All of it was brought upon themselves. Bad decisions. Bad drunk sailor opening at corporate level with nonsense bonus clauses when the plebes are drowning at the local level.

I get all that, but all that (other than the bonus clauses, I guess) is now 'baked in,' so to speak. The ship has sailed, the money is gone. The more pressing issue is that radio ad revenue is down 15% from pre-pandemic levels and projected to decline further (https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/research/broadcast-outlook-2024-challenges-opportunities-facing-us-tv-radio-stations). So, with less ad revenue coming in, radio is going to have to make some choices. Just continuing to do things they way they've always been done isn't going to cut it.

This is no longer 1970. Or 1980. There is a healthy overnight lifestyle. Not clubbers, but people working in various trades. Once again, offer nothing, so have them go reply on apps or other sources for info!

Well, this is from 2019, but study from Westwood One showed overnight (midnight - 6am) represented less than 5% of radio listening:

https://www.westwoodone.com/blog/2019/02/19/perception-vs-reality-drive-time-isnt-the-only-time-for-am-fm-radio/

That percentage may be higher in Chicago, and I respect what you're saying about the tradespeople working overnights, I just still think it's such a small pool of listeners overnight that if radio has to start making choices on where to cut, making cuts that will affect the least amount of listening seems like a smart choice.

(I'll go out on a limb and assume that no, the execs aren't going to cut their own salaries, so some other savings will need to be identified.) And we're talking about a whole 3 hours in total (midnight-1am, 3-5a) where WBBM isn't live.

Not sure what you enjoy? It is like trying to jump start a 1960 Corvette that has been stripped to the frame. Just not happening.

I get that, I feel that way about newspapers -- I used to love reading the Trib and local papers when traveling, now it's not even worth picking up a copy of the Trib or most other local newspapers.

As for what I still enjoy about radio? I still like finding new music on the radio. I still enjoy listening to WXRT, as much as I miss Lin and dislike some of the cuts Audacy made (like Mary Dixon). I love XRT's Saturday morning flashback. Even with 'only' 21 hours of live news a day, I think Chicago still has some great radio news coverage, from WBBM and WBEZ. I admittedly don't listen to these stations as much, but I'm also a fan of the Drive and Bob Stroud's midday show. And Chicago has one of the best classical music stations in the country in WFMT.

So yeah, there'a lot I miss from radio's heyday, but I think there's still plenty of good radio out there to enjoy today.