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New Radio—A Turn-on for Young Adults
And a Turn-off for AM and FM
David Alan Free
Graduate Student-Master's
University of Texas at Austin
Contact Address:
501 E. Oltorf St.
Apt. 255
Austin, TX 78704
(512) 445-0926 primary phone
(512) 585-2595 secondary phone
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New Radio—A Turn-on for Young Adults
And a Turn-off for AM and FM

Abstract

	This study examines the relationship between young adults and new 
forms of radio.  AM and FM frequencies have dominated the market, but 
now, more choices for radio programming are offered by satellite, 
Internet, and cable radio.  The quantitative analysis of the data 
attempts to discover "why" new radio is chosen over traditional radio 
by applying the Uses and Gratifications approach.  The results 
provide insight into "why" young adults are switching to new radio.














Introduction

	Are AM and FM radio dead?  Satellite radio, cable radio, and 
Internet radio have become popular alternatives to the traditional 
broadcast media forms of AM and FM radio and television, especially 
with young adults who may possess a greater interest in sound quality 
and programming availability and diversity.  Have the 18 to 
34-year-olds opted to abandon the primary, and sometimes only, 
broadcast medium available to their parents and grandparents for 
newer high-tech forms of information and entertainment?
Not all old technologies are discarded, but rather their existence 
and function in society have been reinvented.  Thus, radio did not 
cause the extinction of newspapers as predicted in the early years of 
radio.  Television did not obliterate radio as surmised, nor has 
e-mail made the United States Postal Service obsolete.  The utility 
of radio, television, newspapers, and the Internet has been altered 
as consumers or audience members seek out the latest and most 
technologically superior products, therefore, forcing the producers 
of content and structure in an outdated medium to scramble to find a 
utilitarian justification for that medium.  Why younger audiences opt 
for a newer form of electronic communication is the basis for this 
study of new radio technologies.
RQ 1:  What are the reasons young adults listen to new radio and how 
do those reasons compare with reasons for listening to traditional radio?

Background
	Radio is a relatively new technology.  Even though the standard AM 
band has been used in commercial broadcasting since the 1920s and the 
FM band has been commercially viable since the 1960s, the medium has 
served as a major component for mass communication only a short time 
when compared to other forms, such as newspapers.  Although newer 
technologies have appeared, radio continues as a practical medium for 
disseminating news, information, and entertainment.
	This study takes into consideration the usage of AM and FM radio, 
but also examines newer forms of radio:  satellite, Internet, and 
cable.  As the 1980s approached, cable television began to make its 
way into many American homes.  The popularity and excitement over 
cable's possibilities led to predictions of radio programming 
provided through cable-TV systems, which in turn will be linked 
through satellite transmissions (Williams, 1982).  Digital radio via 
cable systems is available today on a subscription basis with local 
cable television providers.  Cable radio offers subscribers a myriad 
of music formats and genres and is accessed over designated 
television channels via a digital converter box.
	The advent and growth of the World Wide Web and Internet spurred 
another option for radio listeners.  Internet radio stations appear 
as Websites.  Access to Internet radio requires a subscription to an 
Internet Service Provider that allows access to the Internet through 
a dial-up modem, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), or cable 
modem.[1]  Internet radio is comprised of many different types of 
radio stations, genres, and formats, including regular AM and FM 
broadcast stations, Internet only stations, and short-wave 
broadcasts.  This study considered participants who may listen to AM 
or FM broadcast stations online as being Internet radio users.
	The newest innovation to hit the market and pose a challenge to 
traditional broadcast radio is the Direct Satellite Broadcast (DBS) 
system.  The first "earth-station antennas or 'dishes'" began 
appearing around the mid-1970s as a way for local cable companies to 
receive programming from distant sources, such as CNN and MTV 
(Campbell, 1998).  The technology was applied to home use through the 
1980s and 1990s for television reception.  But the same technology is 
being used today to beam radio-programming signals to satellites, 
which in turn relay the signal to a ground receiver.  Satellite radio 
listeners subscribe to a service provider.[2]
	AM, FM, satellite, Internet, and cable radio do not necessarily 
exist or operate in exclusive spheres.  Some technical aspects are 
contained among all radio media.  A unique convergence of radio, 
television, audio, video, and Internet technologies happened in 1996 
when New York radio station WFAN's deejay, Don Immus, "simultaneously 
put his syndicated radio show on national television and the Internet 
via cable channel MSNBC" (Campbell, 1998).  While the technical side 
of radio transmission and reception is important, this study seeks to 
examine the audience's participation in the communication process.

