Local business owners have been advertising on Fayetteville, North Carolina radio since WFNC first signed-on in 1939.  But, back then, there were only two options for reaching a mass audience: newspapers and radio.

Today, though, advertisers have an over-abundance of marketing options both over-the-air and online. But every week, according to Nielsen, 301,668 adults listen to a Fayetteville radio station, giving the 101-year-old medium, by far, the biggest reach amongst local consumers.

A new report released last week by Nielsen underscores AM/FM radio's durable reach among all media.

There are about 267,000 registered passenger vehicles in the Fayetteville, North Carolina area. Some are cars. Some are trucks. Some are Hondas. Some are Fords. Some are Teslas. Some have four doors. Some have two. Some go fast. Some go slow. Some guzzle gas. Some sip. Some are red. Some are blue.

The one thing that almost every car and truck in the Fayetteville area have in common, though, is the AM/FM radio smack-dab in the middle of the dashboard.

The first car radio went on sale in 1930. It was an invention of the Galvin Manufacturing Company. The company named the radio 'Motorola,' and its cost was $130, around $2000 in today's dollars. By 1935, more than three million car radios had been installed.

Today, AM/FM radio is part of every car and truck on Fayetteville area roads. In addition to the radio, many of these vehicles also provide drivers with other audio options, including a CD player, Sirius/XM, Pandora, Spotify, podcasts, and easy access to personal MP3 collections.

It is fair, then, for small business owners who depend on Fayetteville radio to advertise their goods and services to ask: with all the audio options on today's dashboards, is anyone listening to local AM/FM radio in the car anymore?

When WFNC-AM became Fayetteville's first radio station in 1939, there was no Facebook, no Spectrum, no Sirius/XM, no Netflix, no podcasts, and no local TV. Consequently, it was pretty easy for radio to become the number one reach medium among local consumers.

Over the past 82 years, Fayetteville business owners have come to depend on the mammoth reach of radio among local shoppers to successfully market the goods and services they sell. Advertising on Fayetteville radio has helped North Carolina companies to survive and thrive during world wars, natural disasters, recessions, depressions, and even a pandemic.

Heading into 2022, local consumers have more media choices than ever before. But, despite the overabundance of social media, video streaming, audio streaming, cable, and other technological marvels, Fayetteville radio is still the most used advertising medium.

Fayetteville consumers are expected to spend nearly 7% more at retail in 2021 than in 2020. This forecast is based on recently released data from the National Retail Federation.

To lay claim to a significant share of growing consumer spending, North Carolina retailers will need to advertise.

“Think you have a great product?” asks the US Small Administration. “Unfortunately, no one’s going to know about it unless you advertise.”   

“Advertising, if done correctly, can do wonders for your product sales, and you know what that means: more revenue and more success for your business."

Scientifically speaking, the fastest way a marketing message can reach the areas of a Fayetteville consumer's brain responsible for purchase decisions is through the ear.  That's why audio advertising can be far more potent than visual messaging.

During the Spring of this year, 243,400 adult radio-listeners spent 1.96 hours per day listening to their favorite Fayetteville stations, according to Nielsen. Although local consumers had spent fewer minutes listening at the onset of the pandemic, the current time tuned-in remains little change compared to a year ago.

Some advertising experts had predicted that as consumers spent more time at home because of COVID-19 concerns, the hours devoted to radio listening would decrease. That, however, was not the case.

In Spring of 2019, according to Nielsen, 32.1% of radio listening occurred at home. During July of this year, in-home listening jumped to 41%. Despite the reduction in out-of-home activities, though, consumers still spent the exact amount of time listening to Fayetteville radio.

No! Satellite radio has had no effect on the number of people who tune-in to Fayetteville radio stations each.  For that matter, Pandora and Spotify have not affected local radio listening either.

The fact is, AM/FM radio reaches more consumers each week in Fayetteville than all other advertising media. Satellite, it turns out, has barely been a blip on listeners' radar.

Last week, for example, 93% of Fayetteville adult-consumers tuned-in to a local station vs. the 16% that connected to Sirius/XM, the only remaining provider of satellite radio service.

There is historical significance to the 93% reach number mentioned above.