Still in the box.

Last week, consultant Jaye Albright blogged about how two Chicago stations are actually producing four or five formats for their various "channels." Including two digital HD subchannels and a Web site stream. What strikes me about the formats they're providing is how basically the same they are. Here's the list:

WJMK-FM -- "Jack FM" - "randomly" selected pop-rock hits
WJMK-FM HD2 -- "Greatest Hits of the 60s and 70s"
WJMK ONLINE -- www. wjmk.com
WUSN-FM -- "America's Country Station"
WUSN-FM -- "Chicago's Future Country"

Hmm, I guess country listeners don't have computers. Of course, this is currently moot, because the number of HD Radios out there is miniscule. It's good that stations are starting to put the subchannels on the air, and I suppose they'll have to wait and see what'll work on them, but this list is an example of the narrowness of radio thinking about what constitutes a "different" format. That they think, for instance, that playing new country tunes (which is, I think, what "Chicago's Future Country" means) presents such a risk that it can only be done on the subchannel. Even in a time of crisis, radio doesn't innovate.