Katz Radio Group’s National Format Averages report for Fall 2007 said the Iraq war, the political season and baseball’s Mitchell Report on steroids all played a role in boosting the news, talk and sports radio formats.
The news segment captured 2.5% of the entire radio audience in 2007, up from 2.4% in 2006, while talk radio rose to 2.4% from 2.3%. The sports category increased to 2.2% in 2007 from 2.1% a year earlier.
Among the report’s other significant findings is that radio continues to play an integral role in the lives of younger audiences. “This group connects with favorite personalities and formats and radio is the place they go to learn about new music,” Lisa Chiljean, VP/Director of Media Research for CC Katz Advantage, who wrote the report, said. “They are also the technology generation. And as this group has spent more time with new technologies their time with radio has lessened a bit over the years. For the first time in several years, however, we noticed that this trend has slowed.”
In these primary youth-targeted formats, overall audience share is stable. The urban contemporary format is consistent at 7.0%, alternative/modern rock is stable at 3.1%, contemporary hit radio is steady at 6.8%, and rhythmic contemporary hits remains at 4.2%.
The country music category, which slipped to 14.3% from 14.9%, remains the nation’s most popular radio format. Hispanic radio, the second largest format, declined from 8.3% to 8.1% after experiencing steady growth for a number of years.
