[IronJack]

I think the dramatic paradigm (pardon the buzzword) has changed. Audiences today are unwilling or unable to participate, so they expect easily digestible smarm or accept obfuscation as profundity. Radio from yesteryear required that the listener supply the visuals. But most engaging of all was literature, where the entire dramatic universe was conjured inside the reader's head.

It's more than coincidence that the increase in banal cinema has accompanied a decline in literacy. As for radio, it only exists for conservative talk and to fill up that big hole in your car's dashboard.

[MarkL]

As for radio, it only exists for conservative talk and to fill up that big hole in your car's dashboard

No kidding... Since deregulation (something that I often think is a good thing), it seems with fewer and fewer independant radio stations, it's getting harder and harder to find decent radio programs to listen to... For instance, for quite some time, my favorite show here in KC was Radio For Grownups. Imagine my suprise when I learned this last Saturday that it would be the last show... Here in KC we've lost so much "good" (from my perspective) programming... Like Neal Boortz, and Brian Wilson, who was the early morning drive guy for almost a year!

Mark