New Study Proves Why Radio Still Matters
Whenever the topic of radio is broached on Saving Country Music, it solicits strong reactions from people who can’t imagine why any lover of music would ever trust their musical fate to the radio dial, especially when so many other options exist these days, whether it be SiriusXM satellite radio, streaming options like Pandora and Spotify, or popping in a good old-fashioned CD or listening it an iPod. But the simple fact remains, radio is still the most widely used format for music listeners, confirmed by a new study by Edison Research. And even more importantly, radio is where listeners go to discover new music. 75% of listeners use radio to keep up-to-date with music, while only 20% use SiriusXM, and only 18% use Spotify (see chart below).
Sure, the convenience and accessibility of radio is why it is an easy option, especially for passive, busy consumers who don’t want to make music discovery a primary focus of their lives. However the intangible of radio is that it helps music listeners connect with their community and each other. Unlike when you’re listening to music on a CD, or streaming it on Pandora, while listening to the radio you are sharing in the moment with a human DJ and thousands, maybe millions of other listeners through the radio medium. This was the warning Edison Researched sounded at the Country Radio Seminar in February about Cumulus and Clear Channel’s plans to nationalize the radio dial with syndicated programming like DJ Bobby Bones and his massive country morning show, now reaching over 60 markets. This type of disconnect from the local dynamic is what hinders streaming services, satellite radio, and ultimately could mean the demise of radio’s unique advantage, Edison Research warns.
Radio’s days might be numbered, but right now, it still rules the roost, and by a wide margin over its emerging, online competitors, while streaming local radio shows online with tools like Clear Channel’s iHeartRadio app are becoming a common way for consumers to have the best of both worlds: the local connection of radio, matched with the clarity and variety of streaming.
Meanwhile there’s talk of trying to make smartphones that actually contain radio tuners in them, especially in light of talk from automobile manufacturers about eliminating CD players and even radios from new vehicles.
Another interesting note about the Edison Research study is that amongst the coveted 12 to 24-year-old demographic (i.e. the kids that set the upcoming trends for consumers), YouTube ranks as the highest medium for keeping them “up-to-date” on music. Coupled with changes to Billboard’s charts that register YouTube data, it drives home the importance of artists having a presence on YouTube, even if it is used more for audio than for dedicated videos for songs.
For active music listeners, like ones that would frequent a site like Saving Country Music, it may be hard to understand why radio listeners would ever maintain their loyalty to the format in the face of consolidation and constricting playlists. But for the vast majority of consumers, it is still their primary window into the music world. It is also the channel through which starving, worthy artists could connect with more listeners.
April 3, 2014 @ 3:29 pm
Amen Trigger! I tell people this everyday. AND…it’s not just the major market Billboard stations that matter in country music. There are 1,600 others that should not be ignored.
April 3, 2014 @ 5:15 pm
Having looked at the number of stations owned by Clear Channel and Cumulus, it seems that their power is overestimated. Here in the Bay Area, for example, the two companies own a total of 8 stations out of about 50 total. It appears that a similar rate holds in other metropolitan areas as well.
I think that leaves a wide opening for establishing traditional country stations to compete with Top 40 country.
April 3, 2014 @ 5:20 pm
But I don’t think it is fair just to judge the reach of radio stations just from side by side numbers. I do agree that too much can be made on the stranglehold Clear Channel has on some markets, but not every radio station is built the same. Some station’s FCC licenses allow them to broadcast at 50,000 watts 24 hours a day, while others may only have 15,000 watts with limits on evening and weekend programming. Also there may be 10 independent stations for every one Clear Channel station, but if that Clear Channel station has 20-times the listenership and a much bigger operating budget (which in many instances, they do), then they still carry more influence.
April 3, 2014 @ 11:03 pm
Right, Clear Channel and the few other biggies have stations in every major, heavily populated market. They bought all the biggest stations.
April 4, 2014 @ 1:29 am
If the Clear Channel station has 20 times the listenership of an indie station despite the two stations being equally accessible, then Clear Channel has won on a level playing field. In that case, we have to accept that the audience prefers the programming of the Clear Channel station.
April 4, 2014 @ 5:30 am
The one thing the mega-channels will never be able to do no matter how big their demographic may be, is to “connect” with an individual like a local independant station can. When Bobby Bones or any of the others speaks to “me” on the radio, I know that I am one of hundreds of thousands of others he could care less about. He doesn’t know me or my tastes, my opinions or my beliefs. A local station will always automatically adjust to its listeners through how their advertisers react to their format, Radio personalities “and complaints”. Three cheers for the independants…may they live forever.
