RADIO REVIEW : The New 101.9: Hit and Miss

Finally, a commercial station that plays more than just the hits. Finally, a station that finds a place for such distinguished and sophisticated pop music figures as Richard Thompson and Sam Phillips. Finally, a station that knows that good segues can take you from Tori Amos to U2 to Elvis Costello and make it sound like one piece of music.

On those counts, the new KSCA-FM (101.9) is a welcome addition to the L.A. radio landscape.

So why is it so hard to listen to the station for any length of time without nodding off?

Well, a lack of personality for one thing. The deejays are universally perky but characterless--and generally without the kind of passion that should accompany the musical voyage of discovery the station purports to offer.

Speaking of which: KSCA’s playlist has not been exactly what you’d call a trek into uncharted territory. Rarely does it stray too far from the safe ground of its central realm, the romantic-topical musings of such singer-songwriters as Sheryl Crow and David Wilcox, with Joni Mitchell and Jackson Browne serving more or less as the patron saints.

They’ll play Peter Gabriel and David Byrne but not the world music artists those pop stars have championed; they’ll play Eric Clapton but not the blues giants that inspired him. Similarly, the forays into reggae, country and even alternative rock are fairly timid, with nothing more adventurous than such worthy but predictable choices as Bob Marley, Nanci Griffith or Gin Blossoms, respectively, getting air time.

And there’s waaaay too much in the oldies department--even if they’re oldies that we haven’t heard for a while. One would hope that KSCA’s ambition would be more than just to make KLSX’s “classic rock” obsolete.

The key for a station like KSCA to succeed is for listeners to never know what might be played next but be eager to find out. So far it’s failed in that mission.