While the media landscape is ever expanding and diversifying, radio remains the most prevalent and accessible form of media worldwide.  Where FM radio is sparse or non-existent, AM radio is often still accessible.  Already in 2002, 95% of the world’s population was covered by analogue radio signals.[i]  The advent of satellite radio has also greatly expanded the variety of radio programming available to individuals worldwide. 

Although satellite radio remains relatively expensive, traditional radio is popular because of its relative cheapness.  A handheld radio will still need batteries, but these costs are a fraction of those associated with other forms of media. Furthermore, a lack of electricity is not necessarily a limiting factor for radio.  Radio also transcends limitations due to literacy.  This makes it a particularly vital source of information for rural or poor areas, or contexts where women are less likely to be literate than men. 

A Gallup poll conducted in 23 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2008 revealed that 59% of respondents claimed national radio to be their most important source of information about national events, while a further 9% turned to international radio over other forms of media for this information.   Combined, this contrasts starkly to the 3% who utilized newspapers, or the 1% who utilized the Internet, as their most important source of news on national events.[ii]

However, although radio prevails as the most accessible source for information on a global geographic level, individual countries show wide variations in radio consumption (despite the general lack of consistent statistics in many countries).  For example, in the United States, where in 2012 an estimated 96.7% of households owned a television set[iii] - a number comparable to the percentage of Americans tuning into radio every week (93%), the average amount of time an American spent watching TV as opposed to listening to radio was nearly two-fold (33hrs/week versus 14hrs 46min/week).[iv]