Radio daze

I have six buttons on my car radio. Because I am a mad station switcher with varied tastes, the buttons tend to get a workout. The are (in ascending order up the dial) a classic rock station, a country station, an oldies station, a hard rock station, a modern rock station and an adult contemporary/mix station. The mix station has been around for as long as I can remember. It was the top 40 station when I was a kid, then morphed into adult contemporary as the music on the top 40 changed, but their playlist didn't. Their tagline when I was in college was "The best mix of the 70's, 80's and today!" As we left the 90's, the tagline changed to "The best mix of the 80's, 90's and today!" I turned the station on a week or so ago, and the tagline is now "The best mix of...everything!" Everything? So, I'll going to hear Artie Shaw followed by Incubus? Percy Sledge, Sister Sledge, Twisted Sister? So I decided to listen to the station for the entire ride home last night, not switching away when a commercial came on, just to see what they mean by "everything." The playlist for my drive: How You Remind Me, Nickelback And She Was, Talking Heads Everywhere, Michelle Branch Bohemian Rhapsody, Queen Head Over Heels, The Go-Gos My Own Worst Enemy, Let Brass in Pocket, The Pretenders In a Little While, Uncle Kracker Clocks, Coldplay Hip to be Square, Huey Lewis and the News And We Danced, The Hooters Lady, Lenny Kravitz Who Loves You (I think that's the title- it's the song with the "Who loves you, pretty baby/Who's gonna help you through the night/Who loves you, pretty mama/Who's always there to make it right"), Frankie Valli Superman, REM I Know, Dionne Farris Jump, Van Halen Here is Gone, Goo Goo Dolls Higher Love, Steve Winwood Rock This Town, Stray Cats Well. It's a mix, alright. So I started to ponder: who is the target demographic here? Do our Frankie Valli fans also like Coldplay? Is Nickelback opening on Brian Setzer's next tour? Then I realized that I was able to sing along with every song. I didn't know all the words to all of the songs, but I spent most of the ride singing along with what I was hearing. So basically, I'm their target audience. That station is going down in flames in no time, because I'm a heck of a small niche.