The Nation weighs in on American radio

Last week's issue of the venerable The Nation focused on the dire state of radio in this country, with lots of very interesting pieces such as these (I've linked to free links where possible, but some articles are only available to subscribers on The Nation's web site):

• Confessions of a Listener, by Garrison Keillor (a personal view of radio's place in America today by NPR's prime old-timer)
  
• Calling Air America, by Nicholas von Hoffman (examining the shaky state of liberal network Air America)
  
• Prometheus Unbound, by Rick Karr (on the steady rise of Low-Power FM, starting in West Philadelphia - see also On the Media's recent piece on this issue)
  
• Amy Goodman's "Empire", by Lizzy Ratner (examining the rise to prominence of the respected yet still-edgy "Democracy Now" host)
  
• Congress tunes in, by Robert McChesney, John Nichols, and Ben Scott (which provides a helpful overview of just about everything, starting with the thrilling 2003 public uprising against FCC plans to raise national broadcast media ownership limits to 45% - lest we forget)
  
• Anyone Listening?, by Eric Magnuson (recounting how a certain freight train crash in Minot, North Dakota in 2002, and the inability of Clear Channel-owned radio stations to respond, helped spark a national anti-media conglomeration backlash)
  
• Good, Gray NPR, by Scott Sherman (on the drift of National Public radio to the sober, sometimes dull, mainstream respectability, and what the service has gained and lost since the freewheeling 1970s)
  

All in all, this is an excellent mix of writing, well worth taking the time to read properly.