Radio’s Future Shaped By Tech: What Music Execs Need To Know About Impending Changes
Categoria: Musica
As technology advances and consumers change their behavior, broadcasters need to switch up their approach.
Por Billboard | 08/05/2026
When Zach Top made his debut on airwaves in 2021 with “Sounds Like the Radio,” the song took listeners “back [to] ’94, you know.” Radio in that era was a different animal — more than 90% of American adults used a clock radio to start their day, and the biggest competitor for in-car listening was the factory-installed CD player. Related No Radio Without Royalties: New Rules for a New Era (Guest Column) Backline Launches Mental Health Toolkit for Dance Music Community: 'Seeking Help Is Not Something to Be Ashamed Of' Fugees' Pras Michel Surrenders to Authorities to Begin 14-Year Prison Sentence, Vows to Appeal Today’s landscape is less favorable for over-the-air radio. More than 80% of the population now uses a smart phone as the alarm, and over 25% of listeners don’t have a single AM/FM radio in their home, according to Michigan-based Jacobs Media’s 22nd annual TechSurvey 2026. Additionally, during their commutes, drivers have satellite radio, audiobooks and streaming apps among numerous non-radio options that didn’t even exist back in ‘94. The TechSurvey, released in an April 24 webinar, suggests that even stations’ most ardent fans will soon be tuning in to the radio more on other devices than on AM/FM hardware. Listening to Zach Top — or Morgan Wallen or Ella Langle y or anyone else — is a different experience on those devices than on a traditional radio, and programmers will want to adjust their stations to take advantage of consumers’ behavior as they continue to move to those platforms. How will that change broadcasters’ approach? “That’s kind of the holy-grail question,” says Jacobs Media president and founder Fred Jacobs . The TechSurvey, a study drawn from people in station databases, measures the listening habits and opinions of radio’s most committed customers across all formats. (The study does not reflect casual listeners). It demonstrates that those super-users still listen to their favorite AM/FM stations 54% of the time on a radio. But 44% of the time, they access those stations through other sources, including mobile phones, PCs or smart speakers such as Alexa. That 10% difference between AM/FM tuners and other options is far smaller than the 71% spread in 2013. Based on the trend line, it’s likely that the competing devices will surpass traditional AM/FM listening in just two to three years. How successfully broadcast executives handle that flip will determine the medium’s future and have a large impact on the artists and labels who supply the music stations with a big chunk of their content. The features of those alternate gadgets — as well as the environment in which they’re used — shape the way listeners engage with the medium. During rush hour in the car, where most radio tune-in occurs, preset buttons allow the commuter to switch stations easily. To maximize impact, programmers attempt to keep as many drivers’ attention as possible with engaging content to build the largest possible audience during a comm