Do young people listen to the radio anymore
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Do young people listen to Radio anymore
- Thread starter Dj mr fresh
- Start date
TLDR: Yes, young people still listen to the radio. This is especially true for lower income and rural populations. And like older populations, most listening by young people is done in the car.
That ought to drive off even more advertisers.
I’m 20, and I’m one of the few that actually still listens to radio. Majority of the people that I know have migrated over to Spotify.
I'm reading your response and remembering a marketing class I took in 1984 at Loyola Marymount University (Los Angeles). The professor, a Dr. Jim Bowie (now deceased) read to the class several statistics showing how many people were on Social Security and programs designed by the FDR and LBJ federal administrations to serve the poor. Then he turned to the class and asked us point blank, "Should businesses advertise to these people." Most (including yours truly) shook our heads. As one class member said aloud, "These people have no money so why should we advertise to them." To which Dr. Bowie responded, "You're wrong! These people do have money. Maybe not a lot, but they are getting some income off of which they can live from the Federal (and sometimes state) governments which they use to live their lives as best as they can. You can advertise a lot of things to those people, especially basic amenities, and they will purchase them."
Dr. Bowie's lesson is one I have never forgotten.
I am sorry, but I have a really hard time believing these "statistics." They MAY listen for background noise, but not to find new music. There are too many other options out there. These aren't the days where the radio was the "go to" for the latest music trends. That ship has sailed. The medium is dying whether some of us want to admit it or not.
Not all young people are interested in finding new music. We have some under 35 on this board who like classic rock. Also keep in mind that not all people under 25 have access to the internet or online music resources. Children under 18 must have a parent sign TOS agreements.
But sure, there are lots of options for people who are interested in the latest music trends. Radio companies aren't in the music business and don't benefit by improving new music sales. There was a time when radio companies also owned record labels. Not anymore. Radio companies are focusing on the content they own and create, which isn't music.
One other thing to keep in mind is those statistics include non-commercial stations, some of which are staffed by college students. The percentage of new music is likely higher on those stations than on typical commercial stations. Radio is not all one thing.
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You are kind of missing the point of my comment. True enough, there are some younger demographics who like older music. But that isn't the majority. Radio isn't in the same position it was even as recently as the 2000s. It isn't as influential to a younger audience. Also, most young people under the age of 25 have something called a cell phone, which gives them internet access.
That's correct. A lot of things have changed in 26 years. Many because of the internet.
Radio has to chart a new course, and my view is that music isn't part of it.
Not just young people. EVERYBODY has access to the internet.
I'm 29 and I do listen to the radio mostly Hot AC/AC and sometimes Top 40. To me, streaming a station just doesn't have the same vibe as receiving it over the air. No to mention sometimes you can get stations many miles away during DX that you won't get with internet streaming. Streaming often has delay and it sounds different than OTA.
At the risk of going back to the argument we keep having, music radio - whether it was classic rock like I grew up on, or Top 40 and country (where I spent most of my career) - it wasn't entirely about the music. Every station could play a hit song. One of the more successful (and difficult to please) Program Directors I worked with in country used to hit us with "is that bit better than a Garth Brooks song?" Another very good programmer I worked with told me that the best imaging was stuff that "made people stop and look at their radio."
It was really all about the presentation. Does that mean that radio needs to go back to screaming, rhyming Top 40 jocks? Gravelly voiced rock jocks who sound like they just smoked an entire pack of Winston's? Country jocks that sound like they just stepped off the porch in their hometown holler? No. The business needs to - as you say - chart a new course.
And if - as you believe - music has no place on that new course, the challenge remains the same. What's the presentation going to be like? What is going to make that 20-something person stop and look at their radio (when they happen to stumble upon it) and keep listening?
I'm just throwing it out there, but maybe the appeal is to make content that has some level of exclusivity. Used to be, if you missed that "wild and wacky morning show bit," then all you could do was talk about it at "the water cooler," hope it was caught on tape and tune into the show the next day in hopes of catching the next one live. Nowadays, content creators have figured out that the way to earn a little more money and engagement is to wall off "the good stuff" behind a contribution to their Patreon, or have a "members only" secret podcast, or post clips and promote their live stream where you can catch "the good stuff" when it happens. One of the channels I'm following has even started to do live events and sell tickets.
I agree. But given the choice between heritage presentation and music-only distribution, the public has chosen the latter. By a very large margin. This didn't happen yesterday. It started a very long time ago. Even in the 60s, DJs had to keep it short. There's a reason for that.
That's up to them. The other thing that's changed is the music. Thanks to reality shows, music has become very disposable. It's not as big a part of people's lives as it once was. Sure there's a small percentage of fans, but for the most part they're fans of specific bands or artists, not genres. So genre-based radio has become irrelevant to the audience that just wants to hear it's favorite artists.