The fun of calling a radio DJ to request a song is usually tempered by the cruel possibility that it won't fit thematically in his epic two-hour Smashmouth rock-block. Fight the power, on Jelli.

San Mateo-based Jelli's a web-based radio channel that draws upon an ever-expanding catalog of mainly contemporary and throwback alternative rock (plus some electro n' hip hop), using addictively simple, digg-ish crowd sourcing technology to create dynamic n' continuous playlists populated by whatever the most users wanna hear -- all in all, the best work distraction since...radio. How it works: Jelli's thousands of songs're ranked by votes and also alphabetically browseable; to help elect good tunes into contention to play next, check them off (or vote bad ones down with an X), and when whatever's playing ends, the tune with the most votes tallied starts up, so if you really want to hear "Come Baby Come", you'd better start looking now for the cassingle. Shaking up the process are "rockets" (which catapult any song to the top for consideration), "bombs" (which take any song you can't bear to hear out of the running), and a chat room where anyone can opine on what's playing or suggest themes for song-blocks, which've recently included "80s Madness" and "Shatner Tunes", but not "Shatner Madness" because that would've melted the Internet.

Jelli's feed hits the actual airwaves on Live 105, after "Soundcheck", from 10pm-12am on Sundays, offering you the cruel possibility...to stay up late on a school night!

Add this to My Thrillist

Do you think you're ready for this Jelli.net?