In a move that sounds almost utopian, a new station will hit Roanoke airwaves sometime early next week.

The Music Place, playing an eclectic combination of alternative pop and Americana music, will take over 101.5 on the FM dial, station manager Tom Kennedy said Friday. The current 101.5 The Planet will remain on the air, at 106.9 (Bedford) and 97.9 (Lynchburg), said Kennedy, who will continue to manage that station as well.

Kennedy said The Music Place is looking to serve a niche audience that doesn't necessarily fit an age demographic -- people who actively support "cultural arts" and social justice advocacy programs. Kennedy, who has run The Planet for about the past year, said he believes the audience exists, and that it is not served by the stations already established in the Roanoke market.

The station plans to air only four commercials per hour, and never more than one advertisement between songs. And instead of spending money on marketing and advertising the station, Kennedy said he plans to create partnerships with local organizations that "contribute to the lifestyle community of the city." He declined to mention any specific agencies, but said the station would likely make cash contributions to them instead of spending on marketing and ads.

The playlist will include such contemporary artists as Wilco, Ryan Adams, The Avett Brothers, Old Crow Medicine Show, Kings of Leon, Radiohead, Brandi Carlisle, Monsters of Folk, Spearhead, Richard Thompson and Lucinda Williams. Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, John Prine, Nanci Griffith and Gram Parsons will be among the classic performers the station plans to play, Kennedy said.

And ratings? They are "of no concert to us whatsoever," he said. "We are not ratings-driven. We are satisfaction-driven."

Employees are working through the weekend to get the new station, at First Street and Campbell Avenue Southwest, ready for what Kennedy hopes will be a 7 a.m. Monday launch.

It will start with two disc jockeys -- program director Sarah McClune, an FM radio veteran whose last job was at a Montgomery, Ala., station, and Tina LeValley, who had been at The Planet's sister station, WLNI-FM, a news and talk outlet in Lynchburg. Kennedy hopes to hire others soon for the 24-hour station.

Syndicated program "The Grateful Dead Hour" (Tuesdays-Sundays) and Roanoke bluesman/restaurateur Kerry Hurley's show, "Blues With A Feeling" (Wednesdays) will move to The Music Place from The Planet.