Why does one get the feeling that the people developing and implementing AI technology for radio stations that can pinpoint a song's “rhythmic profile, chordal, melodic content, harmonic and amplitude over time," mix it with another song “in concordance with the salient temporal moments" and add sound effects, background music and other stuff to complete a “more engaging overall consumption experience"—a thing that humans are biologically designed to do really, really well, at relatively modest salaries—are the same people who go on TWITTER or FACEBOOK to ask their friends to recommend some great new music because the algorithms that control their discovery on SPOTIFY and APPLE MUSIC aren't cutting it? That's a trick question. Everybody is either on Twitter or Facebook asking their friends for music or hanging out on those platforms answering their friends' questions. Everybody misses that human connection. Everybody craves vinyl, or mixtapes, or record store clerks, or some kind of carbon-based way of discovering the next salient temporal moment with a good beat or a cool sound or something interesting to say or, hallelujah, all of that. (It's possible "salient temporal moment with a good beat" is redundant, sorry, but I quit physics after freshman year so I have no idea.) Sooner or later, everybody will flock to a service or platform that offers exactly that. Human selectors. I swear it's the next great breakthrough after AI powered curation runs its course. I understand the need to compete with the PANDORAs and YOUTUBEs of the world, to keep up with them technologically, financially and creatively. I love some of their technology. But why just keep up with them? Why not leap a step or two ahead? Go back to the analog, warm-blooded basics before they do. It's possible, just possible, you're already there... Addendum 1: By "modest salaries," I mean shoutout to D'EDWIN "BIG KOSH" WALTON, a victim of this month's IHEARTRADIO layoffs, who was getting $12/hour to be a weekend on-air personality at Columbus, Ohio, hip-hop station THE BEAT, and who worked a second job as a server at OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE... Addendum 2: If the AI creating a more engaging overall consumption experience at IHEART's country stations is allowed to play two female artists in a row, I take it all back and give the AI my blessing... Earplug vending machines is a fantastic idea... Wuhan, China, is "Punk City"... ON THE RECORD, the doc about RUSSELL SIMMONS' accusers that was dropped by OPRAH WINFREY and APPLE PLUS, has a new home at HBO MAX... BRIAN WILSON is very very opposed to "The BEACH BOYS touring group licensed by MIKE LOVE" playing at a trophy-hunting convention and he'd like you to sign a CHANGE.ORG petition to protest the show, and I'd like someone to start a Change.org petition to make that the official legal name of the Beach Boys touring group... An even more worthy cause: this GOFUNDME for MARS VOLTA/RACER X bassist JUAN ALDERETE, who's recovering from a devastating bicycle accident... RIP J. SCOTT and PETER SERKIN.