Am/fm Radio Antenna

[nooga]

Before I bought my 1994 Spirit, someone broke off two antennae. I noticed at the time but figured it would be easy to replace and decided not to quibble because I was getting the vehicle fairly cheap. The radio would operate okay as long as I was in an urban area but I want to listen to it on the open road. I removed the nuts holding the bottoms of the antennae, the butt end--the part below the fender--dropped down into the wheel well. I couldn't see a way to fish them out so I would reconnect the wires to a new antenna. I would up with two holes on top of the right fender, which I covered with duct tape to keep out the rain. Today I drove over to a radio shop, where they advised me to buy an antenna at the auto parts dealer and they would install it by taking off the fender and removing the dash to connect the new antenna to the radio, which is original equipment with a cassette player. Estimated cost is around $90, which sounds reasonable if as much work is involved as the tech guy claims. My question: Is all that work necessary and has anyone out in Toyland encountered similar problems? Any advice would be appreciated.