While older demos may be kinder to radio, we’d rather not envision a future with a dozen stations per market serving 40-54’s.

These formerly tried-and-true tactics can still provide lift for radio, provided their implementation is updated to use the full width of current technology and that you observe best practices in terms of playing the Nielsen game.

Paired against the un-hosted, un-curated (or minimally-curated) streams available from Spotify or Pandora, the human connection on broadcast radio can achieve great things: preference and loyalty.

While broadcasters’ initiatives into digital-only content and distribution will be measured against the wider universe, over-the-air efforts continue to be measured against – and thus, have to be targeted at – ratings likelies.