Terrestrial Radio in Rural & Small-Town America

Local, terrestrial radio in rural and small-town communities can be a powerful medium for effective communication with voters. The Rural Voter Institute examined how to effectively utilize this unique medium of communication with panels of rural and small-town Wisconsin voters.

Topline Findings:

• “Learn More” Ads. While news was not a predominantly named item for which radio listeners

  selected programming, multiple panelists mentioned that they like “snippets” of news and

  referenced listening to local radio for “the obituaries and the school board” news.

• Cross-Platform Campaign. When a discussion arose of where they would get more

  information, panelists said they would “Google it” and had trust issues (with three exceptions amongst panelists) following up on the same radio station’s website or app where they heard the original news story. Virtually every panelist (with rare exceptions for a preference for call-in formats with guests) preferred the idea of a host or reporter “reading” the news in “snippets” – short digestible, informative doses of news.

• Saturation. Rural and small-town panelists voiced their consumption of terrestrial radio often

  as background entertainment and information.

• Localization and Live Remotes. A panelist mentioned the idea of doing an in-depth radio

  interview with a local business: interviewing people there about the history of the business,

  what it does, and its future.

• Surrogates: Real People and Human Interest. Multiple panelists mentioned that they like

  “snippets” of news and referenced listening to local radio for “the obituaries and the school

  board” news. Multiple panelists described preferring news in small bits that were structured

  throughout their radio consumption time.