April 4, 2014 @ 9:18 am
In many markets Clear Channel and indie country stations aren’t equally accessible and only the big country stations have the broadcast power. When I hit the “seek” button my radio finds 2 country stations that have decent audio quality (are FM and powerful). One is Clear Channel, both play about the same songs and I can’t stand to listen to either anymore since they switched to bro and pop and don’t play enough women. And I used to love to listen to them all day.
April 4, 2014 @ 8:50 am
I donn’t know the statistics – but I don’t think you can extrapolate from a place like the Bay area to other metropolitan areas. The Bay area is known for its emphasis on the arts, so I would expect there to be a much greater market for alternative music. I lived in Boston for a while, which is similar… but there really are not many options in middle America. Even if it is not Clearchannel, there Other than NPR and college stations, radio is a desert for alternative music. We do have a classic country station, but that in itself is unusual and the effort of one person, broadcasting daytime only.
And, of course, we have a great many Christian radio stations. (I am a Christian, but most of that is terrible pop music with shallow lyrics. Perhaps I need to start a Saving Gospel Music website. Suppose the snark would have to be held in check, so not as fun.) I digress…
April 4, 2014 @ 8:52 am
Oops – I didn’t finish one sentence – I meant that even if they are not Clearchannel, the musical choices are similar.
April 4, 2014 @ 2:53 pm
As you mentioned, the key problem is that there is not a large demand for alternative country music in most of the country. If a radio station cannot win over advertisers, then it will not last for long.
April 5, 2014 @ 6:48 am
It is definitely a matter of demand, but radio can also create demand. Most DJs are music lovers with better taste than what they play, but have marching orders from on high. Ideally, even in a popular market they would have a little more freedom to intersperse artists that have a little less exposure, and influence demand for better music. Unfortunately, even some local stations follow the corporate approach. I think it underestimates fans.
I remember an interview in which Steve Earle was asked why he seems to be more popular in Canada than in the US. (His audiences there are double what he attracts in the US.) He said he thought there was a greater appreciation for good songwriting there in general, because stations are required to play a certain percentage of Canadian artists. That allows more marginal Canadian artists even on pop stations, and more well known artists like Neil Young and Gordon Lightfoot were played across genres, on both rock and country stations. The interview was at least ten years ago, so that might have changed, but suggests that radio can create demand.
April 5, 2014 @ 2:04 pm
I see what you mean about radio creating demand, but it is important to note that radio is not a monolithic entity. In many areas of the country, hot country stations exist side by side with classic country ones. Which one generally outperforms the other in terms of ratings?
April 6, 2014 @ 6:08 am
I agree radio is not monolithic, but it is more monolithic because of Clearchannel than it was 30 years ago. I don’t think we really disagree that much, I just want to emphasize that this is not simply a matter of people preferring one kind of music or of what sells radio ads. If mainstream radio played a greater range of songs like it did in the past, mixed in with the more popular, it would increase demand for good music without losing revenue. In that sense, I think that niche radio – whether over air or satellite – actually contributes to the dominance of bad pop music.
April 3, 2014 @ 5:29 pm
I would have never predicted these numbers but they don’t surprise me. I understand that many people don’t seek out music as frequently as I do, but you would think that they’d get bored hearing the same stuff over and over again. Perhaps they are bored but just too apathetic to do anything about.
In Philadelphia (my location), many “country” music fans listen to 92.5 XTU which is a huge market station that keeps their playlist at about 20 songs. We actually have an extremely valuable alternative in WXPN which plays the likes of Jason Isbell, Lydia Loveless, Amanda Shires and many others. I truly think the problem many listeners have is this: 92.5 XTU plays too many of the same songs while WXPN plays too much variety. Personally, I love the variety featured on WXPN but I think it turns a lot people off if they’re not familiar with at least 3 out of 5 given songs. It’s a shame that many folks aren’t open to hearing more than a few unfamiliar songs in a row.
April 3, 2014 @ 6:09 pm
I’m an WXPN fan as well. We in the Harrisburg area were fortunate when they expanded their frequency a few years back, because it’s otherwise a bleak landscape around here. It was the first place I heard Ryan Bingham.
