I think you can only get it on the far-North side and in the North 'burbs, but:
92.7 - "Nine FM" is pretty freakin' good!
Their motto is "We Play Anything"

It's pretty much true, and it makes for a pretty awesome station.
I've heard:
Blues
Country
Indie
90's "alternative"
Soul
"Classic Rock"

and sometimes, several of these styles in the same set.
It's refreshing and a lot of fun.
And, amazingly, tihs is a commercial station!

Great! Something else to block out XRT.

it sounds like what xrt used to be...like in the 70's...when it was only on from 10pm to 7am...crap, i'm old.

My car was in the shop for a week last month and my rental didn't have a cd player or even a cassette deck so I was forced to listen to the radio for the first time in over five years.

I was surprised how absolutely horrible every station was. The only station that I could tolerate 3 songs in a row by was an AM station that played mostly Motown. Most days I'd end up just turning the radio off fearing that I'd end up getting in an accident fiddling around with it too much.

This Nine station seems like a step in the right direction but reading an article about them I see that they still utilize a playlist (albeit larger and more varied than the avg station) and the songs listed as played over an hour in November weren't very impressive to me. Free radio is such a dinosaur.

I hear you. I never bothered to hook up the antenna to my car's system, it's cd only. It's remarkable how few radio opportunities exist out here. I considered doing a show again, overnights on the weekend, but there are no public stations out here, even the local colleges (Harper, Roosevelt, various county deals) don't seem to have stations. It sucks big-time.

KEXP doesn't cease to amaze me by what they play. Never have I heard a station that keeps me listening vs. breaking out my cd's and plays much of anything that's on my cd's. I can't say it enough. KEXP is incredible. Now if it could be syndicated like NPR.

Sounds like another station has flipped to the "Jack" format...that thing's spreading like wildfire.

Commerical radio is TERRIFIED of the iPod. This format is their solution.