Perhaps iPods Arenâ??t Replacing Radio

Teens Are Checking Out Radio Again

A PARAGON study, featured in a NEW YORK TIMES article, may just be the best news to come along for radio in some time.

By most estimates, teenagers and young adults have abandoned radio listening in droves over the last decade. Teenagers on average spent three fewer hours listing to the radio in 2007 than they did in 1998, according to ARBITRON, and listening had declined more steeply among adults 18-24.

ARBITRON has not published comparable numbers for 2008, but a new study by PARAGON MEDIA STRATEGIES suggests that the trend is changing. PARAGON reports that 14-24-year-olds mostly say their radio listening has increased over the last year or two, while they said the opposite last year. PARAGON recruited the respondents and conducted the study online.

"Radio stations may be doing a better job at connecting with those people," said LARRY JOHNSON, the study’s author. "The music may also simply be more interesting. There tends to be a cycle."

The study suggests that portable mp3 players are not as dangerous to radio as they once were thought to be. Those surveyed had roughly the same median number of songs on their devices as last year (about 400), and fewer respondents said the mp3 and other devices cut their radio listening time.

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