In & out

* RADIO ACTIVITY If your kids say that most radio stations sound the same, they're on the right wave. Communityoriented radio's fading out fast as corporate consolidation overtakes independent stations. Big business owners rely on moreconservative playlists, syndicated programming, more commercials, less news and new music, and less local information. In a Rolling Stone interview, Robert Unmacht, publisher of the radio industry's M Street Journal, says, "It's been horrible for listeners. [Radio has gone] from a business that focused on communities to a business that's the same as any other chain."

* NINTENDO'S GOT GAME-Nintendo's latest Game Boy "game" is . .. a camera. Game Boy Camera, a cartridge attached to a miniature digital camera, lets kids take quick pics and store up to 30 photos. But that's not all-built-in software allows photos to be stitched together, cropped, placed inside each other, painted, embellished with clip art, or placed into one of four included-with-it games. Kids can turn photos into stickers with an optional Game Boy printer.

How to keep those game ideas rolling in? Nintendo's now teamed with DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond, Washington, which offers the world's first degreegranting program dedicated to video game development and computer animation. Nintendo supports the school with technical expertise and equipment. One hundred students culled from 15,000 applicants are each paying $12,000 in yearly tuition for a rigorous curriculum of math, physics, computer science, and simulation classes. The first class graduates in 2001.