• by Erik Sass , October 11, 2007

74% of Americans ages 25-54 and up are exposed to network radio at least once a week, according to a report from Arbitron titled "Network Radio Today." It has the same percentage penetration (74%) of households with annual incomes over $50,000. That's more good news for radio broadcasters as they seek to jump-start revenue growth, which has stagnated in recent years.

According to the Arbitron report, 125 million American adults over the age of 18--about 55% of the adult population--listen to radio in the car, representing 35% of all network radio listening. However, 40% of adults also report listening to network radio at home. Overall listening is distributed almost evenly between men and women.

The Arbitron findings come less than a month after another study by American Media Services which found that 63% of American adults report listening to radio every day. 72% of respondents saying they listen to radio at least as frequently as they did five years ago, if not more. Meanwhile, radio's online properties are also popular: in September a report from the Media Audit revealed that 18% of Americans on the Internet visit the Web site of a radio station at least once a month.