RADIO ... Who actually listens to a local Radio Station on a regular basis in 2025?

[MetalSludgeCEO]

Well?

$tEvil

[Gibsonite]

I listen to a local call-in show in the AM, after that it's CD's in the car or Spotify through a bluetooth speaker at work. We have one classic rock station here but their playlist is still 90 - 95% the same shit they were playing when they went on the air 20 yrs ago

[TBONESBURDEN]

Me, I drive around all day in my work truck. Just a good ol AM/FM radio installed in it. Mostly listen to the classic rock station unless there is a day game at Wrigley, then the Cubs are on.

[Black Stuff]

once in a blue moon for traffic and weather

[Sleek]

Me. I listen to NPR, KJAZZ and KXLU mostly. Anything above 90 on the dial is a shit show.

[keyofgee]

rarely, as someone already stated, our only non corporate classic rock station has played the same tired songs for over 20 years now. they also play Steve Gorman ROCK'S show twice back to back every night. They take his 2 hour show and make it a 4 hour show. The other radio stations are all corporate and probably play the same 10 songs over and over every day. Especially the huge country radio station. I either play thru a bunch of Pandora stations or I listen to A2Zradio.net. It's an interest radio station that plays radio like it used to be played. You may hear Donna Summer and the next song be KISS. Or the latest hot song from rock, country or Pop and no commercials...They have no repeat days and really cover all the bases.

[tooth]

I do, in the car, all the time. We have a bunch of college radio stations that are excellent for music. I mostly gave up on terrestrial radio talk shows some years ago, but I do listen to "Toucher & Hardy". While they are technically "sports" talk, & on the same station that carries the Patriots, Celtics & Bruins, they work in pop culture & personal stories & make it pretty funny.

[Tommy]

Rarely. Some local sports radio but not if my trip is over 10 minutes. I'll hook up the Tidal in that case. It's a lot of South Carolina-focus on sports and I'm a NY sports fan, so yeah.

[EzyRider]

If you live in LA the radio sucks huge balls.

You got KLOS and KROQ, both have the same playlist that's 30-40-50 years old, except with 3-4-5 times more commercials than there were before.

I will admit I listen to KLOS at night when I'm wrenching in my garage sometimes , it seems better than the day shows and Greg Beharrell is funny, I think he may be a closet sludger.

Sometimes I listen to 88.5 which is a local college station, it can alternate between fantastic and awful pretty rapidly, but at least the setlist is fairly current, or not egregiously overplayed if older stuff.

[MotleyKaos]

My town has had a radio station for years, and for quite some time, they have been playing a mix of songs that go back to the 70s. What I really like about the station is that it doesn't play the standard classic top 40 stuff that Jack/Bob/Steve/Bubba FM plays. And they play some 80s hard rock bands! As an example of both, I've heard Cinderella's "Back Home Again" several times.

Sure, I listen to YouTube, but I also like the randomness of tuning into a radio station because I'm bound to hear something that I haven't thought to listen again to in years.

[JamesHetfieldsAcneScars]

Driving to and from work yes sir guilty as charged.

[daveg]

Sometimes I listen to 88.5 which is a local college station, it can alternate between fantastic and awful pretty rapidly, but at least the setlist is fairly current, or not egregiously overplayed if older stuff.

Ha, that is the definition of a college radio station. Can go from awesome to awful in very short order.

I'll always put on the local radio if my trip is gonna be quick. Like to hear the traffic, weather, banter etc.

A better question might be, who listens to local radio while they are at home. I can't' remember the last time I did that.

[Nightcrawler]

God, no. If I heard Stairway one more time, I'd drive up a pole.

[Brainy Lane]

90.3 fm is the local community college station.

I listen to sports talk mostly
WFAN or ESPN Radio in NY

[LurkingAtWork]

I haven't listened to the radio since the 90s

[exitflagger]

The main classic rock station here had a friend of mine DJing for about three years and he brought a decent mix of hair/classic/semi-underground metal into the programming there. That apparently didn't fly with the money people or the milquetoasty listener base so he got squeezed out a couple years ago. They brought in a regional radio personality (re: they ponied up some money) and that guy has turned the station into an unlistenable pile of steaming dung. He has that "pro announcer" cheesebag delivery, constantly hawking products and events that pay dearly for his "smooth guy" voice, all in lieu of playing music more often than should be the case.

But then the music selection comes on and you wish he would just go back to talking. They alternate between tired old CRR crap (stuff that everybody was already sick of back in the 80s) and post-grunge buttrock like Five Finger DP, Shinedown, Hinder, Daughtrey, 3 Doors Down, Theory of a Dumbass, blah blah blah... it's a nightmare.

And yet that's the best commercial station we have to offer. The local college rock station is far better even if they occasionally sound like they're purposely trying to drive you crazy with 20 minute noisefest pieces.

God bless the mp3 player.

[HottKarl777]

I hadn't listened to radio in decades but 4 years ago I had to do a month in county and I bought a little cheap transistor radio with one crappy ear piece. Let me tell you...NPR kept me sane. I listened to BBC World News every night from midnight to 6am and a bunch of other stuff like Fresh Air (love Terry) during the day. It was literally my lifeline. I wanted to take that junk radio home with me but my bunkie told me it's bad luck to take anything home from the stir cause you'll be back. I took him at his word on that one.

