I'm so glad I'm old! I got to hear all the greats perform live, was able to shake some of their hands, and see them perform.

I'm now seeing how the younger generation is stacking up. And in many instances I'm impressed. Just two American Idol tryouts televised and there is some real talent out there this year. A significant number of the tryouts have incredible vocal talent, and they all tend to select songs that many of us are currently performing at various locations throughout the nation.

Squeak, I listen to the radio two hours or more every day while traveling to and from jobs. To be perfectly honest, I'm NOT hearing what you seem to be extolling . And, I'm fairly confident the folks in the R&D departments of Yamaha, Roland, Korg, Ketron and many others are hearing the same things I'm hearing. And, they tend to reflect this in their selection and quantity of their onboard style categories and selection.

There are a huge number of radio stations in the Baltimore/Washington/Philadelphia/Richmond metro areas, most of which are competing for the same markets. Only a tiny fraction of them play what you refer to as modern music for the younger generation. Hip-Hop and Rap are nearly non-existent, there's a fair amount of rock, and lots of country. My relatives on the west coast and down south tell me it's the same where they are. If this is the case, I suspect arranger keyboard manufacturers are merely echoing the current demands of the general public and main-stream music industry trends.

JMO,

Gary