The More Things Change, the More They Remain the Same
The model for radio talent is - and has been - as follows:
1) Develop your skills. If you have talent, and work to develop it, you'll be able to get a job.
2) Once you get a job, shut up, work hard, and develop an audience. Get to know the community and the people in it. Treat phone calls, remotes, and appearances as a way to meet your audience, not avoid them. Try to make these meetings a positive experience for everybody. If you do this successfully, you should see an increase in ratings.
3) Point out the increase in ratings, and ask for an increase in compensation. Please be advised that a single book "bump" is not an increase in ratings. It takes 2 or 3 books to show a real uptick. In a 1 book per year market, that means 2 or 3 years of consistent gains. Alternatively, build relationships with advertisers that make them request you for remotes, appearances, voiceovers, etc. This establishes your value to the company.
4) If there's no increase in compensation, assume that the company doesn't value you. Do you really want to work for a company that doesn't value you? Maybe it's time to start looking for a company that does.
5) Take some advice from Deep Throat. "Follow the MONEY". If you're talented enough, and work hard enough, you'll eventually find a place that pays you enough to be comfortable, and where you like to work. Continue to work hard, continue to connect to you audience, and enjoy the ride.
6) Someday, somebody else will buy the station and screw it up. If you've been professional and gracious, the guys across the street will welcome you with open arms, and you'll take your audience with you. The new owners will wonder why they aren't able to make the "projections" they sold to stockholders, and you'll be able to smile every time you think of it. Alternatively, you'll be hitting the road and searching for that next "comfortable" spot. Save some money while you're employed as a hedge against that day.
Of course, wives, kids, and family responsibilities have a way of rewriting this career plan...