AM/FM Radio Continues To Have Major Impact

According to the latest study by Arbitron and Edison Media Research, AM/FM radio continues to have a big impact on people's lives. Nearly one in five consumers say radio impacts their lives, ranking second only to mobile phones (35 percent) as the audio platform/device that has the biggest impact on the lives of its users.

Other key findings from Radio's Digital Platforms 2007 study include:

• Among all persons 12 and older who participated in the study, the average time spent listening to AM/FM radio per day was 2 hours, 37 minutes.
• Those who use radio's newer digital platforms (online radio, satellite radio or audio podcast) listen to AM/FM 2 hours, 45 minutes a day.
• 11% of the U.S. population (29 million) age 12 and older have listened to Internet radio in the past week.
• 16% of persons age 18-34 and 14% of persons 18-49 have done so.
• 30% of Americans age 12 and older own a portable MP3 player, up from 22% in 2006 and 14% in 2005.
• 54% of those age 12-17 own a digital audio player.
• 70% of Americans age 12 and older do not own an iPod/portable MP3 player, and 15% report the device has had no impact on radio listening.
• 9% say they are listening less to over-the-air radio due to time spent with their iPod/portable MP3 player. 
• 26% said they had heard or read about HD Radio in January 2007, compared to 14% a year earlier.
• Only 6% said they were �very� interested in HD Radio.
• Awareness of podcasting has jumped from 22% in 2006, to 37% in 2007.