• by John Gaffney , May 21, 2002

The latest radio format study from Scarborough Research reveals that older adults are setting their dials to the News/Talk radio format. The median age of listeners is 52, and almost a quarter (24%) of News/Talk listeners are ages 45-54. Adults between the ages of 55 and 64 are 47% more likely to listen to the format and seniors 65+ are 50% more likely to tune in. On the flip side, younger adults are less likely to tune in: only 3% of News/Talk radio listeners are ages 18-24, and 11% are 25-34.

The study also reveals better-educated and affluent individuals are more likely to be News/Talk radio listeners. Over half (52%) of listeners are white-collar workers. Individuals with postgraduate degrees are 82% more likely to tune in than the market average, and 37% of people who have a household income of $250,000 or more listen to the News/Talk radio format.

The markets that have the highest penetrations of News/Talk radio listeners are St. Louis (40%), Milwaukee (39%), Seattle/Tacoma (37%), Boston and Cincinnati (both 34%). The markets with the lowest penetrations are Honolulu (9%), Memphis and Greenville (10%), Charleston (11%) and Lexington, Mobile and Wilkes-Barre (which all come in at 12%). Penetrations for some other metropolitan cities include Chicago (28%), Washington, DC (21%) and New York (17%).