Teens and Radio: A Story Left Untold
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Music is organized noise. Take that same concept to writing and it applies across a spectrum of words. How one organizes words greatly alters meaning, and words left out have just as profound an affect on what the reader walks away with.
We've grown into a society where communications have become so partisan that an audience being exposed to only one side of a story is commonplace.
Two sides of an issue presented in one offering almost never occurs. Publications and programs that reflect only the views of their creators are detrimenetal for any person, let alone an industry like radio.
The topic this day is a brief headline and sentence being circulated at Clear Channel-owned InsideRadio.com.
Study: Teens give radio 32 minutes a day.
"While much has been written about the declining use and relevancy of radio among youth, a new study by the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation shows the medium remains a popular source for music and other audio content among teens."
If I'm reading this correctly (that is, the way the publisher of Inside Radio wants me to understand this message), this study indicates that the radio industry is doing fine as "a popular source for music and other audio content among teens." If I read only Inside Radio's message, I can start my day with a warm, fuzzy feeling. (There may be more on this study delivered to Inside Radio subscribers, but its web site is delivering a truncated and slanted message.)
Let me fill in a few holes to this story:
"Over the last five years, the number of kids and young adults who own an iPod or MP3 player has more than quadrupled...."
"The proportion of people between the ages of eight and 18 who own one of these devices jumped from 18% in 2004 to 76% in 2009, representing an increase of 322%."
It seems our radio industry trade publication forgot to include these items in the above shout of glee. Both came from the same Kaiser Family Foundation study. Here's another tidbit in the report: "The average number of radio sets in the homes of these Kaiser respondents decreased from 3.3 to 2.5...."
The above facts are featured in an article at MediaPost, under the headline "MP3/iPod Ownerships Soars Among Teens, Radio Falls."
"Of the two hours and 19 minutes of daily music listening by the children and young adults surveyed, 41 minutes (about 30%) was spent listening to an iPod or MP3 player, versus 32 minutes each (23%) for radio and music stored or delivered by computers."
Please read the MediaPost artcle for more, like this from Nielsen in June 2009: "...just 16% of teenagers around the world consider radio their 'primary source' of music, lagging far behind MP3 players...." And this, from Coleman Insights in June of 2008: "...84% of the 14-17 cohort listen to music daily on an MP3 player, iPod or computer, versus 78% for radio."
Over the years radio industry problems have grown because important facts about radio's use were downplayed or not mentioned in the inner circle. The importance of leading a community was diminished as big radio groups abandoned audience relationships. But the radio trades always kept the flocks happy by offering skewed views and subjective backing of initiatives that radio industry leaders wanted pushed. (Can you say HD Radio?)
Imagine how much stronger the radio industry would be if all information - both good and bad - had been made available over the years.
Those working in the industry today would be better prepared if the true strength of new media growth had been written about, and not clouded by words meant to distort the truth.
Radio is not dead, won't die, and is flexible. It's just difficult to adjust when you don't know all the facts.
Like the story about teens and radio, there are many more - in content distribution, display advertising, in-steam, and pre-roll video growth - that suffer this same fate of twisted and missing words.
Here's something else to consider. Just yesterday I received a call from a client wanting guidance on a Google Keywords ad buy package that one Yellow Pages representative was trying to sell him. (Yes, he was interested in buying it.)
Radio needed to start this revenue stream years ago, and through the years I have urged it to create a keyword ad buying service. That the Yellow Pages now offers it leaves radio sales staffs selling the same holes in programs, with nothing new to offer.
Have you ever read about new revenue streams for radio in your current industry trades? The partisan publications, if they want to do good for radio, need to expand content and tell the whole story.
Until all the words get out, the edited text you see is just a cacophony of noise that holds little meaning and even less useful information - and the full story will remain untold.
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From: DeVonn Lewis
This story about radio not being dead and teens was very informative. But, what I would like to add about radio is that the medium is behind when it comes to preserving good music on the radio.
Programmers tend to pick what is just hot for the moment, instead choosing music that is just good music. What person that is a consumer, wants to listen to a bunch of ads all day and they talk over the music on most of it. Now with so many different ways to communicate via web, mobile, ipods that's great! But remember, radio is built on what people love to hear, not what the programmers want them to hear.
It's time to still get back to breaking new music, new artist, in studio visits, retail/radio in-store promos that give the consumer real value for their money!
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