all time best commercial radio stations :
#1) radio free hawaii (was kpoi)
#2) knrk (before/after the clearchannel era)
#3) Live105 / KBPA, (bay area radio, honorable mention here).
all time best public stations:
#1) ktuh (college radio, university of hawaii)
#2) klc (college radio, lewis & clark college)
#3) kopb (npr with a mixture of music, classical/jazz/ethnic/electronic)
#4) kboo (local community radio, wide format)
internet radio mentions:
radio.tabla.com, somaFM, afterhoursDJ.
here's why...
#1) radio free hawaii... this station did away with the program manager in favor of the ballot box. rotation was based on democracy. the eclectic format played everything from hawaiian to punk, with songs occasionally vetoed for life. democracy never sounded so good, and this radio station kicked ass.
ktuh college radio hawaii is the closest format here. while there's no voting the students play what they want, not catering to any market or commercial interest. and well, they also play everything from hawaiian to punk!!!
#2) knrk... similar to radio free without the voting, lets progressive dj's play a wide variety of songs they like, giving this station a diverse flavor. this is actually how radio was run before the top-40 era, when stations realized they could shove the lastest pop candy tunes down our throats for ratings (high rotation format). by the way , the format was invented at a diner when someone witnessed a patron playing a song in the jukebox over, and over, and over again. we've got ipods for that now, thanks.
clearchannel took that to a new level by just running one station and beaming that to hundreds of cities. you get no flavor. you get the radio equivalent of lame beer, like budweiser (which can't even make a chech pilsner right).
in many ways klc and kpsu, the local college radio stations laid the foundation for knrk (a sort of commercial version of college radio). i would listen to klc more, if i could pick up the station. (one tenth of one watt, of *pure* power, we used to say).
with the advent of the internet you can also tune in great stations, what ever format you want, even if there isn't a terrestrial station near you with that unique format in mind. this is great.
there's my list, more or less.