( CNN ) -- Listening to the radio was something I did -- when I was a teenager . Just take my middle and high school years where every morning , at 6:55 , I flipped on my Walkman and began the trudge down the hill to the bus stop . It was tuned to B94 , which was Pittsburgh 's `` Today 's Hit Music '' station . Every day , the crazy -- and at that time seemingly raunchy -- antics of its morning show with John , Dave , Bubba and Shelly made me excited to be awake . Although the show offered really nothing of value to enrich my life , like a sugary drink , it did n't have to . In those 40 minutes on the bus , there was adequately funny banter ( which in hindsight , was terrible ) , vital information of what happened in Hollywood overnight , and most importantly , today 's hottest music . The Pussycat Dolls , then Natasha Bedingfield , and that one Fort Minor song ? If I heard that lineup again , High School Me would probably melt in happiness . But my radio listening habits did n't end at 7:45 a.m. After school , I probably listened to the same set of music . The only difference was the afternoon slot felt like it was filled with endless commercials that did n't air in the morning . But it all stopped when I went to college . The pop music station in my new home , a small Ohio town , could n't match the `` talents '' of John , Dave , Bubba and Shelly ( although it was not like I was awake at 7 a.m. to listen ) . While I was slinking into my late teens , the playlist of that low-budget station felt like it was stuck in my middle-school years . By then , I was also hooked to my family 's satellite radio account , which was like terrestrial radio without all of those terrible commercials for car dealerships or rug outlets . And discovering new music on the Internet around that time became easier . I trawled through iTunes ' constantly updated charts . My friends posted recommendations on their Facebook and Twitter accounts , which substituted for radio stations plugging whatever artist their corporate parent suggested . Also , my dorm 's high-speed Internet connection allowed me to stream music from noncommercial stations all around the world , like BBC Radio 1 , to see what we would be listening to stateside in another six months . After college , I moved to Austin , Texas , a traffic-prone town where you would spend more time in your car than at your destination . But when I pulled into the city in 2012 , I did n't even bother to reset my car 's radio to the local stations . It was n't necessary . Most if not all of the time , I was plugged into my satellite radio or my app-filled iPhone , which played a steady stream of commercial-free music catering to my tastes . For my friends and me , the car 's auxiliary outlet killed the radio star . Now I 'm 24 and the radio 's relevancy is fading faster than driving out of a signal 's reach . The Internet has made me an an `` on-demand '' listener , meaning I can listen to any song , from any artist , at any time . From music apps , websites ( like Soundcloud ) , and the blogs , there are literally millions of sources to discover new music . I can listen to a new song seconds after it 's released and not wait days , or even weeks , before the radio bothers to play it . And , ugh , those cheesy DJs are no longer polluting my listening experience with their allegedly wacky and zany gags . The definition of DJ has shifted from John , Dave , Bubba and Shelly , to actual , physical DJs , who spin `` records '' like Diplo or Avicii . It 's not just me . Every morning , my wretched millennial friends awake to freshly brewed tunes from our favorite blogs . New music from my friends fills up my Spotify inbox at a seemingly never-ending pace ( and vice versa ) . I would be scared to hear how loud the laugh would be if anyone asked if we 'd discovered a half-decent new song on the radio in the past five years . I do n't know even know what channel to find that on ! Since the iPhone has replaced my Walkman , my friends have replaced the DJs , and the ability to listen to whatever I want at any given moment kicked out radio stations ' playlists , I would say it 's time to turn off the radio for good . But I already did that five years ago . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Jordan Valinsky .
Valinsky : I do n't need AM/FM anymore . Author was a radio listener in high school . In college , he turned to the Internet and iTunes . `` I would say it 's time to turn off the radio for good , '' says Valinsky .