If you no longer listen to the radio–because, say, the last time you were stuck in a moving van on a long trip to New Jersey without a CD player and forced to tune into America’s airwaves you heard approximately four songs over the entire two days (“Beautiful Girls,” that goddamn Fray song, a randomly chosen Fleetwood Mac tune, and Fergie) until you just wanted to run the rented vehicle from the fine people at the Enterprise corporation into a passing semi (or make the ultimate sacrifice and switch to NPR)–then you are in the minority according to a new report that sez America’s post-collegiate age bracket is listening now more than ever:
Sixty-three percent of American adults listen to the radio every day, says a new survey from American Media Services. And the number among 25-34 adults is even stronger: 79 percent tune in to radio at least once a day.
Seventy-two percent of Americans say they’re listening to the radio as much or more now than they did five years ago, and they’re still tuning in in the car: 74 percent of Americans turn on the radio when they get in the car, including 72 percent of 18-24 adults and 80 percent of 25-34s.
Maybe it’s because we’re Internet music geek types without automobiles, but anecdotal evidence from my radio-hating peers makes this hard for me to believe on the face of it. (I’m probably discounting talk and college stations here, which the survey might not be. Probably satellite, too.) I tried to maintain my (forced) populist interest in the radio as an organic way of keeping a thumb on the charts for as long as I could–I still maintain a little affection for urban station drive time/late night DJ mixes–until the dwindling number of songs and their numbing repetition drove me to just buy an iPod. (That and my discman finally going to heaven.) I mean, does anyone reading this still listen to the radio? For more than 10 minutes at a time? Without wanting to exercise your right to assisted suicide?
Radio Listening Is Staying Stable [Radio Ink via Coolfer]
i will say that i was just back in my home state of Iowa and once the CD’s ran out and we had to turn on the radio I surprisingly found KGGO (“Rocking the Galaxy from Des Moines to Des Moon”)to be pretty entertaining to listen to – classic rock but not necessarily the SAME 30 songs played over and over again every day. Of course, it was Two-fer tuesday when we tuned in, maybe on a normal One-Fer day they become more boring. And that is the extent of my recent radio observations.
Every time I turn on the radio, they’re playing a commercial. So I don’t listen to radio.
Satellite radio kinda rocks though.
Remember how many people drive in the US. That’s pretty much everyone who lives here that lives outside of LA, NYC, and Chicago.
That survey HAD to be including satellite and internet radio. I
refuse to believe it didn’t. I haven’t listened to terrestrial radio by
choice in approximately six years. And whenever it’s on in a store, I’m
sad. Sirius, however, many hours a week.
@Vince Neilstein: Clearly you’ve never been to L.A.
I listen to the radio every day, but that’s primarily because I have an hour commute, each way. Also, I live in LA, where between KROQ, Indie 103.1 and KCRW, I can usually find something. If not, then I plug in my ipod, but radio is still my first option when I’m in my car. However, if I lived in city where I was never in my car, I would probably never listen to the radio.
I’ll listen to terrestrial in the car, but that’s is limited to the morning drive for the wacky morning shows. Other than that, it’s the Ipod hooked up in the car.
I do have a fondness for XM, I think I could listen to the Lucy, Ethel, and Fred stations for a long road trip.
My radio listening is entirely morning-based and totally schizo: while showering ans shaving I literally flip between NPR and the “Z Morning Zoo,” basically feeding both sides of my personality/intellectual spectrum.
My wife can’t understand why I listen to Top 40 radio, but to me it’s a supplement to my chart geekery – I need to find out what some of these songs I’m following in Billboard sound like. I’d say I enjoy about a third of what they’re playing at Top 40 at any given time and can tolerate about another third.
I actually listen to the radio more now, living in Brooklyn, than I did in Austin. Every weekday morning, for approx. 45 minutes, I listen to the BBC World Service’s “Newshour” on what I believe is a low-power terrestrial Brooklyn public radio station (the only one I can get in my bedroom) in the 88-90 frequency range.
I probably listened to the radio about once a week in Austin — generally for the fab Twine Time, Blue Monday, and assorted other locally-produced shows on University of Texas-based NPR affiliate KUT.
Just for comparison, my roommate leaves her radio on in her room all the time for the cat; they listen soley to WQXR, “The Classical Station of The New York Times,” every day. (Though, truth be told — we sometimes do tune into The Beat 103.5 — because it is the best radio station ever.)
@Vince Neilstein: Believe it or not, there are highways that connect surrounding communities to New York City. Sometimes, there are enough cars to cause what urban planning experts like to call “congestion”. Who knew?
Oh, and NPR is totally awesome. I’m in love with the BBC World News anchorlady.
…blah, blah, blah, I DJ for a radio station, blah, blah, blah… of course I still do.
And don’t make a sideswipe at radio in NJ, Jess, mainly because there’s at least TWO worthwhile stations to pick from on your drive north: WPRB & WFMU. One picks up where the other signal fades, brah.
Only if Captain Jack’s “Skull Time For Kids” is on KFJC. If the town has a decent college station, I am there. In LA, it’s KCRW at night. Other than that, it’s CDs or Ipod all the way. My fiance drives two hours each day to commute, and she’s be damned to listen to the radio… unless Captain Jack is on. We love that show.
I used to listen to KEXP and KNDD when I lived in Seattle, but my voluntary radio use was typically the result of a dead iPod battery or a rental vehicle with minimal audio capacities. Same is pretty much true in LA, except the radio is a bit less choice. I had a U-Haul today, as a matter of fact, and wound up having to turn the radio off once I heard the first few seconds of that fucking Delilah song.
Anyway, I had a job for years and years that played an AC radio station all day, every day. That was the only time I listened to radio on a really regular basis: because I had no choice. The ads, the banter, the same crappy songs all the time… it was hard to take sometimes.
Even old farts like me don’t listen to the radio much. I’d rather ride in silence and daydream, if I forgot to bring a CD to the car with me. We used to listen to newstalk radio in the kitchen while cooking, years ago, but a cable jack and those itty-bitty TVs killed that. Radio can’t compete with CNN Headline News…
The only time I listen to the radio is when Auburn football isn’t on TV. Or I’m at the stadium…
I still listen to XRT in the a.m. (i need music to wake up to), NPR on weekends and evenings.
I am tempted by Sirus/XM, but until they carry BBC 6 I’m not buying. I’m convinced BBC 6 is my personal soundtrack. It is the best radio station ever. What a great idea – create a station based on Peel Sessions and the BBC archive and let music writers and performers be the DJ.
However when 6 boots you off because they’re carrying the Bob Dylan Radio Hour – I listen to MPR’s The Current. It’s the minnesota stepchild of BBC 6. And they sound like it.
According to a survey conducted by American Media Services 63% of American adults listen to the radio every day. The number among 25-34 adults is even stronger: 79 percent tune in to radio at least once a day.