Page 16 - BiTS_09_SEPTEMBER_2021

2021 Radio Show Survey Results

A John in Houston Project (published with permission)

or those that do business with me, you know that I do a lot more than just PR; submissions
being one of those other services. So if I offer this kind of service then I better have my ducks
Fin a row when it comes to tools to use, formats to submit, and more. Therefore, annually, I
attempt to generate a survey that helps keep me in tune with the policies of both radio stations and
radio shows. Two and a half months ago I approached 1,212 music directors and show hosts with the
questions below. The surveys were delivered inside an email and the software automatically tallied

the results. All of the stations/shows surveyed spin either blues, jazz, country, or Americana music.
The vast majority of the stations surveyed are commercial stations with the remaining stations
broadcasting as non-profit entities. The results include North American, European, South American,
Australian, and Pacific rim entities.

Just two years ago digital acceptance, downloads of submissions, was basically a no-no in the states
however off shore, downloads were widely accepted. Obviously government cost of monitoring
incoming physical boxes arriving from other countries due to the threat of terrorism affected shipping
and handling costs. Therefore a number of independent American artists and labels either
substantially reduced or just quit submitting physical material offshore due to the additional overhead.

As indicated above, worldwide, respondents reveal that 66% of them accept both submission formats
today.

So if digital downloads are ok, then the question that begs to be answered is which format do
stations and shows prefer? Again this answer like the previous one reflects change within the
industry. Not too long ago the only way to go was .wav files. Today, as you can see High Quality
mp3 files are acceptable with approximately 84% of the respondents.

If you are submitting digitally to terrestrial radio then you will want to know which submission

tool the music directors and show hosts prefer. Here you can clearly see that Dropbox is the