Survey: 50% Haven't Changed Radio Listening Habits in Past Five Years

About.com - Radio Section From Corey Deitz
Dateline: 09/18/06

There's a new survey available on Radio listening which was commissioned by American Media Services, a radio brokerage, engineering and developmental engineering firm in Charleston, South Carolina.

Here's what it found:

Over The Past 5 Years

Given the various new media to receive music and news, a little more than one in four Americans (27 percent) said they are now listening to the radio less than they did five years ago.

About half (51 percent) said their radio listening hasn't changed during the past five years, and 21 percent said they are now listening more.

Over The Next 5 Years

When asked to look ahead five years, 11 percent said they expect to be listening to the radio less than they do now. Nearly three out of four (74 percent) said they expect to listen about the same, and 13 percent said they expect to listen more.

Still a Primary Music Source

The survey found that Americans rate radio as their primary source to learn about new music.

When asked which ways they learn about new music, 63 percent said by listening to the radio.
In comparison, 43 percent said it can be through talking with friends, 41 percent cited watching television, 24 percent cited reviews in newspapers or magazines, and 16 percent cited the internet.

Men, Women and Internet Radio

Men are more likely than women to listen to the radio over the Internet.

Forty percent of men, compared with 32 percent of women, said they have listened to the radio over the Internet, but the gender gap is likely to close in the future. Forty-two percent of men and 41 percent of women (a statistically insignificant difference) described themselves as likely to listen to radio over the Internet in the future.

The telephone survey of 1,008 Americans adults was conducted Aug. 11-13, 2006, by the national polling firm of GfK NOP of Princeton, N.J. The survey is considered accurate within plus or minus 3 percentage points.