• by Mary Beth Garber , February 17, 2012

“Radio is in decline.” “Radio is dying.” “Radio is dead.” That’s been the uninformed rap on radio for years, partly because it is rarely covered by reporters either as a business or as part of the cultural zeitgeist. Despite radio silence from many analysts and media writers, however, radio isn’t dead or even sick.

In fact, radio’s audience continues to grow. According to Arbitron, 241 million Americans age 12 and up, or 93%, currently listen to radio every week--the largest number in radio’s history. Even as media choices continue to grow, radio remains a top-of-mind choice for consumers. For advertisers, it is an ideal way to reach people in communities across America. Here is why:

*More than twice as many people in the U.S. 12 and older will listen to radio on a typical day than will use any Google site (180 million vs. 85 million)

*Americans listen to radio for a total of more than 14.6 billion hours each month.

*70% of people nationwide tune in to radio each day for more than two-and-a-half hours, while fewer than 70% of people use the Internet each day and use it for about 1 hour 15 minutes.

As the economy continues to recover, many advertisers looking to pursue newly optimistic consumers are using radio as one of their primary vehicles. This optimism is shared by BIA/Kelsey’s newest “Investing In Radio Market Report,” which projects solid industry revenue growth over the next five years.

The report attributes an increasing portion of these predicted gains to more aggressive digital and online strategies--deflating the theory that the Internet is the next technology that will “kill” radio.

Rather, the partnering of “on-air and online” is proving to be radio’s next major source of revenue growth. And Arbitron shows that Internet radio is neither cannibalizing nor replacing traditional radio; it is additive, similar to how FM was additive to AM.

Radio has always been and will always be an inventive, influential medium. From Orson Welles’s “War of the Worlds” broadcast (the first postmodern media stunt) to FDR’s fireside chats; from being an indispensable--and often the only available--news source during national emergencies and natural disasters, radio is the medium that has bound us together, thrilled us, changed us.

And when the next king of all media emerges, that future Larry, Howard, Rush or Ryan is sure to step forward from a radio broadcasting booth.

In a recent article in Ad Age, Mindshare CEO Antony Young suggested that “the hottest digital ad mediums are adaptations from old media.” I would suggest that it’s the categories of “old” and “new” that need redefinition.

Broadcast radio is the original and most enduring social medium; it’s local (talk radio being the greatest town hall meeting ever invented. It’s interactive (nearly one-quarter of all listeners have spoken directly to radio station personalities and over 20 million like or follow stations and personalities). It’s mobile (from cars to boom boxes, headphones to iPods to smartphones), and it’s free for users.

Video didn’t kill the radio star. TV and the Walkman didn’t ring its death knell. Satellite radio didn’t even dent it. And Pandora and other playlist services won’t dampen the reach and power of traditional radio, either. As a medium, radio is neither old nor new. Radio is a forever media.

The melding of radio and digital into ever-more-powerful entertainment and advertising platforms is the next step in the medium’s evolution and a major media story that has largely been ignored. The radio is on -- don’t be the last on your block to tune in.