Who killed the cantors?

Reading hirhurim's post this morning reminded me of a conversation I had this past shabbos. I had been asked to daven this past shabbos in the main sanctuary of the shul (I usually daven in a different minyan downstairs). The reason they asked was because it was birchas hachodesh (blessing for the new month-which starts tonight) and evidently there aren't that many good balei tefilah (note: I did not use the word cantor since I never trained as one). I had no official seat so I ended up sitting in the one of the front rows there. People saw me sitting there and assumed (since I have davened for this minyan before) that I would be leading the congregation in prayer. When the Bal Shachris got up some people were saying "hey he missed it" as if to say I was supposed to daven shachris (which I was not) and laughed. A person next to me asked if I would indeed be one of the Balai Tefilah today and I nodded yes. I over heard him talking about the great cantors which he had seen and heard in the past: Kosovitzky, Stern etc.. I asked him( being that I'm certainly not a maven in canotrial music) who he considered to be a greater cantor: Kosovitzky or Rosenblatt. He replied Kosovitzky brought cantorial music to it's highest point and that Rosenblatt is the father of cantorial music in America. He also replied that although people talk up cantor Helfgot he's not Kosovitzky. I asked him what he thought had ended the era of the cantors in America. He said that if the Young Israel movement didn't kill it, they certainly assisted in phasing it out. Mind you this is a Modern Orthodox fellow talking here. When I asked why he felt that way, he responded that with the proliferation of YI shuls throughout America and their policy being why have a cantor when anybody can lead the davening when anyone can lead? This he believed, led to the ultimate demise of the cantor position. I'm not sure that's the case but it's an interesting position.