As others have noted, there has been no inevitability in the way in which radio has developed so far, and thus there are a number of possible directions that broadcasting might take in the future, particularly as both producers and consumers are invited to re-imagaine radio in the age of the web. Currently, however, the tendancy toward shared stances and styles, organized across a a limited selection of sounds results in a kind of generic representation of "alternative" music on the Web. It priviledges coherhence at the expense of the disruptive tensions that are often acknowledged as central to the politics and place of popular music. If web radio is to make a contribution to our contemporary soundscape, programmers will need to become more selfconscious about the possibilitis of a new "world-space,"more willing to experiment with "radio."

---------------------------------

---