I really, really hope small town radio stations figure out how to survive and thrive in this new media world in which they find themselves. If I had The Secret Nazi Formula, I send guys out on motorcycles (with sidecars) to each and every station. But I don’t.

I’m taking a vacation day, sitting in the Coffee Zone fine-tuning one of my Pandora channels (“stations?”). I’d like to share just a couple of features:

For those unfamiliar with Pandora, it’s a streaming music service. You start by picking a song or artist and Pandora starts playing songs based on that information. You vote thumbs up or thumbs down on each song, and Pandora just keeps refining the music you hear.

If it all starts sounding a bit too similar, you can “Add Variety” (see image above). For example, I added Paul Simon and Brandi Carlile to my Pomplamoose channel. The result is so finely tuned to my musical tastes, I don’t see how any radio station could match it. They could not. And with every song I listen to (or don’t) my channel gets better.

Pandora also gives me the option to share my creation and find others who like the same music.

So. What’s missing? Commercials? Weather? Sports? News about the oil gushing into the Gulf? A funny guy to talk over the beginning of my songs? Weekly specials from my local supermarket? Maybe.