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Another reason that radio sucks is due to the ever-growing death of regionalism. Used to be that radio stations were staffed by people who lived in the area of the station. Now many stations are automated and all of the "talent" is voice-tracked from a studio in Burbank. This destroys the station's ability to be a community outlet and it also destroys a station's chance at have a unique voice. It leads to this overall Clear Channel-fed blandness that's taking over everything.
Thirty years ago, a radio station could break a local band simply by playing that band's single. Now it's impossible for independant artists to get any airtime at all, save for some stations who have specialized "local music" shows. I'm actually fortunate that a couple stations in Chicago do have these locally-oriented shows. But why is it that these bands have to be tucked away into a special program? Why can't they just be added to regular rotation? Because program directors (amd more importantly DJ's) aren't allowed to take chances. And if they do, their coroporate masters replace them without a second thought.
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