Jacobs Media: The sky is not falling!

I wanted to share this blog from Jacobs Media because within public radio the tendency often seems to be that the sky is falling. The latest fear is that radio will lose its in-car listeners. In-car listening is believed to be the last great hope. The recent news that car companies will be offering alternatives to radio in their cars, including WiFi, stirred up fears that radio will no longer be available and become irrelevant.

I've been in the public radio since the late 70's. Back then consensus was there was no way we could compete with commercial radio. Public radio's share of the market were measly. The best we could hope for was a niche service. We were.

We came out of the 70's and 80's growing audience because of our content. Loyalty to that content was built because it matched the core values of our audience. I remember hearing at the PRC in 2002 that public radio was done. In five to ten years, public radio would be irrelevant.

John Sutton pointed out in a recent blog, Public Radio 2018: Radio Still Rules.

• In Spring 2012 more than 37 million people tuned in to public radio.^

• The average number of weekly tune-ins per listener is around 7.5. +

• That means public radio listeners chose to listen to public radio stations more than 13.5 billion times in 2012.

On-line numbers don't come anywhere near the numbers created by on-air listening.

We've feared challenges from cable, cable news, talk radio moving to FM, satellite radio,  the Internet, Pandora, social media, and now mobile devices. The mentality is sky is falling. The sky is not falling.  Because of our content and connection to our audience, we are working from a position of strength.

The Jacob's Media Tech Survey 9 and research from Mark Ramsey suggests that listeners are not ready to give up their car radios. In the Tech Survey 83% of those looking for a new car said the most important feature they wanted in their car was a radio. In the Ramsey posting 76% disagree with the statement:

 ”It’s okay if automakers remove FM/AM radios from my next new car because I could always listen to my favorite stations on my mobile device via the Internet”

These are our listeners. They are clearly stating a preference. They are still loyal to their radio stations. They still believe in the connection and intimacy of radio has to offer. As long as you give the public radio audience what it wants on the platform(s) it prefers, a model of sustainability can be found.

Don't lose focus. Do what we were trying to do in the 80's and 90's. Do what these guys were and are doing. Start with your audience because they value our content.

Think Audience!