Jacobs Media will release their 2022 Techsurvey in just a few weeks.

radioinfo’s Wayne Stamm caught up with Fred Jacobs at the 2022 NAB Show in America.

Listening to AM/FM radio in cars is decreasing according to the 31,000 core listeners representing the listening habits of 450 stations, and Fred says while radio professionals may be talking about what is happening with the connected car, they may be missing the bigger picture.

He says, “I think the bigger piece to all of this is the idea of who does radio compete against, because so often we think about the other stations down the dial as being our core competitors and maybe we don’t think about digital streaming and podcasts and all the other audio that is a part of people’s lives now.

“So part of what Tech Survey is all about is to help connect you better with your audience and what they’re doing when they’re not listening to you.”

And on the point about car owners becoming a lot more tech savvy about their incar systems, Fred agrees and says, “Because just a few short years ago, the complaints were rampant. I mean, people couldn’t even find the radio in their cars and they didn’t know how to pair up their phones.

“But my theory is that as a result of COVID, a lot of mature citizens kind of figured out how technology works. I mean, they had to they had to figure out how Face Time worked so they could see their grandchildren, and they had to figure out how to talk to Alexa so that they could get their content and I think the same thing happened in the car.

“And the automakers, I think, have done a better job dumbing it down, honestly, simplifying how all of this works, and the bottom line is just about anybody can connect their phone in their cars.

“But even these sophisticated systems, I think by and large work better than they used to work. So, yeah, people are figuring it out.”

The new Techsurvey will show a decrease in AM/FM listening in the car and he says, “I think that’s natural. I think that would be happening anyway, but I think the onslaught of technology maybe accelerates that. But the good news is, is that radio can still make sure that it’s meeting the audience where they are on digital platforms.”

Techsurvey 2022 results will be available in a few weeks. Last years results are here.

The full interview with Fred Jacobs from Wayne Stamm, who is in then USA covering NAB exclusively for radioinfo.