Local businesses have been marketing their goods and services on Fort Myers radio since 1940. That's when The Fort Myers Broadcasting Company was granted a license to build and operate WFTM.

WFTM switched its call sign in 1942 to WAAC and became an affiliate of the CBS radio network. Two years later, the call letters changed once again. This time to WINK.

Who could have guessed that 83 years later, advertising on Fort Myers radio would still be the best advertising option for all types of retailers and business owners.

Every week, according to Nielsen, Fort Myers radio reaches 839,160 adult consumers. This reach is significantly higher than all other advertising options including local TV, cable, social media, streaming video, online audio, and newspapers.

Reach, according to Nielsen, is the audience metric most responsible for driving the success of an advertising campaign. Only the message itself carries more sway.

Every week, according to Nielsen, Fort Myers radio reaches 877,056 adults. This is more consumers than use any other medium, including local TV, local cable, streaming video, social media, online audio, and newspapers.

Reach, though, is only one component used to calculate ratings.  The other metric that contributes to the rating formula is the time spent using each medium. So, although for the past 10 years, AM/FM radio's reach has been significantly higher than the reach of local TV, consumers spent considerably more time watching TV. As a result of the math, TV has enjoyed higher ratings than radio.

For the first time, however, AM/FM radio ratings have exceeded local TV ratings by three percent among the key advertising demographic of 18-49-year-olds, according to Nielsen's Total Audience Data for the third quarter of 2023.

In the Fort Myers area, there are 380,049 18-49-year-olds, the majority of whom are millennials, a generation that now accounts for nearly one-third of all retail spending.

Fort Myers radio reaches more Southwest Florida consumers each week than any other advertising medium.

According to Nielsen, 877,056 adults tune in to their favorite AM/FM stations every week.  This is significantly more consumers than are reached by Fort Myers TV, cable, streaming video, streaming audio, social media, or newspapers.

AM/FM radio's dominance among local consumers is driven, in large part, by the  960,533 Fort Myers area adults who take to the road in their car or truck every week, according to Neilsen.

The combined weekly reach of broadcast television stations in Southwest Florida has slipped to 76.1% of all adults, according to Nielsen. These stations include WINK, WBBH, WZVN, WGCU, and WFTX.  

The combined Fort Myers TV area audience now is only a fraction ahead of cable programming at 75.6% and streaming platforms at 64.8%. To put this virtual dead heat into perspective, none of the three video media is a match for Fort Myers radio which reaches more than 88% of local adults every week.

But although the reach of broadcast TV, cable, and streaming are neck-and-neck, the share of time consumers spend with each of these media is dramatically different.

According to Nielsen research, 690,000 people in the Fort Myers area will likely participate in the upcoming election on November 8th. To sway these voters, candidates and political action committees are expected to spend a record amount on advertising.

AdImpact, a company that measures advertising expenditures by political campaigns, says more than $3.6 billion have been spent to reach voters so far in 2022. This puts spending on a course to obliterate the record level of campaign dollars set during the 2020 presidential elections.

Despite crumbling ratings, through August 1st, 58% of all political spending has been dished out to local TV stations, according to AdImpact.

Nielsen reports that since 2017, the reach of broadcast TV stations like WINK, WBBH, WZVN, WGCU, and WFTX has decayed by 10%.

Local business owners have been advertising on Fort Myers radio since WFTM first signed-on in 1939.  But, back then, there were only two options for reaching a mass audience: newspapers and radio.

Today, though, advertisers have an over-abundance of marketing options both over-the-air and online. But every week, according to Nielsen, 862,392adults listen to a Fort Myers radio station, giving the 101-year-old medium, by far, the biggest reach amongst local consumers.

A new report released last week by Nielsen underscores AM/FM radio's durable reach among all media.

Despite an abundance of media options, Fort Myers radio reaches the most consumers every week in Southwest Florida

According to Nielsen, every week 862,392 adults tune in to their favorite Fort Myers stations. This is more than watch local TV stations, cable, or streaming video. It is more than browse social media. It is more than listen to streaming audio services or podcasts. It is more than read local newspapers.

Not all listening to Fort Myers radio happens on car radios, table-top radios, or boom boxes. Instead, local consumers also use their smartphones, computers, and tablets as a way to connect to their favorite local stations.

Neilsen finds that 27.9% of all consumers who listen to a Fort Myers radio station over the air will, at some point during the month, also connect to a local station via the internet. As a matter of fact, during a typical hour, Nielsen data suggests that 11.2% of a station's total audience is listening on a device other than a traditional receiver.

Every week, 950,856 million Southwest Florida consumers watch something on TV.

Not too many years ago, when a Fort Myers consumer sat down to watch TV, the program options were limited to what was on WINK, WBBH, WZVN, WGCU, WFTX, or, maybe, what was on a handful of cable channels.  That was then. This is now.

Today, according to Nielsen, each time a TV is turned on in a Fort Myers living room, the viewer has more than 817,000 options not only from broadcast stations and cable systems, but also from streaming video platforms like Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Peacock, YouTube, Amazon, Tubi, Crackle, and FreeVee.

Of course, Fort Myers consumers don't even need to sit down in front of their big-screen LCD, anymore. Most of the 817,000 available programs can also be viewed on their computers, tablets, gaming devices, and smartphones. But as far as viewers are concerned, though, it's all just television.

There are about 761,000 registered passenger vehicles in the Fort Myers-Naples area. Some are cars. Some are trucks. Some are Hondas. Some are Fords. Some are Teslas. Some have four doors. Some have two. Some go fast. Some go slow. Some guzzle gas. Some sip. Some are red. Some are blue.

The one thing that almost every car and truck in Southwest Florida have in common, though, is the AM/FM radio smack-dab in the middle of the dashboard.

The first car radio went on sale in 1930. It was an invention of the Galvin Manufacturing Company. The company named the radio 'Motorola,' and its cost was $130, around $2000 in today's dollars. By 1935, more than three million car radios had been installed.

Today, AM/FM radio is part of every car and truck on SWFL roads. In addition to the radio, many of these vehicles also provide drivers with other audio options, including a CD player, Sirius/XM, Pandora, Spotify, podcasts, and easy access to personal MP3 collections.

It is fair, then, for small business owners who depend on Fort Myers radio to advertise their goods and services to ask: with all the audio options on today's dashboards, is anyone listening to local AM/FM radio in the car anymore?

Right now, at least one of the 32,556 businesses located in the Southwest Florida area is thinking about using the phrase 'March Madness' as part of upcoming advertising and marketing plans. Why not? It's a great use of alliteration. It's a familiar term. And, it's that time of year.

A furniture store in Naples might think it would be clever to use 'March Madness' in its commercials on Fort Myers radio to promote a big spring sale. A non-profit in Cape Coral feels it would be a good way to describe its charity fun run on social media and online advertising. A sports bar in Bonita Springs believes it would be a no-brainer to use the term in streaming video and audio ads to bring in scores of basketball fans.

It is, indeed,  tempting for a Fort Myers small business owner to use this term for advertising or marketing purposes. But,  to avoid a costly legal battle, the use of this trademarked phrase should be a non-starter. Here's why.