Techsurvey Shows Radio’s Strengths And Key Advantages To Other Audio.

In a highly attended webinar, Jacobs Media President Fred Jacobs revealed details of the 2025 Teachsurvey, which was conducted from Jan. 8 to Feb. 9 and involved database members and listeners of 500 radio stations in the U.S. and Canada. This year’s Techsurvey included 24,525 completed surveys.

The detailed study revealed 10 key takeaways:

• Broadcast radio is stable but aging, with local content becoming more important post-COVID.

• Personalities now drive radio listening more than music for seven years.

• Some listeners are decreasing radio consumption due to digital options, COVID's impact, and station errors.

• Digital transformation continues, though slower, while traditional radio declines.

• Radio is accessed through various devices, including smart TVs and online newsletters.

• Car infotainment features reduce radio listening.

• Mobile and social media are ubiquitous, influencing news and purchases.

• Podcasting reached a new high in weekly listenership.

• Social media's role in news and product inspiration is quantified.

• There's a Gen X opportunity for radio skewed towards Boomers.

One of the most important questions of the Techsurvey, and the first one asked to respondents, is how many hours during an average weekday they listen to the radio, be it over the air, on a mobile app, or on smart devices.

“There's a lot of folks who are consuming an awful lot of radio on a daily basis,” Jacobs said. “Almost a third of the overall sample (32%) listens two to three hours a day.” Approximately one-fifth of respondents, or 21%, listen for four to six hours a day, and 12% listen eight hours a day or more. The generations that listen less are Gen Z and Millennials, “who clearly consume some other stuff,” Jacobs explained.

The top reasons why respondents listen to the radio are that it’s “easiest to listen to in the car” and “it’s free.” Jacobs remarked. “The cool thing about radio is we don't send you an invoice at the end of the month and bill you for all that radio you've listened to,” he continued. “Unlike all those subscription services out there, radio is, in fact, free.” Other reasons include the DJs, hosts, and shows, hearing a favorite song/artist, and several of what Jacobs says are emotional reasons for listening – due to habit, feeling a connection to the host/station, liking to work with the radio one, radio keeps the listener company, and to be informed about news and events.

Being local and providing a sense of place is a huge strength of the medium. Listeners feel a greater connection with local radio vs. other audio. This feeling has steadily climbed over the years, from 49% in the 2018 Techsurvey, to 56% this year. Most say that radio’s local edge is a key advantage, with 54% strongly agreeing with the statement, and 34% agreeing. Since COVID more than half continue to cite radio’s local edge as a key advantage.

Personalities are the top reason for tuning into a radio station, respondents agree. As addressed earlier, personalities (61%) outpace music (56%) as to why someone tunes into a station. Women, Millennials, and Gen Xers index highest in citing personalities as a main tune-in factor. Listeners of CHR lead the formats, with 72% of listeners to this genre citing personality appeal as why they listen. Next is news/talk and rock at 65%, and sports at 63%.

Jacobs says it was the 2014 Techsurvey where “we started at 57% saying that is an important reason for me to listen to the radio. It's only at 61% today,” he continued, “The more dramatic shift is looking at people who are driven by music to listen to the radio. That's gone from 70% back in 2014 down to 56% today.”

Survey participants are also eager to meet radio personalities, with one in four strongly agreeing that they would like to connect with their favorite hosts and personalities.

The survey found that radio is aging, or at least the respondents of Techsurvey are. The average age in 2022 was 55.8; in 2023, it was 55.5, in 2024, it was 56.7, and this year’s Techsurvey pegs the average is 58 years old.

“And when you think that the sweet spot demo that we talk about all the time is 25 to 54 the average age of our best listeners, our core audience, is already over 54,” Jacobs explained. “As the great one Wayne Gretzky once said, you can definitely see where the puck is moving.”

The Jacobs Media Techsurvey webinar was presented in partnership with Inside Radio and sponsored by Quu.