Free-form
A free-form mix is based on the idea that when music of all genres is played in succession, it can bring new insights to familiar music.
When music is familiar, or choices within a genre bring no surprises, the listener will start to expect conventions and stop hearing all of the music.
DJs, too, stop listening for the qualities in the music that their selections can highlight, if they rely too much on genre or convention.
My experience came at WMFO and KUSF, both great college stations that also welcomed community members. Both stream their signals and are well worth listening to.
Like college radio, this mix uses a fixed collection, in this case LastFM. Their software shuffles the order of the tracks, which is not preferable, but not an overwhelming challenge.
Please visit our sister site at blogger for a lot more on free-form — radiola shows and links to radio history and other stations committed to the free-form format.
