Local stations are going dark across the country, and blaming streaming only tells half the story. Media consolidation, voice tracking, and corporate cost cutting hollowed out AM and FM from the inside. Strip out the local DJs, local news, and community connection, and you're left with a zombie facility running a cookie-cutter feed from another state. Then everyone acts surprised when listeners leave.

I get into what local radio does that algorithms and push alerts can't: city council meetings, high school sports, bridging the digital divide in rural areas, and being the trusted voice when the power's out and the cell network is down.

The stations that survive in 2026 are the ones doubling down on being stubbornly local, with streaming, social, and podcasts as extensions of that, not replacements for it. If your town still has a stati ...