MARCONI DREAMS

This just in: I’m sitting here listening to Dinah Washington on my computer, from Last.fm. They just rolled out free on-demand listening by artist. Just go to the site and type in an artist’s name, and bingo, you’re listening to that artist. You only get one track at a time, and there’ll be an on-screen ad there somewhere…I didn’t see one yet. I typed in Diana Krall, my secret crush. The sound is great in my earphones (you don’t think I’d listen on laptop speakers, do you?). Now Nat Cole is singing. I fell in love with Last.fm immediately and signed up, so I’m listening to a “radio station” of Diana Krall-like singers. Great. Ever tried to hear jazz singers on broadcast radio? Well, since about 1970? Last.fm beckons you to be part of their “community,” and you can upload what you listen to off your hard drive; freak, privacy paranoids. But I say this is part of the new on-demand world, where it’s O.K. to be surprised. I like it. … News item: A commercial station in South Florida is rolling out a format on one of their new “HD” digital channels, called: “Haney’s Big House 96.1 HD2.” This is the kind of thinking that’ll save on-air radio, maybe. One of the disc jockeys on the main oldies station came up with the music mix, inspired by a Louisiana road house of the same name. He plays “southern rock, blues, Americana, roots, and ‘real country,’ meaning Waylon, Willie and Johnny Cash.” This quote’s from a Radio World newsletter. What a concept. Somebody comes up with an idea for a radio station and the owner says, Let’s do it. Now if somebody could try one on the main FM station, and promoted it, maybe people would start expecting something special from broadcast radio again. Sorry, gotta go. Shirley Horn’s cooing in my earphones.