One-to-one engagement is today’s mantra!  Build your fan base and engage them.  Make it personal.  Hasn’t radio been doing this for decades?  Of course!  As a pre-teen in Philadelphia wanting to hear Top 40 music, I only had two options, WIBG and WFIL.  And I was a HUGE fan.  Today, I’m loyal to a half-dozen radio stations on AM/FM, about four channels on SiriusXM Satellite, and then there’s the stations I created on Pandora.  I get to hear what I want, when I want… on my own terms.  I am in control.

A typical day for me includes waking up to my favorite DJ on my favorite FM station.  As I get in the car at the top of the hour, I tune into the AM news station for both national and local news followed by a traffic report.  Then, I switch to SiriusXM to listen to either music or talk shows (depending on my mood or the events of the day).  Then, I listen to one of the Pandora stations I’ve programmed in the office.  And it’s not even 9AM yet.

Bottom line is that everyone has their own personal preferences and listening patterns.  For instance, I just returned from exhibiting at the DMA where, in the span of a half hour, I was told by one booth visitor, “I ONLY listen to Pandora!” and was asked by another, “What’s Pandora?”

Thanks to technology, radio IS more personal AND portable than ever!  Radio was always designed to be mobile but now that includes hundreds of new devices such as computers, tablets and smart phones.  Regardless of how people listen to radio, it remains a scalable medium for marketers.  Here are some stats:

• 240+ Million Americans listen to AM/FM radio every week
• 20+ Million Subscribe to SiriusXM Satellite
• 100+ Million Americans are registered users of Personalized Radio Services like Pandora and Slacker.

Best of all, radio is more accountable than ever.  The new digital forms of radio allow consumer interaction with brands that can be sourced.  Radio campaigns are easily measured, managed and optimized for maximum ROI.

How do you listen to Radio?

Lisa Sable is a Senior Marketing Strategist at The Radio Agency. Please follow The Radio Agency’s Blog “Sounding Board” by subscribing to the email or RSS links above. Visit our website TheRadioAgency.com