by Steve Jones
April 16, 2025
The narrative that streaming has replaced radio is so far from reality that it is laughable. Or at least it would be funny… if people in the ad community didn’t believe it.
Streaming platforms have always existed.
In the 70s, it was your record collection. Anyone still have a milk crate?
In the 80s, it was your cassettes. I carried mine in a faux leather briefcase.
In the 90s, it was your CDs. Who had a sleeve of them on the back of the sun visor on the car?
In the 00s, it was the songs you stole on Napster or Limewire.
And today, it is your playlists on a streaming platform.
Records, cassettes, and CDs all lived happily alongside radio because people came to radio for a personal connection, a shared experience, local relevance, and engaging, funny, and interesting personalities.
You can buy ads on streaming platforms, but hardly anyone will hear them. And those who do will ignore them. Hardly anyone is using the free tiers of those platforms, because nobody wants to hear commercials in their personal music collection.
But when you buy ads on the radio, people hear your message. It is embedded where people expect ads as the natural trade-off for free content. Your ad is surrounded by great songs, entertaining hosts, and content that matters to your community.
Radio isn’t going anywhere.
Our biggest challenge isn’t a lack of listeners or results for advertisers, it is fighting the false narrative that radio is dying at the hands of streaming.
