Long-time radio station owner Rick Murphy is tired of hearing that AM/FM radio is leaving the car dashboard.
So he commissioned Google to conduct a survey about that.
The results are something the owner of Mad Dog Wireless and Murphy Broadcasting in Arizona says he can take to potential clients to show them radio is not dying, and is not going to leave the dashboard anytime soon.
The survey of some random 1,000 adults 18+ shows nearly 79 percent said they would not buy a car that did not include AM/FM radio.
“Radio is clearly not dying. It’s probably stronger than we ever knew,” he tells RBR+TVBR in an interview.
He wants to make the point that terrestrial radio is ubiquitous and is part of a huge distribution system, with its one-to-many reach for less money to install or operate than WiFi in the car, he says.
“Each of the 15,000 radio stations in America can be listened to by a million people at the same time,” he tells us. “Heck, each station could be listened to by an unlimited number of listeners without ever running out of bandwidth or rebooting. And when was the last time your local radio station went off the air? If you lose power in the house, you can run out to listen to the car radio to hear the latest news and warnings about the hurricane, earthquake or riot that caused the loss of power. And when emergencies happen and cellular data and voice links go away, radio is still there giving vital information.”
Murphy says two car dealers, one for Ford and another for Chrysler/Nissan in Arizona told him they couldn’t think of a case where someone turned down a radio in their car.
He began in the business at age 24 when he built his first station in Parker, Arizona. He has owned up to 27 stations at a time in his career and has pared back at age 65; he owns six stations now with the recent closing on the purchase of KZGL(FM), Flagstaff.
