Your room sucks, but I'm sure you've already raised your fists in the air over this frustrating realization. If you're recording with mics, or playing back through speakers (duh), your room puts its sonic imprint on everything you do. If your room doesn't sound good, it's gonna be really hard to make radio-quality recordings.
Your room sucks for two reasons: 1) Space, and 2) Acoustics.
1) Space.
Have you ever been to a real recording studio? The big ones have multiple tracking rooms with matching control rooms, both of which have been designed by acousticians or at least people who know their stuff. The goal of a great tracking room is to sound amazing while offering maximum flexibility in the kind of imprint you want to add to whatever sound source you're capturing. They usually have an open, somewhat reflective "live" room for tracking performances, with portable absorption options (gobos, baffling, acoustic treatment) to help control just how live it sounds. This room is usually flanked by several isolation booths or rooms designed to capture much drier performances and to offer...well...isolation from whatever's going down in the live room.
Your room is probably 10' x 12' (if you're lucky), was designed by an architect for humans to sleep in, offers little or no options as to how dry or wet you want it to sound, and sucks acoustically. Maybe you've slapped up some Auralex foam, have a packing blanket or two, and perhaps even an isolation box. Big whoop. My point is that your room probably sounds bad and gives you zero options as to the kind or amount of room tone you'd like to capture. I bet you can produce a few radio-quality recordings from your room if it sounds halfway decent, but your hands are tied if you need a different sound than what your room is capable of producing.
2) Acoustics.
If you're an electronica or MIDI composer, you probably don't care too much about my first point. But if you're playing back your songs through speakers into a room, then no one is immune to this fact: a room "colors" your sound for good or for evil. If you're playing back into an evil room, how are you supposed to produce radio-quality sounds?
Back to the pro studio for a moment. A sweet control room has been designed or treated by an expert to offer a fairly neutral playback environment. This means that when a song comes out of the speakers, the sounds aren't bouncing around the room in an adverse way. Poor, untreated spaces cause all sorts of frequency dips and peaks at the listening position. This makes the receiver think they're hearing something they're not. If your room misrepresents the audio coming out of the monitors, you're going to have a heck of a time trying to mix a radio-quality track, especially when it comes to getting the low end you desire.
Your room is probably too small, too evenly shaped, and probably has no proper sound absorption. Haphazardly throwing up foam, "egg crates," or -gasp- carpeting the entire space will NOT transform your room into a listening paradise. Think about all the money, thought, and expertise that goes into a major-label control room. Frankly, you just don't have the time, cash, expertise, or space necessary to create an ideal listening environment.
So, what is the outcome of the sucky room double whammy?:
With a crappy tracking and playback environment, it's going to be really difficult to capture, process, and mix radio-quality audio.
Notice I didn't say impossible. Most of us will discover workarounds for our room limitations...really annoying workarounds. With the advent of fairly decent portable recording devices, it's theoretically possible to capture any sound source in any environment. (In fact, @RonanCMurphy just spoke on this subject at the HRBC Recording Fest, 2011.) And, actually, you can improve a bad playback environment somewhat with a little knowledge and some cash. Resources like the monthly "Studio S.O.S" series in Sound on Sound magazine can help you get a grasp on some of the most common issues and how to address them. There are tons of book-type reference materials on studio acoustics. I'm excited about @BobbyOwsinski's newly released Studio Builder's Handbook. The bummer is that no amount of DIY knowledge is going to trump expert knowledge. It's not uncommon for the Sound on Sound team to pull out old acoustic treatment because it was doing more harm than good.
For those of us who cannot afford a roam overhaul, the most common workaround for a bad tracking environment is to...well...make the best of a bad situation. Realistically, though, accepting that a bad tracking room could keep you from contending with radio tracks may be the only "solution" until you can change/improve your room situation.
The poor man's workaround for a bad playback environment is to check mixes on multiple systems: iPods, computer speakers, car systems, home entertainment systems, boom boxes, etc. Make notes on your impressions from each environment and then go back and try to implement the needed changes into your mix. Repeat until you have a decent mix. The problem is that by Mix #11 you're ready to set fire to your studio. Can you imagine being in a room that you could trust? Well, that's the advantage that the hit makers have over you.
If you're frustrated about working in a crappy room, you have one of four options: 1) Violent takeover a major label studio, 2) Expensive overhaul of your existing space, 3) Quit recording forever, or 4) Accept that the less-than-stellar room you're working in is a contributing factor to you not being able to produce radio-quality music.
Choosing 4) is not as bad as you think. You're probably doing a decent job of recording/mixing despite a bad room situation. Yes, the drums you captured in a 10' x 10' carpeted space are gonna sound lifeless compared to the sweet ambiance of a professional live room. No, adding reverb will never compare the authentic vibe of a great-sounding natural space. Yes, getting an accurate image of your low end is going to be darn near impossible in a walk-in-closet. But option 1) is illegal, option 2) is expensive, and option 3) is stupid. My advice: choose 4), deal with it, and enjoy the ride!
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