People have different tastes in life. That elderly gentleman you see in the cafe might prefer his coffee black rather than with heavy cream and sugar. That young lady strutting her way to the office might prefer walking instead of taking a cab. The millennial wearing his AirPods might choose Apple Music over Spotify.
How about a guy listening to the radio? Who even listens to the radio? It’s 2019! Apparently, many people do.
To some, the radio might be dead and obsolete. But it’s still a thriving industry for DJs, talk show hosts, marketers, and record labels. Sure, almost everything’s pretty much available online. But the radio still has that charm that you can’t replace just yet.
Who would have thought radio broadcasting will still be here?
News
People without access to television and the Internet still depend on the radio for news. A newspaper may come in handy, but it might already be a day late. In this age, even an hour late to the party means death in social media feeds.
These days, the news doesn’t necessarily mean “hard news” all the time. It’s not rehashed material that you’ve already seen on TV. It could be anything such as a radio talk show — celebrities and guests discussing new events and ideas. It could be a life advice segment given by a love guru DJ or a traveling monk. The ideas never end.
Independent podcasts also exist. Short snippets of news are available on social media, too. But chances are there’s a radio app already preinstalled on your phone. It doesn’t need the Internet. You only need to open the app and tune in to your favorite radio station for the latest news around the world.
Marketing
Data from News Generation reveal that more than 71.6 million millennials use the radio each month. 80.5 million Gen Xers also use the radio every month. That’s a whole lot of people without ad-skipping subscriptions.
Ad revenue on radio programs posted some strong gains, according to Pew Research Center, highlighting the number of people tuning in to their services. So, a marketing team only needs to place their commercials on a radio service, such as SiriusXM. Millions of people are now listening in to the message SiriusXM commercials are trying to push. Those millions of people now have a new product or service they would probably want to try.
Music
Now that’s something everybody can agree on, right? Radios are notorious for playing everybody’s favorite songs as they’re about to leave for work. They’re known for releasing an artist’s anticipated newest single or even introducing you to a band you’ve never heard of.
This was all before online music streaming services were a thing. But unfortunately (for music streaming services), the radio is still going strong. Plus, if you get bored listening to the same old songs in your music library, the radio probably has something new for you.
Radio broadcasting is not dead. In fact, it is getting more attention again. Businesses can still use it to advertise their products and services to a huge market segment.
