Yup, another one bites the dust! (Boston conservative host Howie Carr does a "death pool" and he plays this whenever a celeb who's been picked in the pool passes on)
In Boston Air America gave way to Spanish music on Dec 21
and an effort is underway to bring it back in 'The blue-est
city in the blue-est state'
A book I read called "Something in the Air" talked about how there have been protests over the years when the only station carrying a given format gives it up for something else (...more profitable) and people complain to the FCC
saying "they aren't serving the public interest". But in
1981 the Supreme Court ruled that stations, provided
they do the proper paperwork and serve the community
in some way, can AIR WHAT THEY PLEASE and don't step in.
If a station gives up prog talk to do something more
profitable, they can.
Compare this to Canada where, I believe, the government has to approve every format change.
In the US there are many options. If "prog talk" is gone
from your community you can get it on satellite radio--
or NPR...