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Do women like radio or not?

listening with headphones canvasRadio is old. Online music is hot. They can foresee never listening to music on the radio.

Those are some of the messages that come from a survey of 2,000 women aged 15-54, recently concluded by Alan Burns & Associates and Strategic Solutions Research. A webinar on Thursday will fill in a more detailed picture.

As research projects often do, Burns/Strategic is leaking tantalizing statistical tidbits in advance to drive attention. Today’s info seems to say that women are done with radio … and can’t live without it. More than half of respondents (58%) agree with the statement: “Radio is kind of old, online music is what’s hot now.”

That’s depressing for broadcasters, but Alan Burns puts some daylight into it. “Women feel strongly connected to their favorite radio station, with over three-quarters (76%) of them saying their favorite radio station feels like a good friend or even their best friend […] We are not seeing a significant weakening in affection for radio.”

On another data point, 85% of women look forward to listening to radio and would be very disappointed if they couldn’t listen anymore.

Contradictory survey points cohere into Burns’ main message, which is to register for the webinar. And not just one; four weekly webinars are scheduled to trickle out the info. Alan Burns calls it a “State of the Union” message for radio, though the project is focused only on women’s perceptions and habits, as far as we can tell.


Brad Hill

25 Comments

  1. I like radio but I prefer small webcasters because the music I like is being played more by them than by Clear Channel, etc.

    • I second that. I raised on and enjoy classic soft rock – James Taylor, Carpenters, Carly Simon, America, Barry Manilow, Billy Joel and so on – music you very rarely hear on FM anymore and now have to turn to the Internet to hear instead.

      • I recommend BoomerRadio.com. It’s specialized internet radio channels aimed at age 40 and up.

        If anyone here keeps up with current pop music but wants to hear something soft, I recommend AmazingLiteMusic.com.

      • One I recommend that’s not quite as oldie, moldy as Boomer Radio is, is HeartbeatFM.net. It’s an Internet station based in Ireland that plays love songs from the 70’s-90’s.

    • I like a lot of classical pop performers – Jackie Evancho, Andrea Bocelli, etc. Only time you hear them on FM is at Christmas, which is why I also prefer to listen to Internet stations instead of regular radio.

      • You may like Cool Med Radio. It’s an internet station in Europe. Amongst the soft rock and easy listening selections, I’ve heard the station play Andrea Bocelli’s songs.

    • My own niche online station supports your point of view. I’ve seen a lot of growth in the year it’s been in operation.

      I think this is a trick that commercial broadcasters are missing. If they just niche down with stations, and add proper, old school radio personalities to these stations, they might win back audiences, instead of alienating them.

  2. “Katie”, “Chad”, and “Brad” are obviously spammers.

    • I noticed on the Spotify article, posted on February 2, some spammers posted nonsense about online dating.

      • Posting information that has nothing to do with topics this website covers.

    • “Brad” is the spammer for posting the article in the first place.

      • The real Brad – Brad Hill, who posted the article, – is not a spammer.

        • When it comes to spammers, ignore them and they’ll eventually leave.

          • Not spammers, Trolls. They only grow when you feed them. Tune them out with some soft rock…LOL

      • Also, you do not have permission to copy any part of my nick name.

          • Hey! I have the copyright on “Soft” “Rock” and “Chick” – please refrain from using MY nickname, thanks.

          • Nope. You do not have the copyright and you never, ever will have it.

  3. I’m actually surprised that the sample size of this survey was only 2,000 women. I think one of the great things about digital audio, is the ability to see who is actually connected (provided reg data or social media connections). I wonder if this data exists (or willingly shared by publishers.) Interested to see the composition of different radio formats online.

Comments are closed.