The problem is, cost of stations is now so inflated (thanks Clearchannel) that folks with vision and an alternative cannot afford to play anymore. Those with vision are few, far between and are all among the 20% of the remaining stations that weren't gobbled up in the past 15 years.
There is another issue: source. Despite the payola scandals of the '70s, it still exists, but Reganified (sorry, BeeP, couldn't resist). It's now sanitized, made respectable (sorta), institutionalized, until now, what was once illegal is now expected. The only outfits that can pay the juice are the "Big 5" (Sony, Warner, EMI, Bartlesman, and whoever I forgot as the fifth bastard). What do they pay for? The artists for whom they have the biggest A&R budgets; that is, the megastars -- the proven producers whose names are automatically equated with sales, regardless of how badly their latest opus was mailed in.
So consider: You have most of the outlets in the hands of the few (or the one), and you have most of the source in the hands of the few, and they stroke each other outputing the S.O.S. over and over and overandoverandoverandoverandoverandoverandover....
you get the idea.
So where's the new stuff (you know...the stuff you want to listen to) coming from? And where are you gonna hear it?
I don't either!
Given this, does anyone really believe that the reason radio ratings continue to decline, and record sales continue to decline, is because of KaZaA?