When iHeartRadio had its big launch for the new iHeartRadio app, there was initial pushback because to use iHeartRadio’s advanced features you have to connect your streaming listening to your Facebook account and let facebook see what songs you’re listening to and for how long.
A few months ago, I started cataloging which stations have links on their web sites to “Like” them on Facebook and develop some metrics. Those numbers appear on the home page in the table with the counts by station format.
It’s still a bit fuzzy, in part because Facebook’s way to interact is a bit obtuse and for some stations I’m not picking up the correct information to query the “Like Count”.
But the age vs facebook vs radio trend is pretty obvious. Percentage of radio stations that have linked to facebook by format for the important ones:
“Hard” rock – 53%
Lite Rock – 51%
Young Urban – 50%
Contemporary Hits – 48%
R&B / Soul – 42%
Variety – 40%
Dance Music – 39%
Classic Rock – 37%
News/Talk – 37%
Country – 34%
Sports – 32%
Public Radio – 27%
Oldies – 26%
Nostalgia – 18%
The way it counts, a simulcast only counts one time – so the religious formats like KLove and Air1 that heavily use simulcasts nationwide skew their percentages, which is why I didn’t list them.
So in conclusion, the older you are, the less likely the radio station(s) you listen to think you care about Facebook.