Most Americans continue to listen to radio the old-fashioned way.
This despite emerging technologies that compete with radio as well as provide new platforms for listening to the radio. That’s the conclusion of American Media Services.
But the company said consumers also will not be reluctant to accept new ways to listen to their favorite radio stations in the future.
A national poll, conducted for AMS by Omnitel, shows that listening to the radio remains relevant and prevalent. Almost 64% say they listen to the radio daily. More than 69% are listening to the radio more or about the same as they were five years ago.
And 84 percent expect that, five years from now, they will be listening to the radio more or about the same as they do now.
“The conventional thinking over the past couple of years has been that new technologies were going to overpower radio and threaten its relevance to the American consumer,” stated AMS President/CEO Ed Seeger. “We’ve heard all that before. Radio was going to become obsolete when television came along, and then when the eight-track cassette was installed in cars, and, most recently, when the computer revolution began. It didn’t happen, and it isn’t happening now.”
Other findings about traditional radio listening:
* 75 percent of respondents usually turn on the radio when getting in their cars
* 83 percent would miss listening to the radio if it were not available
* 81 percent say they think it is “not very” or “not at all” likely they will purchase satellite radio in the next few years
Approximately 1,000 adults were surveyed last weekend.
