When I started in radio, the competition for the public’s attention – and advertising dollars – was the other local radio station in town and the local newspaper. That was 1967.
Audio Media in 2026
The latest Infinite Dial research released by Edison Research at SSRS shows that
- Smartphone ownership in America by people 12+ is at 262 million or 91%
- 112 million of us now own a Smart Speaker (I have five of them.) and
- 233 million American households own a Smart TV
Whether via our smart phones, speakers or TVs,
- 233 million Americans or 81% of us consume our audio online on a monthly basis and
- 76% on a weekly basis
While people between the ages of 12 and 54 have been steady online audio consumers, people over 55 are the fastest adopters of online audio reaching 70% in 2026.
Social Media in 2026
- In 2008, 10% of Americans were using Social Media
- In 2026, that number has grown to 85% or 246 million people
Social media has dynamically increased the competition for advertising dollars with traditional media.
Audio Sources Used in the Car
The good news is broadcast radio is #1 in the car, but down by ten percent over the last decade; coming in now at 73%.
- #2 is online audio at 48%, more than double over that same period of time.
- #3 are Podcasts at 37%
For adults aged 18-34, listening to online audio in the car beats broadcast radio.
Drivers who have either Apple CarPlay or Android Auto use it 83% of the time in their vehicles. (I have Apple CarPlay and use it 99% of the time. I wrote about this four years ago in an article titled: “Why I Stream ALL My Radio Listening.”)
AI Usage (Artificial Intelligence)
While 93% of Americans are familiar with artificial intelligence (AI), 57% now use at least one generative AI brand.
Many of us are using AI and probably not even realizing it. Open AI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, and Google’s Gemini are the big 3 dominant players controlling 90% of the AI market.
The New York Times ran a quiz this week asking “Who’s a Better Writer: AI or Humans?” Curious, I took the quiz and found that I liked 4 items that were written by AI and 1 one that was written by a human. (The human piece was written by Carl Sagan.)
Color me surprised to learn I preferred material written by AI over humans.
But as the Times pointed out, “when you consider that AI is trained on essentially the sum of all human knowledge – and many of humanity’s greatest books – it may be particularly well equipped to produce writing with broad appeal.”
Take The Quiz Yourself
I invite you to take this quiz yourself and report back in the comments section on this blog what your results were and if they surprised you. Here’s the link to the quiz:
What Can Radio Do That Other Media Can’t?
Almost a decade ago, I asked this question of my readers and collated the response.
- Theater of the Mind. However, both streaming and podcasts have this same ability and as I’ve just learned, AI might even be better at creating theater of the mind.
- Radio is everywhere, wireless and free. With 91% smartphone ownership, more people today may own a smartphone than a radio. Plus a smartphone is also your camera, credit card, audio and video source, GPS, alarm clock, calculator, calendar and so much more. The smartphone has easily replaced over 20 standalone devices and can be considered the digital Swiss Army knife.
- Allows Multi-tasking. So doesn’t listening to streaming audio or a podcast on your smartphone.
- Provides information during emergencies. My Verizon connected iPhone goes off no matter where I am with emergency information based on where I’m located. Plus when it comes to things like weather alerts, school delays or closings, those messages quickly come into my iPhone to alert me.
What Can Radio Do that My Smartphone Can’t?
One reader thought the better question would be “What can radio do that my smartphone can’t.” Another phrased the question this way “What can radio do that other media won’t?”
Then maybe this person’s observation was most poignant:
“They all properly answered your question by stating what radio CAN do. But it should be noted that radio, as an industry is dismally failing to do the very things it is capable of doing.”
Why is that?
Many pointed out how our country’s largest radio companies are mired in huge debt (and still are) that prevents them from doing the very things that could take radio into the future.
So, what’s the answer?
Live & Local
This was mentioned by many. Then quickly followed up with, but my stations aren’t live & local.
While the industry is quick to make the live & local claim, it’s ignoring the reality that it’s not.
Community & Companionship
Dan Mason said at a radio talent institute I conducted, that the power of radio was community and companionship, and that without both it wasn’t really radio.
When I got into radio, owners were proud of their radio stations and took excellent care of them. They lived in the communities they were licensed to serve,
and that made all the difference.
Now I don’t’ want you to get the idea that all of radio was perfect back then, the industry had its share of rotten apples to be sure, but they were the exception, not the rule. In my opinion, those days came to an end with the consolidation of the radio industry.
Radio is a mass appeal medium, in a world that is media siloed by relevancy to the listener.
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