For decades the best way to hear new music was to turn on the radio. Sure, you might get stuck with white dudes ruining great songs. You at least heard something new, and could change the station if you wanted something else to come through your speakers.

Now you can’t even change the station if you want something new.

Next month we say goodbye to another rock radio station, WBCN in Boston. Not that rock radio has been stellar lately. We’re just seeing a severe shift to top-40 radio strangling everything else.

And when’s the last time anyone thought listening to radio is about discovering new music? Apart from college radio, it’s the same songs everywhere. People who listen to the radio have no desire to find an alternative. They’re not really into music; they’re into something melodic playing in the background.