Radio Heaven

I've happily made the acquaintance of local radio. In the two or so hours I've spent in a rental car, I've discovered that the city has at least five or six urban stations and three or fou­r top 40 stations. It puts Milwaukee to shame. [Milwaukee couldn't even hold on to its one adult pop station, WKTI, which I will never be able to forgive for switching to a format that makes room for classic rock. Why would you put more classic rock on the Milwaukee airwaves? That's like breeding cats with the intention of putting them on the street as strays, or deliberately planting ragweed. I will never forgive 94.5 for this.]

Anyway, some thoughts:

• At almost any given point here, you can hear a song by or featuring Lil Wayne on one of these stations.
• Amazingly, the same goes for Katy Perry's “Hot N' Cold.” When did this song become the biggest single in the world? Not that I'm complaining.
• One area where Milwaukee does outshine this market is, not surprisingly, in alternative. With a handful of lauded exceptions, like Seattle, Minneapolis and to a lesser extent Milwaukee, alternative rock stations have become glorified hard-rock stations, and Fort Lauderdale's station is particularly meatheady.