Is advertising on Fort Myers radio just a day job for Southwest Florida small business owners?  

Thousands of local Florida companies depend on radio advertising to market their goods and services. But most of these business owners choose to buy commercials only between 6:00 am and 7:00 pm.  Is this a good idea? Maybe not.  Here are the facts.

During the course of last week, for instance, 807,219 adult consumers tuned-in to their favorite Fort Myers radio stations. This is significantly higher than the number that tuned-in to a local TV station, read a local newspaper, or logged on to Spotify and Pandora.

But radio listeners do not roll-up their ears just because the sunsets. According to Nielsen, almost half of SWFL who listen to the radio during daylight hours, also tune in at night.

Everybody in Southwest Florida used to watch TV. Commercials and all. But, as media options proliferate, viewers are fleeing. This is not good news for television advertisers.

Last week, for instance, according to Nielsen, only 79% of SWFL consumers watched broadcast television. To put this in perspective, 93% tuned-in to their favorite Fort Myers radio stations.

Compared to two years ago, according to Nielsen, the C3 rating for CBS, NBC, ABC, and Fox have plummeted by 27%, especially among 18-49 viewers.

Just about every adult in SWFL spent, on average, 15 hours last week listening to the radio.  As a matter of fact, more people tuned-in to their favorite Fort Myers radio station than watched TV; read a newspaper, or logged-on to Pandora and Spotify.

"Sure," a Naples small business owner said to me. "People are still tuning-in to local radio stations, but do they switch stations when my commercial comes on?"

Not to worry. Unlike TV, which makes avoiding commercials a breeze, there is no ad-skipping technology for radio.  As a result, a study by Nielsen reveals that 93% of radio listeners stick around for the ads.

This raises the question: Consumers are not button-pushing during radio commercials, but are they paying attention to the content of the advertising? Research says YES.