One in four would listen “a lot more” if their smartphones had FM tuner

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EdisonGreat news from Edison Research: Having an FM tuner in their cell phone would lead nearly one in four Adult Contemporary radio P1 listeners (23%) to significantly increase their radio listening, as compared to 17% of all radio listeners with a cell phone.


That is one key finding from “The Infinite Dial 2014: A Look at Adult Contemporary P1s.” The new report is the latest in the continuing series of format breakouts from Edison Research’s influential “Infinite Dial” study, released in March.

Respondents to Edison Research’s 2014 “The Infinite Dial” were asked to name the radio station they listen to most, each of which was individually coded by format. The Adult Contemporary breakouts are based on 106 listeners age 12 and older who named an Adult Contemporary or Hot AC outlet as their P1 station.

Adult Contemporary P1s are more likely than the average for P1s to all formats to have a profile on social media (72% to 67% overall).

One key finding of The Infinite Dial is that 80% of listeners to AM/FM radio feel listening to commercials is a fair trade for free radio, with even more Adult Contemporary P1s agreeing with that statement (87%).

Keeping up-to-date with music is important to 55% of Adult Contemporary P1s, compared to 47% of the total sample age 12 and older. And among this group who says it is important to keep current with music, a larger number than average say they use AM/FM radio to find out about music (89% of Adult Contemporary P1s versus 75% among the total).

The Adult Contemporary P1s sampled by “The Infinite Dial” have an average age of 44; 33% are 12-to-34-years-old, 32% are 35-54, and 35% are age 55-plus.

RBR-TVBR observation: This kind of research is great news and will help further broaden the activation of FM chips in cellphones. As well, with the NextRadio app, consumers are going to “rediscover radio” in ever-increasing numbers. Consumers still like radio, but the “packaging” is wrong for on-the-go listening. A smartphone with the NextRadio app is actually full of internet-era technology—and looks much more acceptable than carrying around a transistor radio these days.