I'm not talking about hearing the latest band, I'm talking about it's a generation that will be left behind, and one that does engage with radio. So radio will be even deader.
All of the things you identified won't change the fact that people don't buy radio devices anymore. That's not a recent thing. It happened a long time ago. It changed at the same time you were on the air doing the bits you talked about, playing the music you've been talking about. KEGL could make all the changes you want, and it won't get people to throw away they computers & phones, and instead buy radios. So you have to start there.
Then you have to talk about the music. The music changed completely in the 90s. It became more individual. When you were growing up, you could identify an entire generation by the music they listen to. Not so now. Everybody has their personal favorites, and that's what they want to hear. They know what they like, and they don't need or want a DJ to tell them what to like.
I'm primarily talking about rock and alternative music. You don't see this problem in country. You never see people arguing over music in country. You go over to KSCS, and more than half of their music is either currents or recurrents. They're breaking new artists every day. It's become such a incredible place that artists like Jelly Roll and Hardy, who previously had hits in the rock world, have taken their careers to country radio. Right now, the biggest record on country radio is Post Malone's duet with Morgan Wallen. Right behind that, you have Kane Brown & Marshmello. Why don't you see that in rock or alternative radio? That's the question you should be asking.
There are literally tons of amazing NEW ROCK artists coming out each and every day, with brand new music that is astonishingly good not just in sound quality but also in artist integrity and originality.
Read what I just wrote above. You're right. They're coming out, making great new music that exists in obscurity because it lacks record label promotion and focus. Just playing new rock bands on the radio is not enough. That may have worked 40 years ago, but it doesn't work now. There needs to be an organized machine that promotes the music the way it was done 30 or 40 years ago. Read the books by the people who were in the music business back then. Remember how it was done. Because it's not being done in rock music anymore. Rock bands get signed, and they're on their own. No promo, no publicity. They find their audience by touring all the time and by super-serving their fan base. But it takes more than that to move to the next level the way the bands of the 80s & 90s did.
What I'm saying is it's not just a radio problem. KEGL could change their approach and play 50% currents like KSCS, and it wouldn't work. You'd see pages of people arguing about why are they playing this and not that. Only in the rock format do you see that. You don't see it in Urban, Country, or any other radio format. The various Hispanic formats are very popular and very well managed. That's why a Spanish language radio station KLNO is #1 in Dallas and in all of the demographics.
My view is that iHeart could have changed KEGL to a country station and it would immediately double its share. Why? Because the country radio audience has more consensus about their music & lifestyle. They're like Taylor Swift fans. They don't get tired of hearing the same songs, they don't complain about too much old music because country radio only plays currents and recurrents. Gold on the country is ten years old. They blew up KPLX and put all the 25 year old songs there. Country is the new pop. The musicians know it, the record labels know it, the artists know it, and the fans know it. Coachella was started as a big rock festival. Now it's all pop, and the biggest festival is Stagecoach. This year they saw Jelly Roll, Eric Church, Morgan Wallen, Post Malone, and Hardy. It was the biggest story in music.
For anyone that questions the validity of this statement I would say to just go on Spotify and search for new releases.
You're exactly right. Lots of new music that no one's heard of. At the same time, do the same search for country new releases, and it's all being played right now on country radio. Why is country radio able to play currents, and rock radio isn't? Consensus. No arguments over the music. Everyone agrees that this is great music, so it gets played. That's what's missing from rock.