Way back in the mid ’90s (remember that far back? Were you born yet?) there was a magical place on the Internet (yes Virginia, we had the internet back then but it was in black and white) called NetRadio.com. They streamed music back before there were iPods and Podcasts. The cool thing was that you could tweak the station you were listening to. You’d pick the genre and then fine tune it by rating songs and artists. They’d adjust the mix according to your preference. I loved it. Alas, it was a victim of the DotCom Bust at the end of the Clinton era. NetRadio closed down.I just checked, it seems to be back. I haven’t listened yet.

Well, I just came across a new website called Pandora which resurrects that format! You start by giving the site a song or artist name and it grabs music similiar to that and starts streaming it to you. You can then turn down music you don’t like and add artists you do. For example, I started with Derek Webb and eventually was fed Dolly Parton. Big thumbs down on Dolly but when Goo Goo Dolls showed up, they got a thumbs up. I then added Coldplay and Nickel Creek.

This is how radio should be. We don’t need to be fed the music the labels decided we’d like, we should be able to pick and choose. Even those stations that have turned up lately with claims that they play “whatever they want” are full of it. All I ever hear on those stations is the same tired old crap they’ve worn grooves into CDs playing over and over because their corporate bosses decided we should like this band. All they do is play them in a different mix. Big deal. Just because they tell me every 25 minutes that they have a “wider variety” doesn’t make it so. My tastes cross station format lines and now I have a way to indulge them.

At the same time, I don’t mind being exposed to new music. This kind of format works for me because I can mix it the way I want to and they can still sneak in indie artists and new music. What isn’t to love? Thank you Pandora radio!