Greetings, everyone! Say, do you work in radio? Did you formerly work in radio? Do you listen to radio? There’s plenty of reasons to feel optimistic about radio’s future. Did you know that? No? Well, let’s count down five reasons to feel good about radio. Ready? Let’s go down this rabbit hole and see…

1. It’s free!

1a. So is every other medium. The competitors also have additional revenue streams, like premium tiers, ad-free versions, whatever. We do have pay radio, namely SiriusXM, but that’s optional and if you call them around renewal time, they’ll give you deals just to stay on board.

Meanwhile, you can use Spotify for free if you don’t mind ads. Okay, that’s not as much an advantage as it used to be.

2. Every car is equipped with radio!

2a. Yeah, about that… you know about the somewhat desperate-sounding “Save AM Radio” campaigns. You also know that radio is becoming increasingly hidden on car touchscreens, and streaming audio has become almost ubiquitous and pretty easy.

One saving grace: unless you’ve put it on a preset, fumbling around to find a stream is not just annoying but dangerous. Streaming music isn’t worth losing control of your car and thus starring in the latest viral dashcam video, with text splashed on top calling you an idiot. It’s one reason why there’s been some pushback and calls for bringing back actual dashboard buttons and dials instead of putting those controls on the touchscreen. (I have an older car without a touchscreen. I don’t feel like I’m missing much.)

3. Radio’s local! Streaming isn’t!

3a. That ship sailed a long time ago. Voice tracking from elsewhere isn’t “local,” even if it includes material from a local news source. On the other hand, has anyone done research on whether consumers care whether a station is local?

Does it matter? I’d guess that sports talk needs to at least offer one or two local shows – a sports station in New York better be talking about the Giants, Jets, Yankees, and Mets and not college football, while you’re talking SEC football and nothing but SEC football in Birmingham – but Sabrina Carpenter sounds the same whether her song’s being played by an automation platform in your town or someplace else.

When it comes to entertainment, at least, people probably don’t care where a host is; they only care that they’re being entertained.

4. Radio has immediacy! When news breaks, you’ll find discussion about it on the radio!

4a. You’ll find more of it on social media. The conversation moved. Besides, even live radio tends to lag in terms of the topics it covers, and tape delay is a thing, too.

Radio works best when there’s a host who’s a star, whose opinions are especially valued and trusted by their audience, in a “I wonder what (host) thinks about this” way. Are there hosts left about whom you can say that, or are they all podcasting or doing video online?

5. Radio has reach, more than any other medium! Advertisers get bang for their buck!

5a. This is still true, although it’s shrinking and reach alone as an isolated metric for advertising sales really doesn’t do it for agency buys. There is some hope here, because radio does reach older demographics very well and it seems to be the case that more agencies and clients are paying attention (although they’re buying MeTV and Antenna TV and other TV diginets, the perfect medium for pharmaceutical ads, which explains the Wegovy and Jardiance ads in every single break).

There’s some opportunity there on a local, non-agency level, too. Unfortunately, there’s probably not enough revenue there to offset the debt the big broadcasters owe Wall Street, but maybe there’s enough to keep some local operations afloat. The increasing number of stations handing in their licenses says otherwise, though.

Feeling better now? No? Well, then, there’s always podcasting, or YouTube, or TikTok, or Substack. And, well, radio – if it is dying, it’s going to take a while for it to go away, and in the meantime, despite the tinkering with AI, it’s going to need people to make it work. One of you may have ideas that will turn radio’s fortunes around. Better get working on that, bud. Time’s a-wastin’.

Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.

Perry Michael Simon

Perry Michael Simon is a weekly news media columnist for Barrett Media. He previously served as VP and Editor/News-Talk-Sports/Podcast for AllAccess.com. Prior to joining the industry trade publication, Perry spent years in radio working as a Program Director and Operations Manager for KLSX and KLYY in Los Angeles and New Jersey 101.5 in Trenton. He can be found on X (formerly Twitter) @PMSimon.