Around Hear

It was almost this time last year that rumors began swirling about Lawrence's favorite alterna-rock station jumping ship for the more serene (though so far less profitable) waters of Top 40 radio. But throughout KLZR 105.9's identity crisis there was, in KJHK 90.7, at least one station that, for better or worse, was a bastion of nonconformity. Better when you would find yourself in a midday set that included the finest hip-hop, rock, house, and metal around -- and worse, much worse, when enduring a "classic" by Philip Glass. Now it seems that those esoteric types in their ivory tower have had to join the rest of us victims in the brave new world, where cities are markets and generations are demographics ... sort of.

"It's not really a format change," assures programming director Justin Montag. "There was this research and marketing class that did a survey with 500 students, and due to the results of that survey we've decided to play more new music, more rotation cuts."

More rotation cuts, yes, but more from a college station that likes to add everything from Morrissey-for-the-new-millennium Elliot Smith to such underground hip-hoppers and DJs as Dilated Peoples and DJ Food. So, in short, there are no teeny-mmm-boppers on the horizon, just maybe a little fewer of those songs that make you wonder whether the jock enjoys sadomasochism toward the listener.

"It's basically so more new music will get played, and listeners will know what the popular college radio music is at that time. In the past there would be anywhere from 80 to 100 CDs in rotation," adds Montag. "Now that's, like, 56 to 64 cuts, and now DJs have to play eight rotation cuts per hour instead of just five. So instead of hearing, say, the new Stereolab once a day, now you'll hear it three to four times a day."

It's another policy that sounds suspiciously like commercial radio's tendency to engrave certain songs into your brain, but Montag promises that the average listener will still be able to stop thinking about the chorus to The Anniversary's "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter" by the end of the day. "It won't be like the old Lazer, where you get the same song once every half hour; the DJs still get to chose what rotation tracks they play," he says.

In another change that has little or nothing to do with those meddling marketers, Montag and the KJHK staffers have decided to give a little "Morning Zoo" twist to the age-old Jazz in the Morning routine. "We're doing a new show now called Breakfast for Beat Lovers, and we're trying to take the old 'Funky Fridays' thing and do it, like, every day," Montag says, referring to DJ Bill Pile's popular weekend starter. "It's 9 to 12 (a.m.) every day, and so far it seems to be going pretty well. We've been giving away stuff like subscriptions to Urb magazine, tickets to the DMC competition and to Del and Blackalicious, and some CDs and stuff too."

Fear not, Johnny Dare, Montag and his mates don't have their sights set on you -- yet. "It's sort of, but not exactly like Mancow," he says, "but with a lot better music."

Somethin' is burnin'
Now that Kathie Lee has announced that she plans to leave Regis to fend for himself in the mornings, the search is on for a co-host who doesn't want to be a millionaire. If the show's producers want to broaden their demographic, they might find their answer in Kansas City.

"It's sort of like Kathie and Regis, but it's more like two silly college kids cooking college food," reports Alison Saunders of Sister Mary Rotten Crotch, whose band plans to be the guests on Spatula City, a Webcast cooking/variety show. Think of it as Ainsley Harriott with film students instead of a British guy and lots of punk rockers.

"Oh, we're going to play some songs," assures Saunders. "I'm not clear as to if any of them have seen us, but they've heard us, and they should know what they're getting into. So they may not be fully prepared for the onslaught, but they've had a taste."

Apparently, director Amy Heckerling (Clueless, Fast Times at Ridgemont High), one of the players behind www.nibblebox.com, had a taste of Sister Mary too and decided what she liked, as did the two highly educated fans who chose the group to perform and be guests for the pilot taping.

"The site is geared toward college students, and they already had a couple of shows on there that emphasize music," says Michael O'Brien, who is co-producing the series with Matt Blum, both of whom are self-professed music fans and, of course, college students. "Since college kids go through the whole 'Oh, what do I cook?' phase, and since we like bands, we just sort of combined the two."

As brilliant as that sounds, according to O'Brien, not everyone was blown away when they heard the idea. "We actually pitched this idea to KU's TV station, but they hated the idea." Instead O'Brien took advantage of a lecture by site founder and director Doug Liman (Swingers, Go) to grasp Liman's groundbreaking concept for "taking entertainment to the Internet" and actually mold something entertaining to fit that cliché.