Oregon Media Insiders

Commercial broadcasting doesn't deserve most of the former colleagues I see in these comments. The corporate bigwigs worry about the declining value of their stock even as they fire, layoff or demote the very people who provide the content people once tuned in to listen to.

Yes, technological change like the iPod has had some effect, but commercial broadcasting and newspapers are suffering much more from the same problem since they simply became "properties" and "corporate assets." Vastly overpaid corporate managers have become so chintzy and greedy that they have cut content to the point where there is nothing to watch or listen too anymore. So the audience just vaporizes.

Virtually all commercial radio stations in Oregon have smaller market shares than they did when they were locally owned and locally programmed.

Fortunately, I spend a good part of the year living on a boat in Washington's San Juan Islands where Pacific Lutheran University's KPLU and CBC 2 still broadcasts real radio! And yeah, I have an iPod ;-)