Nice topic Everett... and I like the lyrics of your song. Well done.

Back in the 50's I used to visit a local DJ at a Texarkana radio station... and he was free to play whatever he darn well pleased. Pop music back then was a far cry from what is has evolved into today and country music was evolving from Country and Western into just plain country. (We now call it "traditional.")

My point is that I could walk into the station unannounced, he would wave me into the "live booth" and I could sit quietly listening to his banter between songs. I could even fetch LP's and 45's for him to que up... or re-file them. Try to do that today... ain't happening.

Payola was beginning to enter the picture but was not a dominant factor like today. Almost every station was "non-aligned" and relatively indepenent. At that time, the mix was about 75% Pop, 20% Country and everything else fought for the remaining 5%.

Television had barely entered the picture and was pretty awful for the most part... so, Radio was "where it was" during my teenage years. We listened as often as we could... mostly in some rich kid's parent's car... LOL!

Today, with the advent of crap mongers like "Clear Channel" and the Payola influence, Radio pretty well sucks with a few exceptions. It's wonderful to be able to hear a Traditional Country Station. They still play just about anything they want to spin and have a nice balance of spins to commercials.

Regardless, I don't have much time to listen anymore... and I have begun to seriously limit watching TV (badly in need of censorship) except for the tabloid news (FOX and CNN) and one needs to watch both to attempt to filter out the malarky from the truth. We don't get much truth in this country anymore.

Oh for the good old days. Marc, I hope you are correct about Clear Channel. Their demise has been predicted for quite some time but they keep hangin' on. I have my shovel ready just in case. Believe me, it will be a quick and irreverant funeral... LOL!