Happy Birthday Radio and CBC!

On this day in history the first American Radio Broadcast took place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  The first commercial radio station was KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which went on the air in the evening of November 2, 1920, with a broadcast of the returns of the Harding–Cox presidential election.

The CBC – Canadian Broadcasting Corporation was created as a radio service by the Canadian Parliament in the Broadcasting Act,on this day in 1936.

It took Radio 38 Years to Reach 50 millions Users, until “Radio was killed by the Video Star” and it took TV only 13 years to reach the same user base.  The Internet by far has been the most impressive medium with only 4 years to reach 50 million users and social media sites such as Facebook added 100 million users in less than 9 months…iPhone applications hit 1 billion in 9 months.  Overall radio isn’t quite dead yet but it’s fair to say that radio is on life support.

Should you pick radio as your marketing medium for your next marketing campaign? That all depends on the product or service you are offering, how deep your pockets are, and what your expected ROI is.  For most small business Radio does not make sense. However if you are a retailer or are promoting an event or seminar, it may make sense.  It’s not as black as white and there are serious advertising dollars involve with Radio.   Only one thing is certain, if radio is your only marketing tactic, then you are at risk.  You don’t want to put all your eggs in one basket.  Instead, diversify and pick several mediums that make sense.   You’re best of to contact a Marketing Consultant to determine what makes sense.  Contact me for more info!

More Social Media Statistics can be found here

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