In 1922, when WGL-AM became the first radio station in Philadelphia, many considered the medium a fad.  Even in 1937, a hit song written by George Gershwin, Our Love Is Here To Stay, proclaimed radio to be a "passing fancy and in time may go".

Philadelphia radio, however, has survived the advent of talking-movies, television, eight tracks, and cassettes in stereo.  More recently, radio has withstood a tsunami of digital options including, YouTube, SiriusXM, Pandora, and Spotify.

As the Coronavirus pandemic rolls over into a second year, Philadelphia radio has hung tough and not ceded its ground despite listener's shifting lifestyles.  This is crucial news for small business owners who depend on local stations to market their goods and services.

There are over 4.2 million adult consumers in the Philadelphia area. Collectively, in a typical year, these shoppers would generate $103.8 billion in retail sales. This money would be spent on cars, shoes, fast-food, entertainment, groceries, mattresses, adult beverages, haircuts, makeup, and an over-abundance of other of goods and services. Their money was being spent on both the essential and the frivolous. 

The way Philadelphia area consumers spend money changed radically in March as COVID-19 began to spread. Six months into the pandemic, shopping strategies are about to change again.

It started with panic buying. Consumers began ignoring prices and were paying what was ever necessary to ensure the safety, health, and comfort of their families.  According to Nielsen, this sudden spike in demand caused widespread price increases. To put it in perspective, retail prices shot-up in 64% of all product categories stocked in grocery stores.

Almost immediately, advertising messages from local retailers shifted from promises of low prices and convenience to product availability and shopper safety.

Based on new research from Nielsen, consumers' shopping strategies are beginning to shift again. This will require Delaware Valley small business owners and retailers to also change their advertising strategies, too.

Before COVID-19, most listening to Philadelphia radio happened outside the home. Delaware Valley consumers were tuning-in to their favorite stations from the car on the way to their job. Then, they tuned-in when they arrived at work. They listened again during the commute back home.

Nielsen recently surveyed consumers who worked from home before and during the novel coronavirus outbreak. The results show, as of June, 66% of respondents now work from home full-time as a consequence of the pandemic.

As consumers are compelled to work from their houses and curtail their commutes, the share of at-home listening to Philadelphia radio has grown 35%, according to Nielsen.

During July, 3.4 million adult listeners spent 2 hours per day listening to their favorite Philadelphia radio stations, according to Nielsen. Despite an avalanche of pandemic induced disruptions, the daily time spent with radio is down by only by one-quarter-hour from a year ago.

Some advertising experts had predicted that as consumers spent more time at home because of COVID-19 concerns, the hours devoted to radio listening would dramatically decrease. That, however, was not the case.

In July of 2019, according to Nielsen, 30.7% of radio listening in the Delaware Valley occurred at home. During July of this year, in-home listening jumped to 41.5%. Despite the reduction in out-of-home activities, though, consumers still spent nearly the same amount of time listening to Philadelphia radio.