Radio - Another Frivolous Kenny G Rant! (Probably important only to me, but what the heck!)

I am finding I can't listen to radio anymore. Radio, simply put, is as stagnant as I've ever heard it to be. Take classic rock for instance: groups I used to love to hear - Steve Miller, Fleetwood Mac, Eagles, Pink Floyd, Bob Seger, Springsteen, Reo Speedwagon, Rod Stewart, and others I simply cannot stand to listen to anymore. The same groups. The same songs.
Why, when there is so much more to choose from?
Let's go to the local country station next. Wait - this is country music, right? Couldn't be - sounds more like classic rock than country!

Where's ol' Hank on the radio?

There is plenty of room for traditional sounding current acts as well as the classic artists but they won't play 'em on country radio. Why not? Remember, it don't mean a thang if it ain't got that twang!
Two stations in Detroit are 24 hour Christmas stations from November through Christmas day. Let's see...Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree, Holly Jolly Christmas, Happy Holidays, Jingle Bell Rock, I Want A Hippopotomus for Christmas, Do They Know It's Christmas, Happy Xmas (War Is Over)...played at least every two to four hours minimum - some are once an hour! With all of the wonderful Christmas music readily available, we're stuck with the same mall music over and over...
How about the news station...OK, the health care bill again, H1N1 again, the war in Afghanistan again, no money for Michigan's schools again...the same worn out stories we see, read, and hear about over and over everyday. There's gotta be something else out there newsworthy, isn't there? Just a quick search on the internet shows me there is plenty of other news stories to tell. But, alas, not on the major news station.
OK, yes, I am aware of NPR - - their news is pretty much the same as the major station's news, although more left-leaning. Not for me. The music they play is OK but I can't stand the DJ's. They're just so...laid back (is that the word I'm looking for?).
So what do I do while driving in my van...?
Cable radio? I wish I could afford that. Other things (like food and clothing and bills) take precedence.
So, I guess I will continue putting my own collection of music on tape (I still have a cassette player in my van - OK, so I'm a bit behind the times in some areas of technology. At least my oil lamp lights during blackouts!).
I worked in record stores for 19 years and have amassed quite a collection of music, from Adam and the Ants to Stephen Foster to Doo Wop, to Glenn Miller to ragtime to Hank Williams Sr to Holly and the Italians to MercyMe to Nirvana...what a mix tape collection I could make!

Holly and the Italians - great early '80's power pop

Maybe I'll start with a Christmas tape: song selection - - The Boar's Head Carol, The Gloucestershire Wassail, The Holly Bears a Berry, Riu Riu Chiu, All You That Are Good Fellows, Light of the Stable...