The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum » Fewer & Fewer Listeners Report Having An Actual Radio In Their Homes

RadioActive · May 15, 2023 7:18 pm

It's all about the digital devices these days, with smart speakers and smart phones increasingly becoming the equivalent of the old radio dial. There's still a lot of radio use, but it continues to shrink.

Radio Fans Continue to Ditch Their Radios at Home

Chrisphen · May 15, 2023 7:21 pm

I have seven in my dwelling. Five that I use regularly.

edit - 8 and 6 if I count the FM transmitter connected to my PC.

Last edited by Chrisphen (May 15, 2023 7:22 pm)

turkeytop · May 15, 2023 8:50 pm

I have 23 radios at home and another 9 at our place in Florida.

Online streaming is no more like radio than intravenous feeding is like fine dining.

RadioActive · May 15, 2023 9:08 pm

I've lost count on the number of radios I have here. But it's well over 10 or more. A few are very old and the ones I actually use daily are relatively current. But they're all special to me in their own way, like the one I took down to Florida during family vacations in the car when I was just a little kid.

That radio comes with a weird story. It had this covering on it with tiny little holes all over it to let the sound out. One day, when I was about 6 or 7, I was listening to it in the car in the middle of some state (it might have been Tennessee, but it was a loooong time ago) when I fell asleep with my face on the speaker.

When I woke up my mother glanced back at me and went into a panic - there were dozens of tiny pock marks on my face, and she thought I was breaking out in measles or something worse. She told my father to find a hospital somewhere where I could be checked out right away, as visions of high American medical bills and the end of our vacation danced in her head.

And then my dad asked, "what were you doing when those spots appeared?" I said I fell asleep listening to the radio. When I showed him the cover, he put two and two together and within about half an hour, all those pockmarks disappeared. End of emergency!

That's why when I say every one of those radios has a memory attached, I mean it!

The culprit:

RadioActive · May 15, 2023 9:12 pm

By the way, there's something in that linked story I find hard to believe:

"Presenting the 2023 findings last week, Fred Jacobs said, as per usual, the most listened to formats among core radio listeners are Christian, Public Radio and Country, followed by Rock Contemporary Hit Radio and Classic Hits."

Christian is the most listened to format in the U.S.? I find that hard to believe. Perhaps Buffalo's Star 102.5 won't have trouble attracting an audience after all.

RadioAaron · May 15, 2023 9:47 pm

I know more people with no (working) radio at home than not. I'm 47.

Paul Jeffries · May 15, 2023 11:43 pm

turkeytop wrote:
Online streaming is no more like radio than intravenous feeding is like fine dining.

And Netflix and Amazon Prime aren't real TV because I can't pick them up on my 19" Quasar with a set of rabbit ears.

PJ

turkeytop · May 16, 2023 12:34 am

Paul Jeffries wrote:
turkeytop wrote:
Online streaming is no more like radio than intravenous feeding is like fine dining.
And Netflix and Amazon Prime aren't real TV because I can't pick them up on my 19" Quasar with a set of rabbit ears.

PJ

I can't comment on either of those because I know nothing about them.

Tomas Barlow · May 16, 2023 12:37 am

turkeytop wrote:
Online streaming is no more like radio than intravenous feeding is like fine dining.

This will never be true no matter how many times you repeat it.

mace · May 16, 2023 2:01 am

I have about six radios. One is a Stromberg-Carlson which my grandfather used while working in his tailor shop in the 1930's. Yes it still works.

Radiowiz · May 16, 2023 6:04 am

Okay, but for those who DO listen to the radio through Alexia or whatever method outside of the traditional radio, does the PPM still pick up a Computer (streaming) tone? OR do we all have to go back to diaries?

In Phase · May 16, 2023 7:08 am

Radiowiz wrote:
Okay, but for those who DO listen to the radio through Alexia or whatever method outside of the traditional radio, does the PPM still pick up a Computer (streaming) tone? OR do we all have to go back to diaries?

Yes they will be picked up. The tones are actually audible and will pass through any system. The lowly human can't detect them as they are "masked" by the program content audio.

