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June 15, 2011

by Ed Ryan

As we started to discuss, debate and disagree in our Jerry Lee pieces this week, there are a lot of people out there who like to take pot shots at the radio industry. The radio naysayers continue to claim radio is dying a slow and painful self-inflicted death and unless and until radio listens to them all listeners will abort and move to the Internet. Arbitron splashed a little water on that chicken little fire with a preview of its National Radio Listening Report. Looks like the old dog picked up another 1.9 weekly listeners in the past year. That seems to fly right in the face of what a lot of you are saying when you try to debunk Jerry Lee's winning philosophy.

The new Arbitron report says "Radio Attracts More Listeners aged 18 to 34 than a Year Ago. The report shows radio’s continued strength with a year over year increase of about 1.9 million weekly listeners aged twelve and older.  The number of Persons twelve and older listening to radio each week now reaches an estimated 241.5 million, representing 93.1 percent of all Persons twelve and older." I don't have a calculator handy but it appears as if that's about 7 percentage points away from 100% saturation. Not too shabby for a 3-legged dinosaur. But enough gloating.

What is disturbing is why, with such stunning numbers, our revenue numbers are not bigger. When you hear 6%, 7%, 8% it's depressing. And those numbers cannot be blamed on whether or not you stream your signal or blamed on listeners leaving for Pandora pastures. If you believe Arbitron, that is simply not the case. But that's another story. A sales story.

From the Arbitron RADAR report: "As compared to the June 2010 report, the number of radio listeners increased across all major demographics, with Adults aged 18 to 34 showing the biggest gains, adding nearly 350,000 weekly listeners in the age group in the past year. There are now nearly 66.5 million Adults aged 18 to 34 listening to radio each week, or 93.6 percent of all members of this demographic."

Veteran consultant Jaye Albright read the Arbitron report and says "It's amazing how stable radio's reach has been for many years, and in spite of all the new media and mobile choices out there, audience behaviors continue to prove how radio usage is a habit driven by regularity, consistency and loyalty. Those big gains among 18-34's and teens bodes well for the future."

Radio's biggest cheerleader and Katz EVP Mary Beth Garber says "RADAR’s newest report is consistent with the data that Arbitron, Edison Research and Jacobs Media have produced in the past few months. They all that show that radio listening is quite healthy and people of all ages continue to find its content and presentation compelling.  That’s not PR-speak.  That’s what the data really shows.  Radio continues to thrive because it connects with listeners in ways no other medium can match.  RADAR’s findings just reinforce that fact."

And, aren't all the youngsters flippin us off for the latest and greatest music app? More from the study: " The number of Teens aged 12 to 17 listening to radio also continues to rise, increasing 158,000 listeners versus June 2010, reaching more than 22.8 million weekly listeners or 92 percent."

It'll be hard for people to swat down these statistics, although people will obviously try today. Arbitron used a sample of 395,531 persons aged 12 and older. Arbitron says "this large sample is designed to provide more stability for key demographic estimates, dayparts and Market-by-Market Analysis reports, which report all individual DMAs."

Feedback at edryan@radioink.com.
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