Why Radio Won’t Die

My first memory of radio comes from the early amp821650s I was at my aunt and uncleamp8217s house when amp8220Goodnight Ireneamp8221 came on and everyone began to sing along Time magazine cites the two most played songs in radio history as the Righteous Brothersamp8217 amp8220Youamp8217ve Lost That Lovinamp8217 Feelin39amp8221 1964 with more than eight million plays on radio and TV and The Beatlesamp8217 amp8220Yesterdayamp8221 1965 with at least seven million in the US aloneRadio however is about much more than music Itamp8217s about community and connecting people Whether sitting around the radio listening to music or the news or tuning into your favorite station for the morning drive Iamp8217m not talking about podcasts here amp8221live linear radioamp8221 has been keeping us connected for decades both locally and nationally There are a reported 15000 radio stations in the United States covering more than 40 different formats Globally the Central Intelligence Agency keeps a Factbook on the number or radio stations per country with an interesting mix of private vs government controlled stationsEven today FM radio is still built into our mobile devices Most people probably donamp8217t know there is a FM radio chip inside their smartphone but that itamp8217s been turned off for most iOS systems and some Android Yes We will need an antenna but earbuds could pull double duty here This feature is part of the same chip that provides your phone with WiFi and BluetoothYou see radio is all around us No literally in waves that scientists began discovering before the turn of the 20th century And in 1920 those waves were used to broadcast the first radio news program by station 8MK inamp160Detroitamp160Michigan Within years radio grew in extreme popularity to every household barbershop restaurant and vehicle Radio didnamp8217t die with the advent of the TV It seems Video didnamp8217t kill the radio star It didnamp8217t die with the advent of the Internet And it wonamp8217t die with anything coming in the foreseeable future There will be virtualreality radio stations before there arenamp8217t radio stationsRadio has already had many lives After the first large fixed devices it got its amp160second life with transistor or portable radios in the amp821650s Itamp8217s amp160third life came about the same time with radios installed in cars though it was not taken seriously as an ad medium until several decades later when drivetime auto listening became a major factor Radio got its amp160fourth and most recent life with satellite and Internet radio It is expected that as autonomous vehicles take hold video screens might replace audio inside the cabin Most of the prototypes developed by the major auto makers show large video screens that pop up where the dashboard used to be The availability of video when nobody is driving will in many cases eliminate the use of audio only This puts radio on the brink of extinction once againStill there is a possible ray of light for radio usage in the younger generation All one has to do is walk around a major city and see the high number of ear buds and headphones in use This is an installed base if Iamp8217ve ever seen one Most are listening to their own playlists either on their phone or through a streaming service Howeveramp160 Apple Music Radio stations such as Beats 1 LA have shown that there are people who would rather listen to pure amp8220radioamp8221 defined for this case as one to manyNielsen reports that 243MM Americans tune in weekly to radio Thatamp8217s 91 of Americans 12 and up Hereamp8217s whySome people donamp8217t want to or donamp8217t have time to curate their own playlists amp160amp160People want stuff amp8220liveamp8221 at the same time others are getting their feed whether it be music DJ patter sports or news being current is importantPeople arenamp8217t always in a place to watch a screen and while watching something takes your full attention listening allows you to multitask amp160Will radio be the same as it was in the past Probably not But we believe it has at least one more life left It just needs to be tappedImage at top courtesy of Corbis The opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillageMyersBizNet management or associated bloggers

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Why Radio Won’t Die

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David Smith

Jon Miller | Cofounder Marketo, Engagio | The Gumball Machine is Broken - Rethinking B2B Marketing - By Mike Linton

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Jon Miller | Cofounder Marketo, Engagio | The Gumball Machine is Broken - Rethinking B2B Marketing - By Mike Linton

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