Monday, September 20, 2010

Country Listeners Seem To Love Analog Radio In Their Cars

VIP Research and Mark Ramsey reported yesterday that while roughly one-third of 12+ consumers "would listen less to local radio if access to stations on the Internet was as easy to use as your radio..., 75.24% of respondents who listen to country music radio claim they would tune in just as much to “my local radio stations” (if offered the technology), a higher percentage than the other 17 format listeners included in the research.

The survey asked 2,000 radio listeners covering 22 markets, “If tomorrow you could get Internet access from the dashboard of your car and you could listen to thousands of radio stations from all over the world through an Internet receiver on your dash as easy to use as your radio, would you (a) Listen less to my local radio stations as I explore new ones online, or (b) Listen just as much to my local radio stations no matter what’s online.”

Fewer than half (48%) of of the country listeners (second only to 46% of classical fans, the group which was the least so inclined) want in-car Internet radio.

Would they rather have a radio in their portable mp3 player, iPod or an in-car Internet radio?

Again, (analog) FM wins (in the portable players, please).

The country radio consumers (38%) were second only to (40%) alternative listeners as the most likely to want a radio in their iPod/mp3 player.


The telephone survey of 2,141 adults was conducted August 10-25 and has a margin of error of +/- 2.0% at the 95% confidence level.

1 comment:

NAB said...

Representatives from NAB wrote House and Senate leaders for both the Judiciary and the Commerce committees on Monday to "correct and clarify" the record regarding what it calls an "important consumer benefit" that could be derived from "unlocking the mobile phone market and granting consumer access to radio's free and unique offerings." The letters were signed by NAB Joint Board Chair Steve Newberry and NAB Radio Board Chair Caroline Beasley.

Newberry and Beasley noted the strong weekly listenership of 239 million Americans age 12 and older deserve to have the "crucial lifeline" provided by local radio stations during times of emergency and crises. "Americans ought not be denied access to such a pivotal lifeline service," they wrote.

The letter referenced a recent poll conducted by Harris Interactive, which showed that a sizable majority of American cell phone users would like the ability to listen to their favorite local radio stations through a built-in radio receiver on their mobile phone. Newberry and Beasley also noted the global demand for radio-capable cell phones, pointing out that a recent study predicted market penetration for radio-capable devices will reach 45% within the next year.

"Despite such global demand, much of the U.S. cell phone market remains founded upon exclusive contracts between consumer electronics manufacturers and mobile phone carriers, and consumers are being denied access to radio's free services on many mobile phone devices for competitive reasons," the letter explained. "Cell phone providers apparently would rather reap the revenue of data-intensive, fee-based streaming apps than offer consumers a free and local alternative."

"In the end, this is an issue of consumer access," wrote Newberry and Beasley. "Americans deserve better choices than what is being offered by gatekeeper mobile service providers. The demonstrated demand for radio-capable cell phones, coupled with local radio's role as a lifeline service during times of crisis, are considerations we hope you will take into account as this debate continues."