In the final month of the primary season, Barack Obama ran approximately 5,400 radio spots compared to Hillary Clinton’s 1,940.
The disparity was even larger for the primary season overall. Media Monitors summarized radio spot totals for the various presidential candidates, and found that overall from December through May, Obama ran 81,727 spots on the radio to Hillary Clinton’s 21,763.
Clinton actually aired more than he did in the month of December. He used radio heavily in February — “incidentally, this was the same month he soard in the polls,” the company stated — which was also the month she ran the most radio.
Radio use is not always a reliable indicator of campaign success, however. Media Monitors also reported totals for the Republicans. Expected nominee John McCain ran about 4,000 spots from December through April. Mike Huckabee ran 1,600. But Mitt Romney ran 5,400 spots in his shorter primary season, while Rudy Giuliani had about 1,000.
And the GOP winner by a landslide — in number of radio spots aired — was Ron Paul, with more than 10,500 radio spots, using radio most heavily in December and January.