U.S. radio stations increasingly are adopting the so-called random format to please the iPod generation. The format allows a station to play whatever it pleases instead of being locked to one format. The new format is seen as a way to appeal to listeners used to loading their own iPods with music from different genres or to keep the loyalties of those thinking about switching to satellite, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. "A lot of radio stations are sanitized and corporate. They're playing it safe," says Chuck Tweedle with Bonneville International Corp., which owns three stations in San Francisco and 20 around the country. "Take that and contrast it with the amazing success of the iPod. A lot of folks, myself included, have a diverse selection of music on the iPod and put it on shuffle." "We play anything" is the mantra of another station, whose afternoon mix moves from Boz Scaggs to Prince to Cheap Trick. © Copyright 2005 by United Press International

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