Do you know a lot of people who don't listen to radio?...

[Mike Sheridan]

You know I never minded commercials when there were 3 in a stopset....but 7?  Get outa here!

I used to love doing radio production, I put a lot of effort into making the best commercials I could.  After I got out of radio and into the "real world" I finally realized what I put so much work into was actually annoying to most listeners!  I know what you're going to say....DUH!   

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

After I got out of radio and into the "real world" I finally realized what I put so much work into was actually annoying to most listeners!

There was a time... maybe 30 or 40 years ago...  when the fashions that women chose to wear left a lot of people scratching their head.  The common phrase of the era was "Women are apparently dressing to impress other women."  The implication was:  What you are wearing certainly doesn't appeal to men!  I think we can say women's style in clothing is a bit more appealing today.

For some time now I have observed that "Radio talent produces sound to impress other radio talent!"  The last thing radio talent  (or management) wants to do is put something on the air that will cause their peers to mutter:  Is that the best you can do?   Who are you programming to.... Ma and Pa Kettle?

Forget all the snipe-ing and tug-of-war in the conversations about NPR.  They have set a standard for taking the "got to impress my peers" fall-der-all out of delivery and just plain humanized it.

[Jason Roberts]

What I find among the younger people I work with and otherwise encounter is that they hate commercials. That's the No. 1 reason they're using iPods and listening to internet radio. Satellite radio doesn't do it for these folks because they consider promos for upcoming shows and for other channels "commercials" as well. We're talking about people with mainstream tastes; most if not all of the music they like is available on AM. But they KNOW where McDonald's is, they KNOW what kind of cars GM makes, they KNOW what's available at Wal-Mart -- they don't want any "advertising" (that is, any non-music content) when they listen to music, and with iPods and internet radio, they don't have to have any.

And now you know why some of these kids grow up to become members of the Occupy Movement. They don't understand what a business is, why it exists, and seem to think nobody should be allowed to make money...after all everything should be free! 

That is until you ask them, "how much money do you want to make when you grow up?"  They tell you they're going to be in the NBA or NFL.  Then you get blank stares when you say, "But if everything should be free...shouldn't it be free to go to an NBA game?  And how will they pay you if everything is free?"

[CTListener]

What I find among the younger people I work with and otherwise encounter is that they hate commercials. That's the No. 1 reason they're using iPods and listening to internet radio. Satellite radio doesn't do it for these folks because they consider promos for upcoming shows and for other channels "commercials" as well. We're talking about people with mainstream tastes; most if not all of the music they like is available on AM. But they KNOW where McDonald's is, they KNOW what kind of cars GM makes, they KNOW what's available at Wal-Mart -- they don't want any "advertising" (that is, any non-music content) when they listen to music, and with iPods and internet radio, they don't have to have any.

And now you know why some of these kids grow up to become members of the Occupy Movement. They don't understand what a business is, why it exists, and seem to think nobody should be allowed to make money...after all everything should be free! 

That is until you ask them, "how much money do you want to make when you grow up?"  They tell you they're going to be in the NBA or NFL.  Then you get blank stares when you say, "But if everything should be free...shouldn't it be free to go to an NBA game?  And how will they pay you if everything is free?"

No, they are consumers just like you and me. They'll pay to go to concerts and games. They'll buy tons of stuff in stores and on the internet. And they probably realize that radio stations make money off advertising. But that doesn't mean they'll sit there and listen to them -- or any other non-music content -- when there are alternative sources for the same music that provide uninterrupted music -- and, in the case of iPods and a well-programmed Pandora account, only music they like. It's not a question of Occupy or "the Hate America crowd" or anything else political. The marketplace has simply provided younger music consumers with an interruption-free way to hear tunes they love and ONLY tunes they love. Radio just can't beat that, long-term, even if every FM CHR and urban station in the country found and hired the most entertaining, super-local DJs ever.

