Radio still has a purpose, and a following. Sixty-four percent of the U.S.
population tunes in once a day, and 94 percent of adults tune in every week.
That's a cumulative audience of 283 million weekly listeners.

The good news in these tough economic times is that Radio is relatively
cheap to create and produce. Moreover, its short and simple production times
allow brands to be opportunistic and flexible in their media buys -- a
noteworthy advantage over the more-than-four week production lead times of
out-of-home, magazine and newsprint, and TV's eight-week minimum.

Most important, however, is that great Radio work can have a huge impact.
Best-in-class examples: Bud Light's Real Men of Genius, or CDP's Hamlet
cigars. A 2005 study by research firms Millward Brown and IRI found that
Radio provided 49 percent better return-on-investment than TV. In recent
years, numerous studies conducted by third parties prove that Radio is more
personally relevant, more persuasive and just as emotionally engaging as TV.
Some particularly thorough researchers have gone so far as to use facial
electromyography to track emotional response!

Radio as a medium is tailor-made to the challenges of our multi-tasking, ADD
age. Consumers might be working, driving or gaming, but they can still
listen. Acceptance of Radio ads is higher than that of TV ads: 51 percent of
the listeners queried by American Media Services claim they do not switch
Radio channels when commercials come on. I recently worked on Dos Equis'
"Most Interesting Man in the World" campaign. In qualitative groups, my
colleagues and I were shocked at how many respondents recalled lines from
the radio -- even more so than the TV.

(Source: Caroline Krediet, Media Daily News, 02/18/09)