Theoretical Link and Literature Review
Market research and broadcast ratings systems are fairly accurate 
measures in determining if and how audience members are getting the 
message, as viewed from the communicator's perspective.  However, 
much of the research over the past 30 to 40 years has recognized the 
audience's role in the communication process as "the uses and 
gratifications approach involves a shift of focus from the purposes 
of the communicator to the purposes of the receiver" (Severin, Tankard, 2001).
The early beginnings of the uses and gratifications approach to 
understanding communication processes focused on radio programming 
and newspaper readership.  The emphasis on radio in the 1920s was 
placed on the regulation of the technical aspects of the AM 
bandwidth, policies concerning the licensing and establishment of a 
commercial based medium operating in the public interest, and 
advertising.  The federal government was viewed as the "regulator" 
and the private radio equipment and production industry as the 
"regulated" (Benjamin, 1998).  The sociological impact and effects on 
audiences were not considered.
Herzog (1944) studied the relationship between afternoon radio dramas 
and quiz shows and the listeners, who were predominantly women, and 
concluded the programs "provided a source of advice and support, a 
role model of housewife and mother, or an occasion for emotional 
release through laughter or tears," rather than "superficial and 
mindless stories."  (McQuail, 2000, p. 387).  Meanwhile, Lazarsfeld 
and Stanton (1944) and Berelson (1949) were researching newspaper 
readership.  However, the majority of research turned to television 
as the medium became more popular and accessible to individuals and 
households.  Early television studies included the gratifications 
sought in television viewing by British children (Greenberg, 1974) 
with much emphasis on the effects of television viewing as Katz, 
Haas, and Gurevitch (1972) cites studies by Blumler and McQuail 
(1968); McQuail et al. (1972), Rosengren and Windahl (1972), and 
Robinson (1972), among many others.
By the 1960s and 1970s, researchers began to view the audience as 
"active" participants in the communication process, as opposed to 
"passive."  McQuail (1972) and his colleagues designed a "typology of 
media-person interactions" which stated audiences seek out media and 
content for:  1) "diversion" as a means of "emotional release" or to 
"escape from routine or problems;" 2) "personal relationships," which 
offer "companionship" and "social utility;" 3) "personal identity," 
which provides for "self reference, reality exploration, and value 
reinforcement;" and 4) "surveillance" as a means of seeking 
information (McQuail, 1972, p. 388).  Recent studies show 
surveillance as the gratification sought by television viewing over 
newspaper or Internet surveillance during a national crisis 
(Poindexter & Conway, 2003).  Katz, Haas, and Gurevitch (1972) 
explain the approach as way of examining the "'gratifications', which 
attract and hold audiences to the kinds of media and the types of 
content which satisfy their social and psychological needs."
   More recent attention has been paid to the uses and gratifications 
from television viewing and little has been aimed at radio.  Many 
radio studies are available, but do not apply the uses and 
gratifications approach.  Internet research is becoming more 
prevalent as is other technologies studies, but satellite, Internet, 
and cable radio industries are so young, this is one of the first 
studies to look at and compare the new forms of radio with 
traditional AM and FM radio.  Listeners seek gratification from 
content, but even though content may be duplicated among the various 
types of radio, why do they seek specific types?

Methodology

	To answer the research question, 30,000 randomly selected college 
students at two large southwestern universities were surveyed as part 
of a graduate research methods class project.  Although limiting the 
study to the college student population reduces the external 
validity, the college student sample potentially increases the 
internal validity of the study for two reasons:  high Internet access 
on major university campuses and a large number of young 
adults.  This high Internet access increases the likelihood that a 
large sample exposed to Internet e-mail and Websites will be found.
	To facilitate a sample selection, a sample list was acquired through 
official open records request placed with each university in 
accordance with the Freedom of Information Act.  The student e-mail 
information was obtained in a database format, totaling 94, 853, with 
51,056 addresses made available from one university and 43, 797 
addresses provided from the other.  The combined databases were then 
entered into the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences program 
to produce a random sample of 30,000 potential respondents; 15,000 
addresses from each school.
	Respondents received an introduction and invitation e-mail 
containing a hyperlink to the survey Website and a "token" to gain 
access as a method of eliminating the possibility of answering the 
survey or visiting the Website more than once.  The survey included 
65 questions on voting habits, media use, Internet use, and 
demographics.  Students were promised confidentiality and directed to 
click on a link to the questionnaire.  The introduction and 
invitation were first sent November 10, 2004.  The first reminder 
e-mails sent two weeks later on November 23, 2004, and the second 
reminder went out on December 2, 2004.  The survey was concluded on 
January 19, 2005.  All responses were automatically sent to a 
database and subsequently analyzed by using the Statistical Package 
for the Social Sciences computer software.  Response rate was 11 
percent, representing 3,411 students.  The following measurements were used:
RQ 1—The research question required two separate 
measurements.  First, survey participants were asked:  What type of 
radio do you listen to most often?  Respondents saying,  "Satellite 
radio," "Internet radio," or "cable radio" were classified as users 
of "new radio."  Survey participants saying, "AM" or "FM" as the 
radio they listen to most often were classified as "traditional 
radio" listeners.  Second, the open-ended contingency question 
asked:  Why do you listen to this type of radio?

