Music radio isn’t really failing, it’s probably the cheapest radio to program. Most CC stations are canned and voice-tracked by jocks in NY or Los Angeles. Then you have filler fluff material from intellectual lightweights like Ryan Seacrest, John Tesh and Leeza Gibbons who cater to the lowest common denominator among us. As well as VH1 Classic Rock Nights, closet libs Bob and Tom and other syndicated music fare.
Music is failing from a sales standpoint. Yes, it’s cheap to program relatively but getting killed by iPods and so on. Fewer folks are looking to radio for their music.
The reason CC exercised their right to program Rush on their own stations was their failing music formats. That’s the reason Rush has moved from a lot of traditional talk AM stations in the past year to formerly music FMs in the same market. There are no doubt exceptions to this, but this is the general trend line.