No matter how much radio I listen to, there’s always too much radio to listen to it all—a happy consequence of today’s infinite dial. For more than a year, I’ve had a tickler file of stations that I wanted to listen to—recent format changes or stations in the news or recommendations from readers and industry friends. This year, with the final Ross On Radio newsletter deadline passed, I decided to try and clear out my “listening bin” before the post-Christmas format changes start rolling in.

So far, I’ve barely managed to dent the file of e-mails I’ve compiled on potentially interesting stations. But even the listening I’ve gotten to thus far took me on an interesting (and international) journey. Here’s some of the exotica I’ve encountered in the last few days.

KWXX Hilo, Hawaii – This contemporary Hawaiian music station was in the tickler file because of a press release they’d sent out promising “Jawaiian music on your iPhone/iPod Touch” a while ago. While there’s always been some music in the format that’s familiar to anybody – No Doubt’s “Underneath It All” broke out of Hawaii, in part because it sounded so much like a Jawaiian song – it was interesting to hear how many familiar songs I encountered, between covers, including Michael Franti & Spearhead’s “(Say Hey) I Love You” and native son Bruno Mars’ appearance on Travie McCoy’s “Billionaire.”

CHOZ St. John’s, N.F. — For years, “The Rock of the Rock” was the sort of hybrid Classic Hits/Hot AC format once found in most of Canada’s under-radioed markets. Last year, they segued to a more focused Active Rock format, although in Canada (where all the rock formats are a little more mainstream), that still includes “Iris” by the Goo Goo Dolls. Otherwise an hour ranged from the Doors’ “L.A. Woman” to Pearl Jam’s “The Fixer” to the Tragically Hip to Canadian retro rockers Airbourne. Remember that name, by the way.

KDLW (97.7 OMG) Albuquerque, N.M. — I hadn’t checked them out since their switch from Rhythmic to Mainstream Top 40 (with one of the best station names anywhere). Like rival KKOB-FM, they’re pretty much straight-down-the-center of the format now: “Bottoms Up” and Fergie’s “Big Girls Don’t Cry (Personal)” on the same station. But I did get to hear Usher’s “OMG” on “OMG.”

Cowboy Bills Radio — Woody Nelson must be the hardest-working man in Internet radio, based on the number of stations he always seems to be debuting and his constant promotional output. That said, I came upon Cowboy Bills Radio by trying to click through to another station of his, A1A Radio, and being taken here instead. It’s an eclectic Country mix that ranges from hits (“That’ll Be Alright,” “The Boys Of Fall”) to those that should have been (Joanna Smith’s “Getting Married”). Then there was Jerry Reed’s “Tupelo, Mississippi Flash” preceded by the liner, “It’s the top of the hour and we’re going old-school on your ass.” And the Willie Nelson PSA for NORML. There was also a sponsored “Car Song” feature for a Birmingham, Ala., Ford dealer—Courtney Dickenson’s “Daddy Drives A Ford.”

WBCB Bucks County, Pa. – WAKS (Kiss 96.5) Cleveland night jock Java Joel Murphy had, some time ago, recommended this old-line block-programmed suburban Philadelphia AM based on an overnight show that was full of “oh wow” oldies. Instead, when I tuned in they were running a Classic Country show, unusual enough for this part of the country, in which I encountered George & Georgette Jones’ “You And Me And Time,” in which George promises to finally be a better father to his daughter. I tried them again a day later and came upon a Sunday night Broadway show with the cast album from “Gigi.”
Rock 104.com (http://www.rock104.com/)— A few weeks ago, the University of Florida’s commercial outlet

WRUF Gainesville, Fla., exiled its longtime "Rock 104" format to the Web in favor of Country. Then, they had a false start – the online-only format wasn’t actually available yet when the change took place. Now they’re on with a tightly focused Active Rock format (Korn, 10 Year, Pearl Jam, Linkin Park, Puddle Of Mudd, Stone Sour). They offer an online poll in which listeners are asked to rate various genres on a scale that includes “sucks” and “awesome.”

