I think radio is in worse shape in Canada due to government regulations there, specifically the CanCon mandate that requires 35% or more of music played on Canadian radio stations is by Canadian artists. So Canadian radio stations are forced to add in music folks don't necessarily want to hear while competing against Spotify and Apple Music -- which aren't obligated to play a minimum percentage of Canadian music, and where folks can hear just what they want.

And not to be a Debbie Downer, but yes, it seems like the trajectory of the radio industry really is "that bad." All 3 of the largest US radio broadcasters have been through (or are still in) bankruptcy. Quarterly earnings for the big 3 have generally been either losses or very modest profits for years now. Station values and ad revenue are both plummeting -- look at the fire sale prices for formerly marquee properties like WABC and WPLJ in New York. Emmis still can't find someone to meet their asking price of $50M for WEPN 98.7 in NYC -- a station Emmis bought in 1994 for $68M (or about $140M in 2024 dollars, when adjusted for inflation).

Back in February, when Bell Media announced a sell-off of many of their Canadian radio stations, one of their execs said: "We've effectively sold off half of our radio portfolio. That's a significant divestiture and it's because it's not a viable business anymore ... We will continue to operate ones that are viable, but this is a business that is going in the wrong direction."

Here in the US, you can point to Audacy overpaying for the CBS stations and Cumulus and iHeart also racking up unsustainable debt loads. All of which was dumb, but that's in the past. In the here and now, radio listenership is in decline (look at the cume numbers or stats for people using radio now vs 10 years ago) and revenue is shrinking as ad spending follows users to online platforms.

So, given the large-scale decline of the industry, I roll my eyes when I see the complaints about the lack of live & local overnight hosts. There are so few people listening overnight, the ratings are meaningless, ad revenue overnight is near zilch -- why on earth would radio groups invest money in overnights instead of their daytime schedule, when people are actually listening? Put it another way, which would you rather do to balance the budget at WBBM: cut a news reporter or the overnight traffic reporter letting you know there's still nothing happening with traffic at 3am?

If you think things are bad because there's no overnight hosts in Chicago, you should check out an Audacy, Cumulus, or iHeart station in one of their smaller markets, where staff reductions make the loss of overnight hosts in the large markets look like small potatoes.

I don't think we're too far away from national formats here in the US (already common elsewhere), heavier use of AI "announcers" and wide-scale shutdowns of unprofitable legacy AM stations sitting on real estate that's worth more than the station. So for myself, I'd rather try to enjoy what's left of radio while I still can, instead of constantly lamenting what's already been lost.