Radio, a once highly revered medium of entertainment, is faced with virtual obsoleteness.

According to an Aug. 16 article in “Rolling Stone,” listenership is slowly but surely dwindling down to a toothpick, especially for younger listeners. The number of listeners and the amount of time they listen to the radio dropped 10 percent for teenagers and 8 percent for the 18 to 24 age group since 1998.

The generation that generates most of the sales for such musical geniuses as J.Lo and the Backstreet Boys could just not be interested in something as ancient as the radio, instead turning its short attention span to MTV regurgitations like “Total Request Live.”

For the 18 to 24 age range, radio’s popularity may be fizzling because of its limited playlists, governed by media mergers among corporations because of the deregulation of radio by the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Radio promoters also have fused their control over what songs are presented to radio stations, leading to the same playlist finding its way to every major radio station faster than Pink finding a tacky outfit to wear to MTV’s Video Music Awards.

One wonders why Staind’s “It’s Been Awhile” (which was half-way decent after Fred Durst’s random gasps of stupidity were nixed) and Linkin Park’s “One Step Closer” are played every half-hour on the half-hour by radio stations like WKQX (101.1 FM).

Market research might give these radio stations some idea of what listeners want to hear, but it’s easy to become weary of radio when instead of exposing listeners to good new music, it plays the same 20 inflictions over and over again.

It’s pathetic that 30,000 CDs are released every year and only a tiny percentage of them actually gets heard because they don’t necessarily possess the “fly off the shelves” quality as the likes of Destiny’s Child and Aaron Carter.

The need for radio is minimizing because of a slew of alternatives, such as the option of downloading music off the Internet. It’s more appealing because of its vaster and more diverse music library. The accessibility to innumerable Internet and satellite radio stations may add to the decline of the traditional radio in the coming years. However, it will be more difficult for these alternatives to find their way into the automobile.

Chicago radio stations aren’t well-received because of legal limitations, set by the Federal Communications Commission, on how far these broadcasts can travel. The only radio station that finds its way into the confines of my clock radio is Energy (92.5 FM). This isn’t too bad, considering the fact that the tawdry beat of “Better Off Alone” gets me to my feet quick enough to hit the snooze button. So, listening to the radio while driving is a sort of refuge for me. Most, if not all, of the Chicago radio stations come in clearly, so I can get a grip on new music that hasn’t made its way into heavy rotation on MTV. Or at least that’s what I like to believe. My faith in Q101 faded years ago when its dedication to “alternative” music turned to mainstream dribble.

The final frontier of justice to music via the radio comes in the form of college radio. NIU’s WKDI, a student station heard on television Channels 8 and 20 in the residence halls, is one option for music lovers seeking sanity. However, its limited accessibility hinders its possibilities of being the best-heard radio station in DeKalb. It is available to students living off-campus through its Web site, www.wkdi.org, and also can be heard by purchasing a special stereo transformer, which costs a little more than a 20-ounce bottle of Pepsi.

The radio industry is finding its way to a crossroads. Conglomeration has turned the radio industry into an arena of corporate whores vying for the almighty dollar instead of paying attention to what matters the most — quality music. While the bigwigs of radio hash through the reasons as to where they went wrong, the common music appreciator is left weighing the options. Give in and forever be exposed to the Limp Bizkits and Sum 41s of the world, or screw the radio, pop in an Al Green CD and head for the highway.