IHeart CEO: Radio Strong as Ever

iHeartMedia CEO Bob Pittman says "radio is as strong as ever" despite an ever-changing audio and media landscape.

In an interview with the New York Post's Lydia Moynihan, Pittman said podcasts and music services such as Spotify and Apple Music have not hurt radio’s popularity.

"Actually, radio is as strong as ever," Pittman told Moynihan. "All the new streaming music services replace products that came before — iTunes, CDs, and even cassettes. 

"Radio and music collection services are quite different products. In fact, 80% of Americans agree with the statement ‘I listen to both FM radio and music collections, but at different times, for different reasons.' We’re not competitive with the music services — we’re synergistic. The consumer uses us both."

Concern over the future of radio services prompted a bipartisan group of lawmakers last month to introduce a bill seeking to require automakers to keep AM radios in vehicles without an added charge.

Pittman, who previously ran MTV, AOL, and Six Flags, said consumers use music "to unplug from the world — no on-air personalities, no information, no stories, no interviews — just music.”

Radio offers a chance to "join the world."

"With us, they’re looking for connection, companionship and someone to hang out with, and that’s our purpose — even though we may also be playing music on some of our radio stations," Pittman said.

Pittman was asked whether competition with "big guns like Apple and Spotify" might force him to shut down the radio stations and towers?

"To the contrary — the strength and foundation of our company is our broadcast radio stations," he said. "Ninety percent of Americans listen to iHeart broadcast radio stations every month.

"To put that in context, the biggest TV network reaches less than 40% of Americans and the big streaming music services reach less than 30%."

Pittman added that iHeart used its radio reach "to build complementary products like the iHeartRadio digital service and our major events like the iHeartRadio Music Festival, the iHeartRadio Music Awards and the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball Tour."

"It's why we’re the No. 1 podcast publisher by a lot," he said. "It all starts with using the trusted voices on our broadcast radio stations and creating demand — and with our unparalleled reach we have quite an advantage over the other audio players, regardless of their cash war chests."