This has been building for some time but it is now growing so fast that it cannot be ignored.
The shuffle factor, made mainstream by the iPod but utilised for years previous as Random Selection on desktop audio players and CD systems, is now influencing radio so much that a new format has arrived and is gaining traction big-time.
Jack Radio is a genre-bending "train wreck" of end-to-end songs akin to the selection diversity one might come across on an iPod set in Shuffle mode with upwards of 1000-1500 songs.
On mine, (2,200+ songs) Julian Cope can come up before Roots Manuva and on Sunday, the faithful G3 was shuffling through the library and we heard Portishead (Glorybox from Dummy) before Interpol headed off Patsy Cline. Only the huge capacity made possible by the iPod has created the template for the disjunctive surprise of 'What's coming next?' that many people now enjoy.
There's a kind of poetry to this as the iTunes code serves up this randomness and we are tempted to wonder whether there isn't a bit of AI going on here. How much is the thing learning from me?
It just goes to show how we are all rediscovering how much great music there is and has been rather than filling up on the average of the moment sounds. Even if you are a white guy who's not quite as cool as he thinks he is.
If Jack Radio is going to be a serious contender in the radio formats of the future then I'm sure we'll see many flavours of Jack.
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