What Happened to Radio?

I am often puzzled by human behavior. I admit to being woefully behind the times, in some ways, but I cannot understand why radio has died out. I have tried to listen a bit and I am stunned at how lousy it is. Why?

Radio, once upon a time, was a vibrant, even unpredictable media. The hosts were eccentric, funny, and reasonably bright. They still had some control over how they ran their shows and even programmed their own music. I, and I am showing my age here, even remember 'free form' radio. Yes, on a goodly number of FM stations around the country, hosts did exactly what they wanted. They said what they wanted (the one exception - no profanity) and they played what they wanted. Even on more restricted station, there was a lot of leeway in what they played, which means that when they played an artist, they might play anything from an album, not just the one or two 'hits.'

Slowly, that has left u,s until now, radio is a morass of crap. Stations that play the same songs, again and again, talk shows by hosts who are just shy of being raving lunatics, with an occasional near-fascist thrown in. News programs that recycle news, over and over. A smattering of "Christian' stations that either preach a frothy 'New Age' kind of religion or the old style, damnation and brimstone faith.

Yeah, I know, there is satellite radio, but why do we have to pay for that when we used to get great programming for free. The stations made their real money off advertising, and they made plenty.

Part of the problem came about with the rise of consultants. These idiots, who have also ruined TV, movies, book stores and many other businesses, encourage sameness. If there polls show that folks like Nigerian folks songs or Indian ragas, we'll soon have station after station playing nothing but that. And, seemingly, no one, with enough money to own a radio station is willing to take any sort of risk. Of course that is because, more and more stations are owned by fewer and fewer companies.

People wonder what is wrong with the World today. I am of the opinion that the biggest problem is that we are all willing to settle for mediocrity.