Every week, according to Nielsen, Detroit radio reaches 2,804,826 adults. This is more consumers than use any other medium, including local TV, local cable, streaming video, social media, online audio, and newspapers.

Reach, though, is only one component used to calculate ratings.  The other metric that contributes to the rating formula is the time spent using each medium. So, although for the past 10 years, AM/FM radio's reach has been significantly higher than the reach of local TV, consumers spent considerably more time watching TV. As a result of the math, TV has enjoyed higher ratings than radio.

For the first time, however, AM/FM radio ratings have exceeded local TV ratings by three percent among the key advertising demographic of 18-49-year-olds, according to Nielsen's Total Audience Data for the third quarter of 2023.

In the Detroit area, there are 1,741,591 18-49-year-olds, the majority of whom are millennials, a generation that now accounts for nearly one-third of all retail spending.

Southeast Michigan business owners have depended on Detroit radio to market their goods and services since WWJ, the city's first radio station, went on air in 1920. Despite the advent of new media and technologies since then, advertising on local radio stations is still the best way for the area's 158,041 small business owners to create and maintain customers.

Here are five facts every business owner should know about advertising on Detroit radio in 2022.

Local business owners have been advertising on Detroit radio since WWJ first signed-on in 1920.  But, back then, there were only two options for reaching a mass audience: newspapers and radio.

Today, though, advertisers have an over-abundance of marketing options both over-the-air and online. But every week, according to Nielsen, 2.8 million adults listen to a Detroit radio station, giving the 101-year-old medium, by far, the biggest reach amongst local consumers.

A new report released last week by Nielsen underscores AM/FM radio's durable reach among all media.

To ensure success, every Southeast Michigan business owner needs to advertise.

"Think you have a great product?" asks the US Small Business Administration. "Unfortunately, no one’s going to know about it unless you advertise.”

The SBA goes on to say, “Advertising, if done correctly, can do wonders for your product sales, and you know what that means: more revenue and more success for your business.”

There are dozens of ways for local small business owners to advertise. By most metrics, the best way to advertise is on Detroit radio. These measures of effectiveness, however, are often obscured by the glimmer and glitz of newer technologies. 

To help reduce the glare that often blinds business owners to the potency of advertising on Detroit radio, here are the top five things many local business owners get wrong.

In 2020, there were 251,685 new cars and trucks registered in the Detroit metro area. This number is based on projections from the National Auto Dealers Associaton (NADA) and the U.S. Census bureau.

In all, says NADA, there are 614 new-car dealerships in Michigan. Despite the pandemic, these dealers, including those in the Detroit area, sold $38.2 billion worth of new vehicles.

Through June of this year, these same dealers have already rung up $20.5 billion in new car sales.

When it comes to buying new vehicles, Detroit consumers have a broad range of preferences. Some buyers want Fords while others want Chevrolets, Toyotas, or Teslas.  Some buyers want pick-up trucks, while others want sub-compacts, SUVs, or sports cars. Of course, some want blue vehicles, while others want pearl white, orchard green, or redolent red.

There is one purchase criterion, however, that most Detroit car buyers can agree on. They want an AM/FM radio smack-dab, in the middle of their dash.