Results
	The demographic profile for respondents was young adults enrolled in 
two state-supported universities in the Southwest.  The median age 
was 21 years old.
Most (94%) of the respondents listened to AM and FM radio, which was 
labeled traditional radio; only 7 percent listened to new radio, 
which included satellite, Internet, and cable radio.  Males (8%) were 
slightly more likely than females (6%) to listen to new radio.
	When reasons for listening to new radio were compared with reasons 
for listening to traditional radio, the primary reasons 
differed.  The number one reason for listening to new radio was 
convenience.  Verbatim responses included: "I can do other things 
while listening," "I can only use this medium while I'm at work," 
"Easy access," and "Because I'm used to it."  The primary reason for 
listening to traditional was entertainment (51%).  Verbatim responses 
included:  "for the music," and "I enjoy the music" (See Table 1).







Table 1
Comparing Young Adults' Reasons for Listening to New and Traditional Radio.

Reason	             New Radio	                  Traditional Radio
				%				%

Convenience			40                 			17
Entertainment		16 				51
No Commercials		16 				  0				
Choices			16				  5				
Information			10 				19				
Economics			 1 				  4
Quality			 1				  4	
(Valid cases)		           (2,708)				(183)
X2 = 484.447, df = 8, p < .001


   More young adults chose new radio for the absence of commercials 
(16%).  Verbatim responses included:  "fewer commercials," "no 
commercials," and "no ads."  More choices were given as the reason 
for listening to new radio (16%).  Responses included:  "better 
choice of stations,"  "more variety."  However, young adults tend to 
stay with traditional radio for information (19%).  Verbatim 
responses included:  "I get a different viewpoint than that of news 
on TV," "Sports," "I find it informational and interesting," and "I 
like to hear the pundits talk politics."
Males' and females' reasons for choosing new radio showed no 
significance.  Males favored entertainment (16%) slightly more than 
females.  An 18-year-old male said he listens to Internet radio for 
"music, entertainment" purposes.  Males also chose convenience (9%), 
no commercials (2%), and quality (2%) slightly more than females, who 
favored new radio for information (79%) and choices (3%) slightly 
more than males.
	While the results indicate no significance between male and female 
reasons for using new radio over traditional radio, a more 
significant difference appears between the reasons listeners are 
tuning to new radio and why respondents listen to traditional radio.  	

Discussion

	This study seeks to examine the relationship between young adults 
and radio media by applying the Uses and Gratifications approach 
(Katz, 1959; Blumler, Katz, & Gurevitch, 1974) whereby audiences may 
select specific programming to gratify needs, desires, or to affect 
mood.  However, the idea of uses and gratifications as applied to 
programming may also be applicable to the types of media audiences 
seek for entertainment, information, or economical reasons.
	Advancing media technologies offer the consumer a wide variety of 
choices for listening to radio.  For many years, AM radio served as 
the dominant source for electronic news, information, and 
entertainment.  The arrival of FM as a viable alternative provided 
listeners with a quality signal and a variety of programming.  Now, 
satellite radio, Internet radio, and cable radio add three more 
options for listeners to gratify their needs.  As the data shows, 
traditional AM and FM radio continues to be the dominant media, but 
many are seeking newer technologies for reasons other than 
programming.  This study suggests young adult listeners are tuning to 
new radio because it is convenient, provides a better quality signal 
or reception, there are no or few commercial advertisements, and new 
radio offers a better selection for stations and 
programming.  Listeners are more apt to stay with traditional radio 
to meet entertainment and information needs.
	This study does not take into consideration income, education, or 
ethnicity, which could play roles in accessibility issues of new 
media.  While demographic information is gleaned from the survey, it 
is not used in this analysis.  These factors could alter the results 
or further enhance a qualitative approach to the question, "Why do 
listeners shift from traditional radio to new radio?"  The sample 
group chosen do not necessarily represent the general population of 
young adults as the survey includes only those students enrolled in 
college, representing only a small percentage of the young adult 
population.[3]  However, college enrolled young adults may not 
possess greater knowledge or exposure to new technologies than do 
their non-enrolled cohorts.      Further research and study in this 
area may include a comparison of programming between traditional 
radio and new radio, as well as a qualitative examination of the 
reasons why young adults seek specific programming through new radio 
sources and the impact income, race, education and general exposure 
to new media have on listeners' choices for a particular 
medium.  Here, new radio use may also be studied by employing the 
Innovation of Diffusion Theory (Rogers, 1976) as it applies to new 
product adoption.
Further study is also suggested for retaining internal and external 
validity in e-mail and Web-based surveys (Tuten, Urban, & Bosnjak, 
2002).  It may not be plausible to conclude findings from data 
obtained from Internet source surveys as representative of a 
generalized population.  In the meantime, a combination of 
face-to-face interviews, Internet surveys, paper-and-pencil mail 
surveys and telephone surveys may offer further researchers a 
generalized view of radio use among the aggregate population.  Until 
then, it is suggested that traditional radio is not in jeopardy among 
young college enrolled adults as of yet.  However, as technology 
advances and the market allows for a more ubiquitous distribution of 
products and services, audiences may be prone to leave the 
traditional media behind and shift to a more convenient, 
non-commercial, and better quality product.  In the meantime, 
traditional AM and FM radio remains alive.

