Does the Spirit of Radio Have a Future?
Will the next generation even understand that classic Rush song? 📻
Commenting on Taylor Swift’s announcement of her new album — made not in a PR release or TV interview, but on a podcast — Brian Stelter of Reliable Sources wrote:
“Plus, as the YouTube livestream of the New Heights episode showed, video podcasts are TV now, anyway. Swift wasn't bypassing TV; she was making TV.”
That line stuck with me: “Video podcasts are TV now.” And you could just as easily say, “Audio podcasts are radio now.”
Which brings us back to a debate that’s been running for years: What’s the future of radio?
The Shrinking, Shifting Media Landscape
Linear TV’s collapse is easy to see — U.S. pay-TV households have dropped from about 100 million in 2013 to under 70 million in 2025. Radio’s decline has been slower, but it’s real: Nielsen data shows weekly AM/FM listening has slipped from about 92% of Americans in 2008 to around 82% in 2024. Still, that’s a massive reach, and in certain areas — particularly local news and talk — radio is holding its ground or even growing, even as ad dollars are shrinking.
The Bright Spot: Local News
Local news on the radio is one of the few growth points. The latest RTDNA/Newhouse School survey found 70.5% of radio stations now air local news — up 6.3% from last year, and the second consecutive year of growth.
But my former KNX boss, Alex Silverman, adds an important caution:
“While the report is somewhat encouraging, you have to pair it with data that show a 75% overall decline in local journalists over the past two decades. The more we focus on platform, the less we focus on the real issue, which is the decimation of local journalism and the collapse of the business that underlies it. Whoever can figure out a model that works in 2025 has a major rebuilding project ahead.”
That’s the bigger truth — whatever happens to local journalism’s platform will probably track alongside whatever happens to the broader radio platform.
Is Over-the-Air on the Way Out?
Broadcast TV has already surrendered much of its spectrum, as stations shifted focus to cable and streaming. Now cable itself is shrinking — and that leaves streaming. Could radio follow the same path?
If it does, the logical destination is streaming audio — and in many ways, that’s just a form of podcasting.
Music Rights and the DJ’s Future
For music stations, podcasting is basically off-limits. The licensing costs for song rights in podcasts are prohibitive for all but the biggest players. That leaves streaming music services like Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music — platforms where listeners curate their own music and skip traditional presentation.
So where does that leave the classic radio DJ — the music personality who’s not a talk-show host but still entertains between songs? In a world where the “radio” experience is just a playlist, does that role even exist?
I put these questions to a few of my industry friends and colleagues. Some called me to talk, some sent emails, and others texted quick replies. Most wished to remain anonymous, but some were willing to be identified. But I’ve decided to protect all of their identities, in case they find themselves looking for work again. Here they are, lightly edited for clarity.
Broadcast Journalist (edited from an audio interview)
Q: Do you think over-the-air broadcasting will die and be replaced by podcasting for talk, and Spotify or other platforms for music, or will something else take its place?
A: It depends largely on where you live. I just came back from a trip to North Dakota and rural Minnesota, and in those places, radio is still very much alive. Over-the-air AM and FM remain a vital part of people’s lives. Cell service can be spotty, which makes streaming unreliable. Radio is how people get music, but more importantly, farm reports, weather, and emergency information. In those areas, it’s far more reliable to get your information from a local radio or TV station than to depend on your cell phone.
That said, the future of radio in larger markets is murkier, and it depends a lot on the format. Some formats will probably last another decade or so, but not much longer. Music formats, for example, are a dime a dozen. If you want music, you can get it instantly from a streaming service — your favorite ’70s, ’90s, or 2000s songs are all right there. It’s actually easier than trying to find the right station.
Talk radio, on the other hand, will likely remain successful for the foreseeable future. It has reach, and personalities — especially on the political right — still draw big followings. Even with all our technology, it’s often easier to tune in an AM or FM signal while driving than it is to stream reliably.
I think what we’re going to see is a mix. There will still be a place for radio, and certainly for over-the-air television, but streaming is already enormous and growing every day. We’re living in a very balkanized media environment.
Q: Do you think big radio companies like iHeart or Cumulus could eventually abandon radio because there’s not enough financial return? And if so, could streaming giants like Apple, Spotify, or Google buy up stations and keep over-the-air broadcasting alive for a while?
A: It’s possible. The financial model for broadcasting has been turned inside out in the digital age. Radio faces some of the same problems that hit newspapers. For decades, newspapers made most of their money from classified ads. Once online services came along and did that better and cheaper, the revenue stream collapsed.
