listening and the week’s radio headlines, ending April 8, 2010. Stations I’ve worked with recently in my Edison Research capacity are asterisked.

STATION OF THE WEEK (FM)

Glee FM 103.9 Toronto – Usually it’s the gay themed pop station CIRR (Proud 103.9). But on Monday, April 12, it’s devoting a full day of programming to “Glee” in conjunction with Canada’s Global TV.

STATION OF THE WEEK (ONLINE)

Radio 88’s Retro 88 Channel – Okay, are you ready for some serious missing oldies from the ’90s and late ’80s? This Hungarian station’s on-line side-channel will bring back a lot of memories for anybody who grew up with or worked in rhythmic radio in that era. Whether they’re good memories depends on your reaction to hearing “Thought You Were The One For Me” by Joey B. Ellis. And you probably didn’t even know that No Mercy (“Where Do You Go”) had done a version of “More Than A Feeling.”

FORMAT CHANGE

Just in time for Masters Week, Augusta, Ga., gets a Top 40 battle as Clear Channel’s WIBL (Y102.3) goes after Beasley’s WHHD (HD98.3). Another battle in a market where nobody wanted to be Top 40 not so long ago.

RATINGS STORY

WKLI (Magic 100.9) Albany, N.Y., was up 4.7 – 5.4 in the February Arbitrend before its Supersoft AC format moved to AM.

STATION LINER

“You’ve got to love it when radio stations take 30 seconds to tell you they’re commercial free. Here’s another song on My 92.5. We think you’ve got it figured out.” – Hot AC KGBY (My 92.5) Sacramento, Calif., not only goes to PPM-era shorter stagers, but lets listeners know about it.

PROMOTION

CBS Radio’s Radio.com – On the Friday night of the iPad’s launch, the CBS stations debut an iPad app/aggregator site and change their domain names to go with it. An impressive piece of coordination and seizing the moment. And, as we know, a lot of radio station Websites don’t even pull dated content over the weekend.

SPONSOR PROMOTION

Top 40 Juice FM Liverpool gives away Spray Tans on “Orange Wednesday.”

APRIL FOOL’S DAY PROMOTION

Country WGH (Eagle 97.3) Norfolk drives its Website hits up 50% on April Fool’s Day by sending listeners to find all nine errors on the station Website, including changing the station name to The Beagle. Submitted by column regular Page Nienaber.

FIRST A GATEWAY PROMOTION, NOW THIS…

The Free Crack Weekend on KITS (Live 105) San Francisco – Okay, they were actually giving away legal prizes for Easter Weekend if you called when you heard the egg crack. But still a seemingly inevitable outcome to sister KROQ Los Angeles giving away tickets to “Dr. Greenthumb’s Spring Gathering” music festival and medical marijuana expo.

EASTER PROMOTION NOT INVOLVING CRACK

The “Wii-ster Egg Hunt” at KKWF (The Wolf) Seattle. Those eggs that weren’t good for a free Wii were good for sponsor prizes.

IDEA WHOSE TIME HAS RETURNED

Beasley’s KDWN (Newstalk 720) Las Vegas enlists local celebrities, including the mayor and local casino owners, to talk about the positive attributes of the city. The “cut-your-own-organization’s PSA” that ended with “I’m _________ and I’m glad KDWN cares about our city” is an old standard that hasn’t been heard much in large markets lately. And KDWN’s version adds some starpower.

MOST ENTERAINING CONTEST

CKZZ (Virgin Radio 95.3) Vancouver’s Track Attack – The music trivia game on your iPod makes its way to the radio as listeners play “name that tune” four times a day. The catch is that the available prize decreases from the moment the first note of the song plays. It didn’t make any difference for the listener who wasn’t able to identify “A Girl Like You” by Edwyn Collins (which was a pop hit in Vancouver), even as it went on.

BEST JOCK FAMILY MEMBER LINE

“Some people go to church on Easter. We went and saw ‘Clash of the Titans.’”—WBEB (B101) Philadelphia morning co-host Tiffany Hill’s husband David as part of a Monday morning feature where the team’s spouses discuss the weekend and then “grade” them. (Tiffany got an “A” for being willing to go on a strenuous run with David.)

BUT SOMETIMES, TALKING ABOUT FAMILIES BACKFIRES

“So you have two teenagers and then there’s our baby.”—Another morning man talks to his co-host about her kids, and then has to clarify hastily that the newborn in question is not really their child, but like a nephew to him.

BEST SPOT OPENER

“Hello, my name is Rhoda. I’m a germ and I live in your toilet.” – A rotavirus germ gives her 12-step testimony about “just wanting to be clean” in a spot for a British disinfectant.

OH WOW SONG

Bryan Adams, “Can’t Stop This Thing We Started” on the aforementioned CKZZ (Virgin Radio 95.3). In 1991, it was carried into the Top 10 on the momentum of “Everything I Do (I Do It For You)” but never made it to most gold libraries in that increasingly rhythmic era. (I remember one Churban PD sneering at his Mainstream Top 40 competition because that was the closest thing to a hit record that they had to themselves at the time.) But it sounded great among all the Rhythmic Pop songs on Virgin.

THEME SEGUE

John Lennon’s “Nobody Told Me” to the Killers’ “Somebody Told Me” on Cox’s new “World Class Rock” outlet KPWT (X106.7) San Antonio.

OUT OF OFFICE MESSAGE

“’Uh-oh,’ you’re thinking. ‘That reply came back fast! Wait—aw, crap! It’s an Out-of-Office Notification!’ Yep. It’s an ‘Alan Email Fail.’ I'm honestly sorry about not being where you needed me to be, but I'm on a special recon mission outside the country. I’ll be checking in periodically so I don’t have to deal with 3,000 emails when I get back home (the current record is 2,532 after just one week—and I'm gone nine days this time). “—Alan Cross, [ExploreMusic.com], (http://www.exploremusic.com) who I don’t recall ever sending a normal out-of-office message.

*That’s our Best & Worst. What’s yours? Leave us a comment! *