A Music Lovers Lament

This is very high school of me, but I have to get it off my chest. Our main car has no radio. We have survived off of cds for a long time. However, in the recent days, I've had to borrow my mom's car. That car's radio works fine, but no cd player. At first, I was really excited about the prospect of listening to the radio, not an everyday treat for me. Then, I tuned in to some of our local radio stations. Here in the greater Tupelo/Corinth area there are very limited music choices. You have your all country stations, all rap station, and all rock station. Then you have your 2 "hits and favorites" stations. So, I expected to hear hits, as well as favorites. Boy was I wrong. These stations are great if you want to hear music to the likes of Lil Wayne, Rhiannah, Taylor Swift, and, as Kidd Kradick eloquently puts it 3 Doors Creedleback. Plus, all the stuff that I got sick of listening to a year ago. Don't get me wrong, I don't have any problem with any of these, in moderation. Do you know how many times I've heard Circus by Brittney Spears in the past few days? Again, nothing wrong with that song. I actually liked it...the first 500 times I heard it. But really, is there nothing else out there? Are we as listeners limited to the top tens and thats it? I worked at a radio station for almost 5 years. I know how it works. The songs are preloaded according to their current rank on the billboard charts. Which is awesome, I want to hear what's popular and doing well. But what about those small underground bands? Just because they aren't in the top ten, doesn't mean that their music isn't any good. Why can't the radio be like a good mix tape? I recently found a "mix" cd from my high school years. Listening to it, I was kind of amazed at how eclectic it really was. One cd had (excuse my list, these were my "rebellious" years) Faith Hill, Blink 182, NSYNC, Eminem, 36 Mafia, Marilyn Manson, Kenny Chesney, a couple of songs from Alladin, Incubus, some punk group whose name I never knew, The Drop Kick Murphys, and I finished it up with a couple of church songs. Yea, I had some chart toppers on there, but I also had a few things that I'm not ever sure what was. What has happened to the music industry that we are only offered what the general public wants to hear? I'm not saying there's not good music out there, I'm just saying it's not offered in good ole Boonevegas. I once saw a video on VH1 that was somewhere in the top 5 of the countdown, and it was 6 months before I ever heard it played here. Well, excuse my rant. I'm now off to itunes to make a new mix cd to enjoy and stick it to the man, well, the radio man anyway. (sorry dad ha)