Radio came to Detroit on August 20 of 1920 when The Detroit News, owner of radio station 8MK (later WWJ), began broadcasting. The broadcast originated from the second floor of the newspaper's headquarters on Lafayette Boulevard.

From that day, many predicted radio's success would succumb to advances from new technologies. In 1927, the challenge came from talking movies. In the 1940s, the predators were 13-inch TV sets. In the 1970s, it was 8-track and cassette tapes. In the past 20 years, there was a multi-flank attack from iPods, Zunes, YouTube, Sirius, XM, Pandora, Spotify,

So far, all of these challengers have failed. Not even a pandemic has been able to remove radio as a vital force in the life of Southeast Michigan consumers.

Every week, according to Nielsen, more adults tune-in to Detroit radio than watch TV or cable. Use social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram. Read newspapers. Or, stream music from Pandora or Spotify.

There are more than 2,900,000 car radios in Southeast Michigan. On March 23, though, many of these devices became quarantined along with their owners. That was the day when the Governor of Michigan shut down the state to slow the spread of COVID-19.

According to the Apple Mobility Index, the Governor's public-safety order caused traffic on Metro Detroit roadways to plummet to 40% of pre-pandemic levels.

By the beginning of July, however,  the AMI indicates that traffic in Detroit began to exceed pre-Covid levels. The surge in mobility is due, in part, to work-from-home, furloughed, and laid-off employees returning to their workplaces.

According to Nielsen, during the week of April 30, only 39% of adults with jobs were working outside-the-home.  During the week of October 1, though, that number had expanded to 61%.