WPOI (The Point) Tampa, Fla. – Last year, Cox evolved their longtime ’80s pop/rock outlet to an ’80s and ’90s station, a forerunner to the ’80s/’90s Alternative format they recently unveiled in Houston. The new Point is very listenable and spanned from “It’s Still Rock & Roll To Me” to
“Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong,” but there wasn’t that much that wouldn’t have fit in Houston either. There was only one rhythmic title of any sort here and it was Big Mountain’s “Baby I Love Your Way.”

WHGO (Bob 105.9) Biloxi, Miss. – Veteran PD J.J. Duling helped sign on Triad’s late entry into the Adult Hits format. This one leaned to the pop side, by Bob- and Jack- FM standards, (although I did hear it on Sunday morning), spanning “You’re No Good” by Linda Ronstadt to “Roxanne” by the Police to Duran Duran’s “Is There Something I Should Know.” And the music image promo included Kelly Clarkson’s “Since U Been Gone.” Then there was the anti-drunk-driving PSA which declared, “Friends don’t let friends drive drunk. Friends don’t let drunks drive friends. Drunks sometimes drive friends to drink, which should not be confused with our message—don’t drive drunk, you idiot.”

WYEZ (Movin’ 94.5) Myrtle Beach, S.C. – This one was a recommendation from former WARM York, Pa., PD Dave Russell, who heard it earlier this year on vacation. While many of the original Movin’ stations have evolved, including flagship KQMV (Movin’ 92.5) Seattle, now a CHR, this one didn’t share much beyond the name with the original ’90s/now-driven format template. It was what you would expect Jammin’ Oldies to sound like in Myrtle Beach, S.C., with a lot of beach-flavored ’60s (“Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie,” “But It’s Alright”) and some more AC flavored titles (the Pointer Sisters’ “He’s So Shy”).

WMMM (105 Triple-M) Madison, Wis. – Other Triple-A outlets have evolved to adult-leaning Modern Rock stations, not that far from WRFF (Radio 104.5) Philadelphia. “Triple-M” still holds the line, combining softer Classic Rock titles (“Maybe I’m Amazed,” Pink Floyd’s “Hey You”) with ’90s Modern AC (Blues Traveler’s “But Anyway,” “Closer To Free” by local heroes the Bodeans) and today’s Triple-A chart music. And under veteran PD David Moore, it all cohered.

WMWX (Class X) Cincinnati – I hadn’t checked out this eclectic non-comm Classic Rocker for a while, but I was eager to tune them in when the now-playing widget on the Website read, “I Won’t Forget You” by Poison, which I probably haven’t heard on the radio since it was a current in 1987. There’s a lot of depth from the corporate rock era here, which means you’ll still hear Pat Benatar’s “All Fired Up” or Eddie Money’s “Get A Move On.” You’ll also hear some of the one-time Classic Rock anthems that finally seem to be fading away from the genre (e.g., Outlaws’ “Green Grass And High Tides”). And there’s a lot of new music from veteran artists (you probably didn’t know Nelson had a new song) and those in a similar spirit, marking the second time I heard Airbourne on this listening jag.

Rock Radio Manchester, England – Recommended to me by consultant Phil Dowse. They call themselves “the Home of Classic Rock,” but like comparable rock stations around the world, they’d be closer to Heritage Rock by our standards, with new music, including, yup, Airbourne again. The mix otherwise went from Stone Temple Pilots and Red Hot Chili Peppers to Marillion and the Who. But it was definitely the attitude that set them apart, such as a promo that began with Mariah Carey singing “all I want for Christmas is…” that was interrupted by the words “kickass rock ‘n’ roll.” Or the parody of artist drop promos where the likes of Sheryl Crow and all sorts of other artists you’ll never hear on the station ID themselves.

Then I went and listened to even more radio.