It did, you are right, but somehwere in the 90’s, whatever there was left just went straight down the crapper.
With rap, boy bands, lip synching dancing chics, alternative nonsense...music just became a wasteland, and now in 2012, it almost isn’t even worth discussing, although some worthwhile compositions do still seem to occur, it’s incredibly rare and won’t be heard on radio anywhere.
Some good artists still get played on commercial free (more free form stations like WFMU than Pacifica Communist radio or even college stations) but by and large white people are expected to PAY for radio these days.
I refuse. And what goes out over the airwaves for white people is a minimal list of 500 mediocre “hits” from 1968-1994 depending on the format of the station (classic rock, office music, nashville country, “alternative” songs that are 20 years old (alternative to what?), and maybe a dance pop station playing Ke$houkastgaga.