Another Thing to Thank Apple For.

Apple's iPod is being cited as a reason for a rennaisance in radio, where corporate ownership and increasing concentration of the industry has decimated the variety of programming available. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that stations are beginning to greatly expand their playlists to win back former listeners who now simply pop their iPod in their car and go. 99X, the local Atlanta alternative station owned by Susquehana, had been losing listeners for years after going after trailer trash with a lineup of Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park and Godsmack. Now it is reinvigorated, playing "Alternative" standards from the 1980s and 1990s as well as modern music.

In fact, 99X DJ Steve Craig recently began stealing a march on the competition by having his own iPod randomly play any of 1,100 '80s songs every Monday for an hour at noon. (This week, his iPod spit out new wave group OMD twice, along with obscure tunes by the Buzzcocks and China Crisis.)

99X has increased its playlist by 20 percent. Other stations, like DAVE FM, have also been increasing playlists. DAVE has gone from about 500, when it was known as Z93, to over 700. Of course, some stations, especially those geared towards middle-aged women, haven't followed suit.

B98.5, a Cox Radio property, sticks with 300 well-researched songs — mostly from the '80s and '90s — 24/7. (B98.5 is part of Cox Enterprises, which also owns The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.) Since February, the soft rock station has made just three changes: two adds (Maroon 5's "She Will Be Loved" and Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway") and one subtraction. (Sheryl Crow's "First Cut is the Deepest.")

Much unlike an iPod, no? Then again, I bet middle-aged women are the worst iPod demographic.