[encarta95]

Arbitron has proof that kids do listen.  Where's your proof they don't?  (Hint:  "All the kids I know..." doesn't count.)

But is there proof that kids listen, and will go out of their way to find a radio to listen to their favorite station… or is it just picking up on their PPMs?

[thirdendorsed]

Don't show me charts and graphs that show kids listen. They don't.

Another expert heard from.

Arbitron has proof that kids do listen.  Where's your proof they don't?  (Hint:  "All the kids I know..." doesn't count.)

Do you seriously think that Arbitron is going to bite the hand that feeds it? Go ahead. Believe their charts and graphs. Just remember, 72 percent of teens use MP3 players or their computers as their primary source of music. Just 16 percent say radio. Says who? Says Nielson. Go ahead, follow Arbitron's brayings in support of the only industry it serves.  And while you're at it, get yourself a button that reads "Hopelessly Naive."

[PirateJohnny]

     Some great ideas might come from this thread if we allow it to go off on a few tangents.  Can Radio give kids something their iPods can't?  Yes.  It did in the "Golden Age" of Top 40 - mid 60s to mod 70s.  The DJ should be the life of the party.  The party is in all the homes of friends even though they aren't physically together.  The DJ brings them all together by being excited about playing their favorite songs.  Forget about what I call "Encyclopedia Jocks"  that give out all these facts about the performers or what current events were happening when playing older songs.  The nest day when the kids are physically together, they can reminisce about what the DJ said the night before while intro-ing their favorite songs.  They can get excited about the songs the DJ was excited about and maybe spend money to buy the song.
     That's the way I grew up.  I'm 54 now.  Back then, even though I had the records, it was a thrill to hear my favorite songs "on the radio".
     As I tell friends and acquaintances now about radio back then, in a town with several stations playing basically the same songs, what set them apart were the DJs.  My friends (and I'm sure most people back then) listened primarily to their favorite DJs, even though their favorite songs might be heard on several stations.
     On another tangent to the OP question, I work in TV now (technical side) and I have actually not turned on my TV at home for up to three days at a time.
     To answer the OP question, I never hear anybody at work talking about what was on the radio, on their drive in that day or their drive home the previous day.  If the radio is on in their car, they probably tune out everything but the traffic reports.  I know some teens - children of friends - and all I hear them mention is their iPod when talking about music.  I probably listen to radio more than anybody I know.

[Mike Sheridan]

Pirate Johnny you bring up some good points and I agree.  I'm about 6 years older and I remember well the party atmosphere that most jocks conveyed 24 hours a day.  I loved listening to the radio it was always on in the car and often at home where there wasn't anything on TV that I wanted to watch.

In this day of DVD's, video games and hundreds of TV channels about the only place an audio only medium has a chance is in the car.  When listening to music most of the current product done in the past 10 or 20 years can be found in music video form on the internet without commercials. 

Broadcast TV and Radio are faced with a lot of competition these days.  Couple that with shorter attention spans makes me believe that radios best days are past.

[carmen]

they don't want any "advertising" (that is, any non-music content) when they listen to music, and with iPods and internet radio, they don't have to have any.

Pandora, UStream, iApps are bursting w/ ads. Pandora turns the iPod or iPad into a 4" or 10" billboard displaying after a brief period of input-inactivity. many apps interrupt with audio ads  (going out over FM as UStream is used to relay to tx sites from remote DJ HQs).
even watching music on youtube will put VEVO preroll ads in front of you in no time. not to mention textual ads covering 1/4 of the video pane, 'featured' paid links in prominent locations, product placement inside the videos

Touch 106.1 runs some really trash ads that sound like 1-800 late-night commercials on TV from the 80s

[PirateJohnny]

Mike, I realized after mulling this over in my sleep that while I was young I was "trained" to listen to the radio.  The party isn't there any more but I still listen to radio a fair amount of time, because that's the way I grew up.  Today's youth - tomorrow's adults - aren't being "trained" to listen to radio and tomorrow's  radio advertisers won't reach them.