In Phase · May 16, 2023 7:14 am

turkeytop wrote:
I have 23 radios at home and another 9 at our place in Florida.

Online streaming is no more like radio than intravenous feeding is like fine dining.

Nice, but I think you confuse a delivery method (AM radio transmission, FM radio transmission, streaming, downloading, etc) with content (news, conversation, music, etc).

People listen to content. They don't listen to a delivery method.

turkeytop · May 16, 2023 9:34 am

Tomas Barlow wrote:
turkeytop wrote:
Online streaming is no more like radio than intravenous feeding is like fine dining.
This will never be true no matter how many times you repeat it.

There are some who would argue that reading an e book is the same as reading the printed book. But it's a completely different experience.

There are some who would argue that playing the race car video game at the arcade, is the same as driving a real car. We all know that's untrue.

mojo55 · May 16, 2023 5:49 pm

For apartment residents AM radio reception is almost non-existent and FM reception is very often prone to interference especially if the power cord also serves as the antenna. Bluetooth and smart speakers have been a godsend for me providing static-free audio and allowing me to listen to my kind of music and not what radio programmers decide to broadcast. Just as cable/fibe has vastly improved video quality and choice, so has audio
streaming improved radio/audio quality and choice.

turkeytop · May 16, 2023 6:27 pm

I don't work in radio. For me it's just a hobby or maybe a passion. But I understand many of the users here do work in broadcasting. I can't understand their haste to rush the medium to its demise.

All my life, until my retirement, I was an activist in my Union. I don't believe I'll ever get to the point where I start saying Unions are obsolete.

Last edited by turkeytop (May 16, 2023 6:31 pm)

Fitz · May 16, 2023 9:20 pm

turkeytop wrote:
Tomas Barlow wrote:
turkeytop wrote:
Online streaming is no more like radio than intravenous feeding is like fine dining.
This will never be true no matter how many times you repeat it.
There are some who would argue that reading an e book is the same as reading the printed book. But it's a completely different experience.

There are some who would argue that playing the race car video game at the arcade, is the same as driving a real car. We all know that's untrue.

Let me ask you this: say you are listening to 680 news online. You listen for 15 minutes. What exactly is the difference in that experience vs if you had been listening on a radio except maybe the radio signal would have had more static on AM.

The one downside I could see for streaming is the digital artifacts but what about the analog artifacts like static and other issues of poor reception. Streaming has come a long way and again say you heard That's Life by Sinatra on a AM 740 stream vs on AM 740 radio, what exactly is the difference in that experience ?

and when I say diffrence I mean the listening part because that is the key and not how you accessed the news or music.

Last edited by Fitz (May 16, 2023 9:23 pm)

turkeytop · May 16, 2023 9:36 pm

I don't listen to 680 News or anything else online. I don't even know how.

Radio is cheap, it's portable and it doesn't require any special skills to operate.

Tomas Barlow · May 17, 2023 11:37 pm

turkeytop wrote:
I don't listen to 680 News or anything else online. I don't even know how.

Radio is cheap, it's portable and it doesn't require any special skills to operate.

You know how to post here but you're pretending not to know how to click "listen live" on a web page. Okay.

turkeytop · May 18, 2023 1:30 am

Cut me some slack, guys. I'm an old man. If there's already an easy way of doing it, I don't want to use up any of the time I have left learning a new way..

Radio works for me.

mace · May 18, 2023 7:49 am

turkeytop wrote:
Cut me some slack, guys. I'm an old man. If there's already an easy way of doing it, I don't want to use up any of the time I have left learning a new way..

Radio works for me.

To say I am terrible with technology would be a vast understatement. To me, "Cut and Paste" is something I did in Kindergarten. I was in my mid 50's before I bought my first laptop, mid 60's for my first smartphone. When I upgraded my entertainment system several years ago, a Sonos box was recommended. When the salesman took the time to explain what it could do in a way I could understand, I was sold. With the Tune-in app I can listen to all local AM stations static free and FM stations in crystal clear stereo. Plus I have access to stations around the world if I choose to listen.

RadioActive · May 24, 2023 4:18 pm

New Research: How Many Actually Listen To Radio On A Radio Set?