Technology is changing the way people in Southwest Florida consume media. This includes streaming audio platforms like Pandora and Spotify or the ability to watch Netflix on a smartphone.

But one thing has not changed.  That thing with the buttons and knobs that's been part of a car's dashboard since 1930. The contraption called radio.

Some small business owners believe the medium is outdated, and nobody listens to it anymore. But, contrary to that view, radio still reaches 92% of all consumers in America.

In SWFL, for example, last week significantly more consumers tuned-in to their favorite Fort Myers radio stations than watched local TV; read a newspaper; logged-on to Facebook, or signed-in to Pandora or Spotify.

Next year, according to Nielsen, 52,438 people in Southwest Florida will be getting married.  Assuming that those folks are hitching-up with each other, that means there will be 26,192 weddings. 

CostOfWedding.com reports that the average cost for these pending nuptials will be $27,209 including (but not limited to) rings, dresses, tuxedos, flowers, venues, photographers, invitations, limos, and rice (or birdseed for the ecologically inclined).

This means small business owners in the Fort Myers-Naples area who cater to the bridal market will be competing for a share of $712 million.

Mark Twain has some script writing advice for Southwest Florida small business owners who depend on radio advertising to market their goods and services.

"The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter - 'tis the difference between the lightning-bug and the lightning," advises Mr. Twain.

In other words, fill your commercials with lightning, not bugs!

Currently, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, there are 171,476 words in the English language. A handful of these words, Fort Myers area small business owners can't use in their radio commercials. The Supreme Court of the United States says so.

Of all the words that can be used in broadcast advertising, however, there is one word that should be shunned: 'get' and all of its nasty derivative forms including 'got' and 'gotten'.  Here's why.

The typical 60-second commercial on Fort Myers radio consists of 160 words.  Depending on the station, each word in that ad could cost around $1.00.  It is important, then, that each word is carefully selected to engage listeners and then compel them to action.  This is especially crucial when using verbs. 

"One of the best ways of grabbing and keeping an audience is to use strong, descriptive verbs," says the Writing Center at the University of Houston.  'Get' is not that kind of verb.

The first radio station in Southwest Florida went on-the-air in 1940.  Seventy-nine years later, Facebook inaugurated the social media era.  Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat, Pinterest, Reddit, and hundreds of other sites quickly followed.

As social media matured from a novelty to part of consumers' daily rituals, some SWFL business owners began to experiment with advertising.

By every key advertising metric, though, Fort Myers radio remains the best choice for a small business to market their goods and services. Here's why.

In 1930, the Galvin Manufacturing Corporation put the first car radio on the market. They called it the Motorola. This in-car entertainment would setback a Southwest Florida consumer about $120 which would be equivalent to $1200 today.

But, if you had that kind of cash, you would be able to cruise around in your Ford Model-A, DeSoto, Packard, or Studebaker and hear the music of the day from radio stations in Tampa, Miami, and Atlanta.

It would be 10 more years until there were Fort Myers radio stations for local consumers to enjoy.

Today, there's a radio in almost every vehicle on the streets of SWFL. Despite the competition on the dashboard from other sources of entertainment, AM/FM radio remains the dominant choice for in-car entertainment.  This is great news for local business owners who depend on Fort Myers radio to market their goods and services.

Next year marks the 80th anniversary of WFTM, the first radio station in Fort Myers.

Since 1940, Southwest Florida small business owners have depended on radio advertising to market their goods and services to local consumers.  During the next 12 months, these consumers are expected to spend $22.5 billion.

By any measure, radio is still the best way to advertise in SWFL. Last week, for instance, significantly more consumers tuned-in to a Fort Myers radio station than watched local TV; read a local newspaper; or logged-on to Pandora and Spotify.

To buy radio advertising effectively, there are some terms every Fort Myers-Naples area small business owner should know.  Here is a list of helpful definitions.

This year marks 79 years since WFTM became the first radio station in Fort Myers.  From that time, Southwest Florida small business owners have depended on radio advertising to market their goods and services.

So, it is a fair question for a 21st-century business owner to ask: Is Fort Myers radio still relevant in the life of SWFL consumers?

"You wouldn’t know it from all the media coverage focused on streaming video and streaming music," said media expert Doug Schoen in Forbes Magazine, "but recent Nielsen data shows radio actually has the most reach among American media consumers." 

Last week, for instance, significantly more SWFL consumers tuned-in to a Fort Myers radio station than watched local TV, read a local newspaper, or logged-on to a streaming audio site like Pandora and Spotify.

If you were one of the 807,219 adults who tuned-in to a Fort Myers radio station last week, it is likely you heard a commercial for Indeed.  That's because, last week, Indeed, the world's largest online job site was also radio's biggest advertiser.

The reason Indeed invested so heavily in radio advertising is that they have far more job openings posted on their than site than there are job-hunters to fill them. 

This is not unlike the predicament of Southwest Florida small business owners who are also having difficulty finding and hiring qualified candidates.

What Indeed has figured out is that there are not enough unemployed people or disgruntled workers looking for jobs, especially among those in white-collar professions. So, the company is looking to attract what human resource experts call the 'passive job seekers'.

It turns out that advertising on Fort Myers radio is also the best way for any business owner to recruit, hire, and retain those passive, white-collar job seekers.

The National Retail Federation has predicted that this year's back-to-school shopping season will set a new record. Households with school-age children are expected to spend, on average, $696.70 preparing their kids for the first day of classes. This tops the previous record set in 2012.

For Southwest Florida small business owners, this means there is $162,864,000 of back-to-school bucks in play between now and the first bell of the school year.

According to the NRF, here's how the $696.70 per household will be spent.

• Clothing & Accessories: $239.82
• Computers & Electronics: $203.44
• Shoes: $135.96
• School Supplies: $117.49

To grab the largest share of back-to-school spending will require small business owners to advertise.  By any metric, advertising on Fort Myers radio stations will be the most effective.  Here's why.