• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, June 9, 2008

Teenagers are beginning to desert radio in favor of music from personal devices and computers, according to Coleman Insights, which studied teens' listening behavior in a major market.

Long observed by media pundits, the trend is finally having a measurable impact on audience size in the teenage demo. Specifically, Coleman found that 84% of the 14-17 cohort listen to music daily on an MP3 player, iPod, or computer, versus 78% for radio. Coleman described these results as evidence of a "tipping point" in audio consumption: "Coleman Insights has for the first time detected greater use of them than of FM radio in a few specific instances."

Another Coleman study found the 15-17 cohort favors iPods and MP3 players as primary destinations for listening to music, with 41% choosing the personal devices, compared to just 22% for FM radio.

These findings suggest a growing divide between teenagers and older consumers, especially in light of another recent study by Sonoro, a German electronics manufacturer, which found that radio is still more popular than MP3 players and CDs among American consumers overall.

Sonoro's face-to-face survey of 560 respondents in January found that in total, they spent about 16,800 hours a week listening to some form of audio entertainment. Of those studied, 39% of the time was devoted to FM radio, 23% to MP3 players and iPods and 18% to CDs. When AM and Internet radio are included with FM, radio listening time increases to 57% of the total. However, the Sonoro study did not break down responses by age.

The shift in youth listening habits is more ominous news for radio, coming not long after another study by Edison Media Research found that college graduates ages 25-54 listen to radio significantly less than their counterparts without college degrees.

Based on Arbitron's paper diary ratings from spring 2007, Edison found that weekly listening among the 25-54, non-college grads was 21 hours and 15 minutes; for college grads, it was just 15 hours and 45 minutes--a difference of five-and-a-half hours, or 26% less than the non-college total.

The difference became even more pronounced when Rosin examined ratings from Arbitron's new Portable People Meter in Houston. The more precise electronic measurement found non-college grads on average listened to 22 hours and 45 minutes per week, while college grads listened to just 14 hours and 30 minutes--a difference of 8 hours and 15 minutes, or 32% less than the non-college total.

It's unclear why college graduates listen to radio less, but one trend is unmistakable: Every year, more and more American teenagers are going to college, and a higher percentage is graduating. In 2007, 67.2% of the high school graduating class of 2007 enrolled in a college or university--up from 58% in 1980, according to figures from the U.S. Department of Labor and Department of Education.