According to Nielsen, 1,983,988 adults tune in to their favorite Charlotte radio stations every week. This is significantly more consumers than are reached by all other advertising-supported media, including local TV, local cable, streaming video, social media, online audio, and local newspapers.

Charlotte radio's unchallenged reach is why many local business owners depend on the medium to capture the largest possible share of the $56.2 billion dollars consumers are expected to spend at retail this year.

However, other local small business owners may be surprised to learn that by most marketing metrics, radio remains the best way to advertise in Charlotte.

Here are four more facts about AM/FM radio that may surprise many local marketers.

Charlotte radio reaches more local consumers each week than any other advertising medium.

According to Nielsen, 1,983,988 adults tune in to their favorite AM/FM stations every week.  This is significantly more consumers than are reached by Charlotte TV, cable, streaming video, streaming audio, social media, or newspapers.

AM/FM radio's dominance among local consumers is driven, in large part, by the 2.5 million Charlotte area adults who take to the road in their car or truck every week, according to Neilsen.

Every week, according to new Nielsen data, 1,767,280  adults tune in to a Charlotte radio station. This is more consumers than use social media, access local cable, watch broadcast TV, stream video channels, listen to streaming audio, read a newspaper, or download a podcast.

Based on per capita estimates from the National Retail Federation (NRF), Charlotte consumers are expected to spend between $42.2 and $43.1 billion at retail in 2022, a six to eight percent growth over the previous year. Utilizing radio's enormous advertising reach, local business owners can compel shoppers to spend this large pool of cash in their stores and on their websites.

The number of consumers reached is critical to the success of an advertising campaign.

According to a Nielsen study, after the actual content of the commercial message itself, reach is the most potent advertising element that can drive sales. Reach is more important than brand, recency, or even context. Charlotte radio provides local business owners with the most significant reach among consumers.

There are about 1,700,000 registered passenger vehicles in the Charlotte 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 Charlotte 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 Charlotte-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 Charlotte 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?

In 2020, there were 108,229 new cars and trucks registered in the Charlotte metro area. This number is based on projections from the National Auto Dealers Associaton (NADA) and the U.S. Census bureau.

In all, says NADA, there are 249 new-car dealerships in North Carolina. Despite the pandemic, these dealers, including those in the Charlotte area, sold $28.2 billion worth of new vehicles.

Through June of this year, these same dealers have already rung up $17 billion in new car sales.

When it comes to buying new vehicles, Charlotte consumers have a broad range of preferences. Some buyers want Fords while others want Chevrolets, Toyotas, or Teslas.  Some buyers want pick-up trucks, while others want sub-compacts, SUVs, or sports cars. Of course, some want blue vehicles, while others want pearl white, orchard green, or redolent red.

There is one purchase criterion, however, that most Charlotte car buyers can agree on. They want an AM/FM radio smack-dab, in the middle of their dash.

According to Nielsen, 612,792 Charlotte consumers listened to or downloaded a podcast during the past 30 days. This is 28.1% of the adult population.

A podcast is a downloadable digital audio file available to listeners on an internet-connected device like a smartphone, tablet, or computer. These files are typically part of series focusing on a particular theme such as true crime, professional football, politics, or pop culture.

Charlotte consumers can listen to their favorite podcasts whenever they choose using apps like Spotify, Pandora, Google, and Stitcher. The most used podcasting app, though, is Apple Podcasts.

Research from PodcastHosing.org indicates that Charlotte consumers can access more than 2,000,000 podcast series comprising over 48,000,000 unique episodes. According to data compiled by Edison research, the top 10 podcasts during the second quarter of 2021 were:

In 1922, when WBT became the first radio station in Charlotte, NC, many considered the medium a fad.  Even in 1937, a hit song by George Gershwin, Our Love Is Here To Stay, considered radio to be a "passing fancy and in time may go".

Charlotte radio, however, has survived the advent of talking-movies, television, eight tracks, and cassettes in stereo.  More recently, radio has withstood a tsunami of digital options including, YouTube, SiriusXM, Pandora, and Spotify.

As the Coronavirus pandemic rolls over into a second year, Charlotte radio has hung tough and not ceded its ground despite listener's shifting lifestyles.  This is crucial news for local small business owners who depend on local stations to market their goods and services.

Since 1922, advertising on Charlotte radio has helped small business owners survive and thrive during times of peril. This includes world wars, natural disasters, depressions, and recessions.

Even during a pandemic, by almost every key marketing metric, radio advertising remains the best way for a Charlotte business to market its goods and services.

To prove the point, here are five statistics that vividly demonstrate the value of advertising on Charlotte radio.

Local radio came to Charlotte on March 18, 1922. That's when the Federal Radio Commission granted a license to the Southern Radio Corporation with the randomly assigned call sign, WBT.

From that day, many predicted radio's success would succumb to advances from new technologies. In 1927, the challenge came from talking movies. In the 1940s, the predators were 13-inch TV sets. In the 1970s, it was 8-track and cassette tapes. In the past 20 years, there was a multi-flank attack from iPods, Zunes, YouTube, Sirius, XM, Pandora, Spotify,

So far, all of these challengers have failed. Not even a pandemic has been able to remove radio as a vital force in the life of Charlotte consumers.

Every week, according to Nielsen, more adults tune-in to Charlotte radio than watch TV or cable. Use social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram. Read newspapers. Or, stream music from Pandora or Spotify.

Car radios came to Charlotte in June of 1930. For just $120, about $1200 in present dollars, local drivers could install these early mobile devices into their Fords, Studebakers, Packards, and DeSotos, 

The first car radios were built by the Galvin Manufacturing Company of Chicago. They named their invention, and eventually their company, Motorola.

Today, more than 1.7 million car radios fill ears of area drivers with music, news, sports, and information. As a result, local radio reaches more consumers than all other media.

In a typical pre-COVID-19 week, according to Nielsen, 89% of adult consumers would tune-in to a Charlotte radio station. This is significantly more than were reached by local TV, cable, social media, newspaper, or streaming media sites Pandora and Spotify.

More than 95% of Charlotte area households own at least one vehicle. 

Pre-pandemic, 86.5% of workers spent, on average, 58 minutes every weekday in these cars commuting to-and-from their jobs.  

On their way to work, many of these drivers would contribute to the Charlotte area's $49.6 billion retail economy by visiting the convenience stores, coffeehouses, auto repair centers, gas stations, daycares, grocery stores, or hundreds of other businesses they passed.

At lunchtime, these same cars would take their owners to restaurants, dentist appointments, nail appointments, barbershops, and on an infinite number of other errands.

On the weekends, these vehicles filled the parking lots of hardware stores, furniture stores, car dealers, appliance stores, bowling alleys, movie theatres, and nightclubs, 

Then on March 30, when the Governor of North Carolina shut down the state to slow the spread of COVID-19, traffic came to a standstill and so did the spending.

There are strong indications, though, that in the Charlotte area, roads are filling up again.