NothingMan, I think everyone here understands why commercial radio is the way it is - some of us are just saying it sucks. That’s why I was pushing KZUM in my post (currently in the middle of the Zydeco Cajun Breakfast show). I won’t hear a repeat or a top 40 dreck song all day.
-mdf
On the way home from work last night, I was flipping through the radio, and heard the most bizarre thing on a commercial station…
(not exact words)
‘Before we wrote the greatest rock anthem, Freebird…’
‘Before we were the rockers from Alabama…’
‘Before we travelled the ocuntry, played in sold-out arenas, etc…’
‘We were on the radio. We got our start on the radio. We’re Lynard Skynard.’
<scratches head> Lynard Skynard…doing an ad…for radio? No station, just the medium, apparently. 
It might be something from RAB, to promote radio as a media. They do stuff like that and stations throw them in as fillers in the commercial breaks, just like they do with PSAs and Red Cross stuff.
You know, most poeple aren’t really passionate about music. They’ll download a couple of songs from the latest U2 album, get a compilation with classic songs for Christmas, fork up $20 for a CD and give to the kids. They like music, but the interest doesn’t go much further than that. And they’re the majority.
If a station started playing music for people interested in music, the station would alienate the majority with all the obscure stuff, at least obscure for the average listener. Many times it sucks to be a DJ, because the reason you went in to the business was your love for music.
And finally, stations spend fortunes on testing music on focus groups. And they test everything within the range of the format. What you hear on the air is a reflection of the taste of the public - not an evil plan brought on by Clear Channel
I heard Avril Levigne doing one of those too. I think over-the-air radio is getting freaked out by the popularity of XM.
It’s the same way you’ll catch the cable TV industry showing ads saying how much better they are than satelite, or the beef industry telling us it’s ‘what’s for dinner,’ or the cotton industry telling us how comfortable they make our ass cheeks feel.
Happy
It wasn’t RAB, but the closely associated NAB. It’s indeed a campaign to promote radio as a media.
Another thing - while there’s a consensus in this thread that commercial radio sucks, 2004 was the best year ever with revenues hitting 20 billion.