I was involved in college radio in the mid-nineties and also interned at a local commercial station. We were using CDs then. Some vinyl but mostly discs.
Are most larger stations now still using CDs or have they transitioned to some type of purely digital (MP3, MP4) medium?
Larger stations tend to use digital automation systems with music provided either by the corporate office or by a syndicate. Once in a blue moon, they’ll play a CD if they have to.
There’s not much art in radio anymore.
Let’s take a hypothetical “independent” radio station, without a corporate or network feed. Why would they even bother with CDs? Couldn’t the whole operation be done on a laptop?