April 3, 2014 @ 7:11 pm
I agree about independent radio trying to work with playlists listeners can get more familiarized with. I think that has been the magic formula of Texas radio. Even though it’s a small portion size, there’s singles for listeners to get behind and to promote albums, and charts to measure performance. That’s one of the problems with NPR stations; they’re all over the place. They’ll play Jason Isbell, then some World Music song, then an indie rock band. All of them might be great, but the breadth doesn’t allow the listener to be able to focus in on anything.
April 4, 2014 @ 11:52 am
Trig , you are right on the mark take for one example KHYI in the Dallas area. They are now a 50,000 Watt station that have been a Texas music station for over 18 years now and have remained an independently owner station this whole time. They hjave, for example, the weekly Texas music coundown show shocasing the Texas music charts, they do the yearly Texas music revolution concert at southfork ranch every March. They are focused like a laser beam on the Texas Red Dirt scene and as a result they have found their niche and maintained it. They use social media facebook and twitter have a great website and have a smart phone app etc They have maintaineed virtually the same core on air talent from the begining that the audience relates to.KHYI’s success is proof focusing on your market and not being too all over the map works and is maintainable for the long term.
April 4, 2014 @ 6:28 am
I think this is a great point. A lot of Independent stations make the mistake of trying so hard to go against the mainstream, that their station suffers a little bit. I think that KOKE Fm in Austin does a pretty good job of also mixing in some mainstream artists that are solid, like some Eric Chuch and Easton Corbin. Most of the playlist is Texas artists, but I think having that mixture wil make somepeople stick around who might not normally.
April 3, 2014 @ 8:27 pm
Every single car has a radio. Dang near every person that goes to work does so in a car. More and more new cars are having bluetooth, SYNC, Aux ports, USB ports, etc. As the old cars die off and the new multimedia centers in cars take over, then radio will finally be obsolete. Think about it – when have you or someone said this: “last night when I was listening to the radio…” Probably never. And why is that? Tons of entertainment options now render radio a home entertainment afterthought. Thos options are only slowly creeping into automobiles. Once the multimedia centers are standard on all cars, radio will finally be put to rest.
Trigger, you covered your bases with “Radio”™s days might be numbered”. I am surprised by the numbers, but I also know the vast majority of the people with the radio on are people who don’t really care about music and never buy CDs or go to concerts. They just have it on to have it on. People that are true consumers of music, those are the ones using everything but radio.
April 4, 2014 @ 3:07 pm
But what if they put radio tuners in cell phones? Apparently there’s serious talk of that. Then everyone would be walking around with a radio in their pocket to plug into those aux and USB ports.
April 4, 2014 @ 7:15 pm
They’ve tried that. Remember the Zune? It had a radio. No one cared about it when they had 80gb of music and their finger tips. Having a radio couldn’t save the Zune (amongst other issues). Cell phones that have a radio will make zero difference when there’s 20 other music related apps at their fingertips. When given a choice radio always loses. When there’s no choice (older cars), radio wins.
April 7, 2014 @ 3:11 am
“When given a choice radio always loses.”
I agree 100%.
I looked at the entire study, and the main thing I deduced from is that radio still has an influence because it’s the convenient option that’s avaialble to people in their cars.
April 3, 2014 @ 8:32 pm
I feel I am fortunate to live in an area where Clear Channel and Cumulus have yet to reach. Combined, they own zero radio stations in my market, for that I am thankful.
I’ve said similar in reply to a different article, but I think it bears repeating.
We have three country stations. One plays the current hits with an occasional “Taste of Texas” track. One plays the hits along with the classics. One is totally Red Dirt/Texas.
That being said, I, along with most frequent visitors to this site, find my new music from other sources than radio. But, we are not normal music consumers. I get that.
That’s part of what makes it frustrating. We can all bitch and moan about the crap that’s being played on country music radio, but what can we really to to affect change? I don’t know. But this site is a refuge, among others.
April 3, 2014 @ 10:42 pm
Radio is the most powerful and only ubiquitous and free music source everyone has access to anywhere anytime. Think about all the busy students and workers who listen to it in cars, at work, etc. Radio is great when they play more great country music. Now, not so much. They’ve gone from “we play the best country” to “20 bros in a row.” They need to play a lot more women making great country music! And Bobby Bones show has more talk than music and that has to hurt music since it’s on so many stations during a most listened time. We can hear much better and more music on Pandora’s “Women of Country” and other stations. But even the streaming services seem to mimick and mostly play radio’s most played artists and underplay some of the best artists.
April 4, 2014 @ 9:23 am
In my little slice of heaven on earth, we have Country AM radio. It’s a local station that’s been around since the 30’s. It’s the favorite on everyone’s dial.
