With the industry at large looking for any advantage it can glean from data, this year’s Techsurvey from Jacobs Media might be even more highly anticipated than usual.
Now in its 22nd year, the online survey examines the listening habits of almost 31,000 respondents, described as “core radio listeners,” tuning in to around 500 stations across the country.
This is the first in a Radio World series covering Techsurvey 2026’s results.
Fred Jacobs, president of Jacobs Media, explained the research’s findings during a webinar. One core question of the survey, he said: What appeals most about AM/FM radio to its listeners?
Jacobs found it interesting that one of the top reasons cited was the ease of listening to radio in the car, as it comes at a time when the overall sentiment of the industry is that radio is becoming harder to locate in the dashboard, at least in new cars.
[Related: “’Screens Are Everywhere. Radio Must Be Visual’”]
Another top vote getter of respondents was the cost attached to listening — meaning the lack thereof.
Other respondents felt a “connection to radio” and that the very act of listening was habitual.
Personality trumps music
Jacobs highlighted that on-air personalities outpace music as a main reason for listening to the radio.
The motivation of tuning into DJs, hosts or shows was cited by 60% of respondents as a reason to listen, while only 53% pointed to music or hearing their favorite artist as a reason for listening. That’s down sizably from 70% of their motivation in 2014.
He theorized that music interest is dipping because it has “essentially become commoditized” in recent years.
“When you can basically have every song at your fingertips on a device that’s the size of a pack of cigarettes, that’s a real game changer for the way that people used to be able to listen to music.” Jacobs said in the webinar.
“Radio was a primary source of that, and now a lot less primary than it used to be,” he said.
As the years go passing by
The age of TechSurvey respondents is climbing, Jacobs said.
“The sample is aging, because radio is aging,” he declared.
In 2023, the average respondent’s age was 55.5, while this year’s average age was 58.4.
The smoking gun
Techsurvey 2026 attempted to measure radio’s momentum by asking respondents if they are listening to more radio or less radio than the prior year.
Jacobs observed that radio’s momentum is at least steady, with 61% of respondents stating they still listen to “a lot” of radio, while only one in 10 radio fans said they listened to less radio year-over-year.
But Jacobs called out a “smoking gun” for the 10% of respondents who say they listened less over the past year.
“A majority, 51%, say they’ve been listening to less radio because they’ve been listening to non-radio sources more and non-radio sources are things like satellite radio, like Spotify, like podcasts so that’s half the sample,” he said.
Other reasons given for listening less include “too many commercials” and the “music is too predictable.”
Radio World will continue to break down the TS2026 findings in the coming days.
[Do you receive the Radio World SmartBrief newsletter each weekday morning? We invite you to sign up here.]