Television has had a similar problem. Local stations used to rely heavily on ads from car dealerships. But now, people shop for cars, leases, and rentals online, so dealerships don’t need local TV spots the way they once did.
The whole economic model for broadcasting has shifted dramatically over the last 20 years, and nobody seriously believes it’s going back to the way it was. So yes, a big digital player — Apple, Microsoft, maybe even Elon Musk — could step in and buy properties. But they’d run into the same fundamental issue: how do you make money in a business where the old model doesn’t work anymore? That’s the real problem.
News Anchor
Gen Xers and boomers are the only people keeping the industry afloat right now.
Radio and television used to provide a sense of community and shared experience. Streaming has made watching and listening more individualized. We have our own playlists and algorithms. We share less. For better or worse, it’s become the norm.
Millennials and younger generations find shared experiences on platforms like Discord. News is served up with opinion on TikTok and YouTube. Everything is on our phones.
The thing to watch is the rapid expansion of, and comfort with, AI. I don’t see radio and TV news as we know it surviving. There are too many citizen journalists and influencers churning out content online.
Where will it end? Hard to say. Perhaps pushback over the detrimental effects of social media and digital content will force us in a different direction one day. People might reject all of it and choose something else we haven’t even thought of yet.
As much as some of us love radio, sadly, I think its time is nearly up.
Another News Anchor
Honestly, I think radio has however many years left until Gen X retires. If you want to squeeze the revenue out, you should be targeting them hard and not trying for millennials, because we’re not coming.
The only millennials I know who listen to spoken word are listening to NPR. I think a lot of stations will still survive, but mostly through the iHeart hub-and-spoke model.
Also — can’t AI just track the best talent in all the markets for music?
Music Host
What future? I kid because I love.
I fear that music stations will become no-host jukeboxes. Hosts that remain will likely be AI.
Talk Radio Host
Talk radio will be the last to die. When the whole world is unemployed due to AI, people will turn to TALK RADIO for updates on the massive riots in the streets.
Former Program Director
I have some ideas, but I’ll hold them close to the vest, because I think some company would want to pay for the expertise.
However, I will say this: the military has wanted the AM band for decades. We should relinquish it to them since so many AM operators are turning in their licenses each year.
Podcaster and Former Program Director
Radio waves are a part of nature and will never go away. Ever.
Radio frequencies — your 101.7s and 91.1s, etc. — are a part of nature and will never go away. Ever.
Broadcast companies are not part of nature. They go away all the time. But those frequencies never go dark. Well, rarely. In the past few years, dozens of AM stations have gone dark, but FM signals have hung in and even increased their numbers in the last few years.
All of this is contrary to the narrative that’s been foisted on American society, that radio as a medium is dead. Yes, we’ve been gaslit for years. About 25 years ago, when the internet was gaining steam, mainstream and tech journalists jumped on the idea that radio, TV, and newspapers were now dead technology. Or dying. The reality was completely different. But the constant hammering by people who knew next to nothing about the medium they were writing about caused panic among radio, TV, and newspaper companies.
Fast forward to today, and here’s what you’ll find regarding radio:
Every credible research study still shows radio at, or near, the top of the list when it comes to how people discover new music and information. Don’t get me wrong, the internet is up there, but radio is still king. Turns out the audience likes local jocks. They like music curation (back and front announcing).
The industry has been beaten down so hard, for so long, that no one in the C-suites has any confidence or pride in their own product.
As far as I can tell, the NAB hasn’t helped at all. I can’t point to any particular campaign by them to change this horrible narrative that radio sucks. And owners, despite years of consultants and research projects telling them otherwise, still believe their medium sucks.
Remember when we had to air the FCC PSA during license renewal? Usually in the middle of the night. It started like this: “This station has been licensed by the FCC to serve the public interest…” Blah blah blah. It always made me laugh, because we knew the lie.
I think it may take another hundred years or so to really decide to ditch over-the-air radio. The government would have to decide that radio spectrum frequencies no longer serve the public interest, and that the internet will serve us just fine.
Podcasts are just radio shows. The public has discovered a new way to “democracy” (using that as a verb). Everyone is now their own radio station. Podcasts are not broadcasts. They’re narrowcasts, sometimes meant to target just the people who are into tiny furniture, or whatever.
Maybe the real question is not whether radio as we know it survives, but whether its spirit does. Rush sang about music as freedom, honesty, and joy, not algorithms or revenue models. However, the technology shifts — playlists, podcasts, streams, or frequencies — the challenge is keeping that spirit alive. Because if we lose that, it won’t matter what platform survives.