Local weather, call-in, speak your mind, calendar of events..it’s great. We know when there’s going to be a power outage for repairs and the latest cowboy boot sale. Right now’ it’s buy a pair and get a pair for free.
We don’t give a rat’s … about Bobby Bones. So long now.
April 4, 2014 @ 11:55 am
My opinion is that radio is here to stay for a long, long time. To put it more distinctly I think you’ll see these kinds of numbers for another decade if not more.
The automobile is probably the radios best friend. While new cars may be phasing out the radio, a lot of people of all ages will still be driving so called old cars. Sirius radio is out there for people who want some real variety, but how many people are going to shell out the dough for that subscription? Likewise, CDs and/or digital music plugins can be used but sometimes you just want to be surprised. I know there are times when I want to listen to something I haven’t heard before or just something I haven’t heard in a while.
Back when I used to work in and around blue collar environments, the radio was often playing. It was always the radio, not CDs or internet streaming, and I think that will hold true in blue collar spaces like construction and warehouse work.
April 4, 2014 @ 12:02 pm
“…..listening to the radio you are sharing the moment with a human deejay……..”
Not usually. Except during drive times, the “deejay” (actually, Bobby Bones nonwithstanding, most in the business prefer the word “announcer”) is usually gone for the day by the time the automation system is dropping in his or her pre-recorded tracks during his or her shift. So you’re actually sharing the moment with a computer.
April 7, 2014 @ 4:19 am
Thanks for the article. I doubt that I would have seen this research otherwise and I actually learned a lot from looking at the results. I think the article’s main point about radio still having a big influence is totally legit, and I guess this study can be promptly presented to everybody who comes on this site saying that radio is irrelevant and asking why it’s important to care what country radio is playing.
I do think it’s important to point out that the first chart, which the 75% number is derived from, is not a zero-sum type chart. It just lists the percentages of the respondents who said they used each particular service at least part of the time. (I know that’s obvious: it dosen’t equal up to 100%. I just mention it because I didn’t pay a lick of attention the first time I looked at it.) On the second chart, the numbers are a lot more even, especially if you add together all the individual slices which represent the various internet services, and put that together with sattelite radio. But yeah, radio is still a big chunk. So… given the fact that other parts of the study show that listeniners (especially of the younger variety) are adopting new technolgies like hotcakes, why the hell are so many people still listening to terrestrial radio, which is old as dirt?
The stat that really popped out at me was how much radio is dominating in-car media. Almost 60% of people say they listen to the radio *most* of the time when they’re in the car, as opposed to CDs, MP3 playing devices, sattelite radio, or *anything* else. And 86% say they listen to it at least some of the time.
Maybe this is incredibly obvious, but I think radio still holds sway in American culture because it’s currently the convient button to push when people get in their cars. I really doubt that the same number of people are sitting around listening to old-fashioned radio at home during their free time. They are on the internet, on their iPads, listening to podcasts, Youtube videos, and so on. So, when people start getting cars with in-dash internet systems that are just about as convient as to use as clicking on the radio, they will probably gravitate to that. And a big chunk if respondents said they consider it at least “somewhat important” to buy a car that has that feature next time. Depending on what types of applications people are going to have access to, I think that change will undermine the dominance of radio forever. But it will also erode the sense of community of everyone turning on the radio and having a common experience, etecetera. I guess the fight to “save country music” (and all of music) moving forward will be fought in trying to resist letting corporate monopolies like Clear Channel dominate the streaming music market like they did to terrestrial radio. I predict that they will do whatever it takes to hold on to their power and market position.
April 8, 2014 @ 10:11 am
I’m more than tired of radio. That’s all America listens to nowadays. Radio, radio, radio. Left and right. I want my Avril Lavigne songs like Here’s To Never Growing Up. You have to use internet to hear Avril Lavigne songs like Rock N Roll. This is why I hate promoting music and radio. I’m sick of promoting music and radio. That’s all America music does nowadays. Whatever happened to watching music videos on TV? Whatever happened to listening to music on the internet. To be honest, I prefer music television channels like MTV and YouTube over radio since I’m more into music videos than listening to audio music. Plus, I love music videos. So I’ll take music videos on TV channels like Fuse and online like Vevo over having the same songs overplayed on the radio any day. I have a blog on my report on the music industry. So you can go ahead and click the link below to see it if you want. Also, music videos over radios for me.
Link: http://personaltought.blogspot.com/