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Back in the early 90's I worked for a small record label. At that time it was still actually possible to get unknown bands on the radio because there were still a lot of independently owned radio stations and college radio stations. They might not have huge audiences, but their audiences were passionate.
Now, as the graphic shows, those are pretty much all gone. Not only do a few companies now own just about all the stations the also have the FCC in their pocket so when new licenses are made available they make sure to get them as well.
The internet killed college radio as well. Those colleges still have stations, but they now broadcast online and with all the other options hardly anyone listens to them. These days it takes a lot of money and connections to get on the radio. If you can you can be huge in no time because they all play the same songs, but it is a very exclusive club.
It is pretty sad.
Also, the same thing can be said about the news. Dan Rather was on Bill Maher the other night and he was talking about how basically 6 companies now control all the news in the US.
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