NAB Radio Show: radio is not dead

Leslie Moonves at this year's NAB Radio Show

"I'm so tired of hearing people say, radio is dead... it's not dead," said Leslie Moonves, President of CBS Radio at the NAB Radio Show in America.

Follow tweets from the show at #RadioShow2012

As in Australia, multi-platform delivery is a key topic of discussion, with listeners consuming radio through mobiles and online, as well as traditional radio. Gordon Smith told the conference: "Radio’s future lies in being incorporated into every new device... No other form of communication matches broadcasting’s one-to-all transmission.There is no more reliable resource for information in a crisis."

The conference heard that News talk is the most popular format in the US by number of stations. "Each week, nearly a third of U.S. radio listeners tune to News-Talk." Given the US election is only weeks away, news talk listening is up strongly.

Radio’s audience has increased slightly this year, over the previous year, by 249,000 people aged 12+, representing nearly 93 percent of the population. According to Arbitron's data, younger radio listeners were largely responsible for the year-over-year increase, with 18 to 34 year olds showing the largest gain in weekly listeners.

The conference will continue over the next three days.

(Source : Radioinfo.com.au)