Republished from Radio Info —
The Black Radio Today 2010 report by Arbitron not only shows the importance of radio to the African-American community, but also showes some surprises as to what formats are being listened to most. According to the report, despite “spectacularly high” gains made in African-American listenership to news/talk/information stations following the 2008 Presidential election, there was a drop off in listeners one year later. But the All-Sports format increased 50 percent from 2008 to 2009, attracting more affluent black listeners. It was the #1 format among high-income households. As for music formats, almost eight million African-Americans listened to Rhythmic CHR each week, up 8% from the previous report, while Pop CHR had strong overall gains. Nearly one-third of all African-American radio listeners were tuned to Urban AC, 11% ahead of the next most-listened-to format Gospel was the number #2 format for at-home listening. Arbitron’s Julian Davis says, “In today’s media landscape, Radio plays a vital role providing entertainment and information so that regardless of age, time of day or location, it is the true media companion of Black consumers.”
