That's the ticket, Guest. We do need to support independent radio. We also need to get out to our local clubs and union halls to see these people play.

I'll confess to owning popular CD's (although I'm Canadian enough to be ashamed of it), but all of my favourite discs are the ones I've bought directly from artists, at their gigs.

I don't think we'll ever change popular radio ... and the CANCON rules just result in our having to listen to the same old Twain, Dion, and Hip songs over and over. Most advertisers don't have or use any measurement techniques to check the effectiveness of their advertising. So they will keep throwing money at popular radio to keep it alive and well.

All we can do is support the small guys by going to their gigs and buying their CD's. Maybe some day the whole "superstar" system of the music industry will go bankrupt, and we'll be left with nothing but all these cool local bands.