References

Benjamin, L. (1998). Working it out together:  Radio policy from 
Hoover to the Radio Act of
      1927. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 42(2): 221, 16p.

Berelson, B. (1949), What missing the newspaper means, in P.F 
Lazarsfeld and F.M. Stanton
       (eds), Communication Research 1948-9, New York:  Duell, Sloan, 
and Pearce.

Blumler, J.G., Katz, E., & Gurevitch, M. (1974). Utilization of mass 
communication by the
       individual, in J.G. Blumler & E. Katz (eds.). The Uses of Mass 
Communication: Current
       Perspectives on Gratifications Research. Beverly Hills, Sage.

Campbell, R. (1998). Media and Culture, An Introduction to Mass 
Communication. New York:
       St. Martin's Press.

Greenberg, B.S. (1974). Gratifications of television viewing and 
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Herzog, H., (1944),  What do we really know about daytime serial 
listeners?, in P.F. Lazarsfeld
       (ed.), RadioResearch 1942-3, New York:  Duell, Sloan and Pearce

Katz, E. (1959), Mass communication research and the study of popular 
culture:  an editorial
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Katz, E., Haas, H., & Gurevitch, M. (1973). On the use of the mass 
media for important things.
       American Sociological Review, 38(April). Pp. 164-181.

Lazarsfeld, P.F. and Stanton, F., (1949), RadioResearch 1948-9, New 
York:   Harper and Row.

McQuail, D., Blumler, J.G., and Brown, J. (1972), The television 
audience:  a revised
       Perspective. In D. McQuail (ed.), Sociology of Mass 
Communication, Harmondsworth:
       Penguin.

McQuail, D. (2000). McQuail's mass communication theory, 4th ed. 
London: Sage Publications.

Poindexter, P. & Conway, M. (2003). Local, network TV news shows 
significant gains.
       Newspaper Research Journal, 24(1). Pp. 114-127.

Robinson, J. (1972). Toward defining the functions of television. In 
Rubenstein, Comstock, &
       Murray, (eds.). Television and Social Behavior, 4. Washington: 
U.S. Government Printing
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Rogers, E.M. (1976). New product adoption and diffusion. Journal of 
Consumer Research, 2(4).
       Pp. 290-302.

Rosengren, K.E., & Windahl, S. (1972). Mass media as a functional 
alternative. In D. McQuail
       (ed.). Sociology of Mass Communications. London: Penguin. Pp. 166-194.

Severin, W.J., and Tankard, J.W. (2001). Communication theories; 
origins, methods, and Uses in
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Tuten, T., Urban, D., & Bosnjak, M. (2002). Internet surveys and data 
quality.  In Online social
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Williams, F. (1982). The Communications Revolution. Beverly Hills: 
Sage. Pg. 74-5.


	
	




	  	



[1]  It is important to note that even though access to the Internet 
via a cable modem utilizes cable television lines, it is not 
considered "cable radio."
[2]  XM and Sirius are the two leading providers.  Both promote over 
120 channels, commercial-free music, and sports, talk, and news 
programming.  Information made available via the World Wide Web at 
http://www.xmradio.com and http://www.sirius.com.
[3]  The 2000 United State Census Bureau reports university and 
college undergraduates represent 18.8% of the population and graduate 
students and professional school students 4.1%.  Data supplied by the 
U.S. Census Bureau, accessible on the World Wide Web at 
http://www.factfinder.census.gov/