Old Dog, New Tricks
Doug Babb
I can almost hear the golden tones of the radio announcer from the 1950s introducing each episode of the Lone Ranger: “Let us now return to the days of yesteryear.”
Radio is not the dominant force it once was, but it still delivers an impressive audience. So, when your integrated communications plan calls for advertising, don’t forget radio. New media may get more buzz but radio gets more attention. In fact, people really like this old standby media. It makes them happy, according to a survey just released in Great Britain.
"On average, when consuming radio, happiness and energy scores increase by 100 percent and 300 percent compared to when no media is being consumed," the Huffington Post reported in a story about the study. But happiness increased most when that media was the radio.
Radio is a kind of "lifestyle support system," the authors wrote, which helps people feel better as they go about their days. Many respondents didn't realize how important radio was in their lives until they had participated in the exercise, the story noted.
"Why else do people listen to music radio, other than to get enjoyment out of it?" says Boston College professor Michael C. Keith in the same Huffington Post article. "People don't listen to radio to be depressed, certainly not when it comes to entertainment radio or music radio. The whole idea of listening to radio is to gain companionship and, at the same time, enjoyment."
