You’re A Voter
Chances are if you are listening to my voice on the radio…then you are a registered voter.
Not just before this is a news/talk station that features a great deal of political-related programming. But because…it’s radio.
Edison Research periodically surveys radio listeners on a variety of things, part of their on-going “Share of Ear” study.
Over the air radio…meaning AM and FM stations…is used 71 percent of the time by registered voters, far outdistancing other audio sources. For example, podcasts are a distant second with registered voters using those 16 percent of the time. Ad-supported versions of Pandora, SiriuxXM satellite radio, and Spotify each claim only 4 percent.
The report adds that registered voters allocate 40 percent of their “total audio time” to AM/FM radio.
And this dominance of traditional radio cuts across all political affiliations. 66 percent of Democrats, 72 percent of Independents, and 77 percent of Republicans choose AM and FM radio. In the podcast category, that’s the choice of 20 percent of Democrats and 13 percent of Republicans…with the total number at 16 percent.
Now this survey does include all formats…not just spoken word or news/talk radio…it includes all formats of music, sports talk, etc.
That’s important information for political action committees and campaigns to have as they determine how to spend their ad budgets. And also interesting given the move to get rid of AM—and yes, even FM—radios from cars in favor of other systems you pay for.