When I got out I went to Best Buy and bought another tiny radio (the kid working there looked at me like I was an alien when I asked it they had radios lol). I still use to from time to time. There is just something really cool about having a little radio playing soft in the background late at night. It's a vibe.

[TeslaFan]

I do but only because my brother works in radio. It’s a dying industry but in our market it’s still alive and well. He makes a pretty fair living at it. 80-90 percent of it is canned now. Very little is actually live. With AI, who knows, it might totally eliminate DJs

[Tymaster]

The wife and I have SiriusXM & Spotify in our rides but every once in while I have to dust off the 2004 Nissan Frontier for mulch, wood, an appliance, a blizzard...whatever. The AM oldies station is probably my go-to in there if not NPR. Commercial over-the-air radio is a joke.

[gtshark1]

Only regional sports talk on AM every once in a while. 90% Sirius and 9.9% Spotify.

[Tymaster]

Only regional sports talk on AM every once in a while. 90% Sirius and 9.9% Spotify.

Pretty much. I just don't like messing with Spotify while I drive so I go through about 40 presets on Sirius. There is always something on. Whether it's music, news, or a ballgame, I can always find something.

[Hatchets Molly]

My wife. I haven’t listened to regular radio in 20 years or more. I had a SiriusXM lifetime subscription until I transferred from car to car until I wasn’t allowed to anymore. Since then, it’s been either Apple Music or Spotify only. I couldn’t name local stations that might still be in business, and I’ve lived in the same metro area since 1988.

[Metal Sludge]

I do. Because I don't drive a lot. Just to work and back. Costco and Trader Joes on weekends. The nail and hair salon every few weeks. Lunch with my girlfriends a couple of times a month. That's about the extent of my driving.
I do have Sirius XM in my car, but I don't spend enough time in the car to use it much. I only keep it because it's like $36.00 a year.
Funny little thing I noticed this morning. I listen to KLOS ( 95.5 LA classic rock) in the car. That's the only radio button that I programmed myself. Today I noticed that 94.7 was programmed on my radio. When I was a kid, that was KMET, the LA rock station, before KNAC was a thing. I just Googled it, it's a smooth jazz station now.

[dmbrocker]

I used to before I got satellite radio. Local station usually plays standard classic rock radio like all other stations (Zep, Stones, Journey, AC/DC, Queen, Foreigner, Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, occasional Kiss/Rush/Aero). Now I just listen to SiriusXM and my classic iPod Touch full of mp3's.

[itdoesntmatter]

My last local rock station (which was an independent station mostly of the “alternative” format) went out of business the last year, after about a decade of drama over selling and then leasing the signal, lease renewals, etc. for a good 20-25 years they were a very strong local presence with their own onsite bar and concert area, many sponsored shows and festivals, had many pretty big bands play their small room the day of concerts, curated non-Clear Channel playlists and played several “hot new” artists several years before they crossed over. But they’d gotta a little weirder on the new music, held on to hard to a lot of legacy acts (the way classic rock radio overplays certain songs), and could no longer get people to buy ads just because they liked the DJs. I listened every day every time I was in my car up until about 2020 but the last few years I went back a lot to my old CDs and digital collection.

[cowpins]

Not on a regular basis, however, I work in it and at least in my market people still listen. It is the same as it was 20 years ago? No. However, we're still live and local, and when we play a contest the phone lines still ring off the hook. DJ's are more content providers, or as my son says, "oh, he's the guy who talks on the radio?". Zero cool factor like it used to be. We do have an classic rock station though that is pretty damn good.

However, using my son as an example....less and less generations are listening...and they use apps for traffic and weather.

[ijwthstd]

KLOS and KROQ or other commercial radio? Not since the 1990's.

In the off chance anyone mentions those stations to me I will respond with "There's still a KROQ? Why?"

Will sometimes listen to Morning Becomes Eclectic or Henry Rollins on KCRW and either the folk show Saturday mornings or some of the weird middle of the night stuff on KPFK.

I was offered a program on a new internet radio station which still only has a few listeners. I am treating it like drivetime with access to the whole world but in fact I am not sure I would be able to tolerate the thought of any strangers tuning in and hearing my voice. Details forthcoming (if I can get it off the ground).

[Charles Bukaki]

after probably 30 years of not listening to anything on the radio, I recently found a college run Jazz station that's commercial free and has really knowledgeable hosts. I've been listening a lot of Jazz for the last few years and reading up on the history, different eras and major players and it's cool to get a nice little fix on my short drive to and from work every day.

[keyofgee]

after probably 30 years of not listening to anything on the radio, I recently found a college run Jazz station that's commercial free and has really knowledgeable hosts. I've been listening a lot of Jazz for the last few years and reading up on the history, different eras and major players and it's cool to get a nice little fix on my short drive to and from work every day.

i listen to a lot of old sckool Jazz from the 20's and up. Also a lot of big band music from the 40's and 50's.

[TREVERLAST]

At my last job I listened to KLOS over the speakers. I would let my employess hook up their phones and play their music but I got tired of them playing music with cursing, N word, complaining & fighting over which song to play next or they'd skip songs half way through. So as the boss I put it on KLOS and no one was allowed to touch it. It stayed like that for 7 years until I left. I haven't really listened to regular radio since then. All they played was AC/DC, Zep, Van Halen, Queen etc... I love those bands but I don't need to hear the SAME damn songs over and over again. I swear if I hear 'Under Pressure' one more time ...