I was hankering to listen to some Internet radio as I peacefully sat here in my living room updating my blog.

I went to KUCI.org in Irvine, Ca. -- which streams its shows and has some great programming. Alas, it was jazz time, and I wasn't feeling jazzy.

A Google search on online college radio station guide brought up Radio-Locator.com as the number-one search result ("Comprehensive listing of all of the Radio Stations in the World with Web Pages").

Impressive! So I click through to that site.

One option is Find Internet Streaming Radio. All one had to do was choose a format and go!

So I did. Not one electronica station out there with a live audio feed ... in the world.

Actually, they had a little question mark icon if one was wondering about the format. So I click it, and a pop-up window tells me: "We do not yet have a definition for Electronica, please check back later."

But it also had a helpful link for techno, so I click that. "We do not yet have a definition for Techno, please check back later."

Oh dear.

But it also had a helpful link for information about dance music, so I click that. "We do not yet have a definition for Dance, please check back later."

It had links for top 40 and urban contemporary. Bingo!

"Also known as Current Hit Radio (CHR) these stations focus their play lists on the top-40 hits of the national music charts. The music includes the most popular hits in pop, rock, R&B, and hip hop. The target audience is young adults between the ages of 15 and 30," the blurb said about top 40.

"Typical artists heard on Top-40 stations include: Christina Aguilera, Brittney Spears, Lil' Kim, Mya, Pink, Janet Jackson, Uncle Kracker, Smashmouth, Destiny's Child, Jennifer Lopez, Nelly Furtado, Dido, Crazytown, Madonna."

Unfortunately, I would rather drive an ice pick through my own ear than listen to most top 40, so the 53 online top-40 stations the search turned up did me little if any good.

However, as useless as Radio-Locator turned out to be, an About.com article pointed me to PenguinRadio's college radio station list. OK, I wound up listening to some show from West Chester University's WCUR.fm that ended up alternating between metal, grunge and hiphop, but it was interesting programming.

Upon digging deeper into the above guide, however, it lists all radio stations, not just college ones.

And now, a question: Does anyone have any recommendations for a good  guide to online non-commercial college or community radio, or any stations you particularly like?

(n Toronto, I listen a lot to CIUT.fm, less so to CKLN.fm, but I don't need the Internet to do so. But I like to try other stations from time to time just for the thrill of discovery, if nothing else. :)