People are listening to less radio because they have alternatives that do not suck as much as radio now sucks. I hope that answer is simple enough. When people who have grown up listening to radio and who have the radio habit leave radio it means there is something wrong with radio, not with the people. So, you can put it down to a bunch of malcontents who are angry because their oldies stations are gone or maybe we're gone from a medium that no longer cares what we listen to or how we make purchasing decisions, to put it in terms that you can relate to. You think Corporate Radio is a good thing, fine, perhaps you like lifeless programming, as long as you can sell an ad against it. Maybe you think live voices on the radio are old fashion. Maybe you think the on air talent is a pain to deal with because they don't understand that making a profit is far more important than creating good radio (which really can be done simultaneously but it costs money) Rock radio has become a final option, the last place some one will look for interesting programming, music or information. It's there when the IPod is on the fritz and that's about it, its background music to keep me awake on my drive home as I punch one button after another looking for something. I don't even use a clock radio anymore, but I do tune in cable news for information I used to get on the radio (entertainment and music is, of course, out of the question). I'd like to think that any decrease in numbers would make radio think, but as you proved, you don't think at all, believing somehow that you can continue to attract people with corporate crap. When was the last time that radio introduced you to interesting new music, or new music at all? Radio used to be immediate, live and local--all anathema to the radio honchos who look upon it as nothing more than an advertising cash cow. And I won't even touch what kind of unpleasant things can happen if a major corporation such as the Bush-friendly Clear Channel owned 14 radio stations, three television stations, a couple of cable outlets and a newspaper in one major market. So you guys can wallow around in your "radio is fine" nirvana, but the truth is once the camel's nose is in the tent, the whole animal will soon follow and you could find yourself out in the cold. So, call it pontificating, but you should be concerned if only one person stop listening to radio because listeners are no longer captive and no longer replaceable.
