Click here to download the full Nielsen AM listening report detailing audiences by state, DMA, and metro.

This month, state broadcaster associations will converge on Washington D.C. with the National Association of Broadcasters to urge elected officials to support the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act to keep free, local radio in cars. Broadcasters will also relate how AM radio is the backbone of our country’s emergency alert system and how keeping AM in cars protects Americans from risk.

It was just a month ago that Nielsen revealed compelling insights on the power of the AM radio audience from their Fall 2022 survey:

• 82,346,800 Americans listen to AM radio monthly
• One out of three American AM/FM radio listeners are reached monthly by AM radio
• 57% of the AM radio audience listens to News/Talk stations, the very outlets that Americans turn to in times of crisis and breaking local news

Last week, a new Nielsen study reported the 141 local markets where AM radio is listened to by at least 20% of the radio audience.

Now, Nielsen is releasing a deeper dive on the vitality of AM radio in local markets with new data at the state and local DMA level.

Nielsen: AM radio listening by states and local DMAs

Based on the Fall 2022 survey, this new report depicts the % of the DMA audience that listens to AM radio in a month. AM listening for every state is also detailed. Download the PDF here.

These analyses are based on all radio stations in the U.S., not just Nielsen subscribers. (The section that reports AM listening by metro is based on Nielsen radio station subscribers. The state and DMA data is based on all stations.)

Top 31 states with the highest % of AM radio listening:

State	Monthly AM/FM radio reach	Monthly AM reach	% of radio reach from AM radio stations licensed to the state
North Dakota	741,700	391,200	52.7%
Montana	941,900	358,800	38.1%
Illinois	13,448,300	5,066,900	37.7%
Washington	7,243,300	2,540,600	35.1%
Wisconsin	5,872,800	2,025,600	34.5%
Nebraska	1,936,700	664,700	34.3%
Alaska	455,800	153,200	33.6%
Utah	2,948,100	970,100	32.9%
California	32,757,700	10,581,600	32.3%
Ohio	10,805,600	3,383,400	31.3%
Colorado	5,014,600	1,554,500	31.0%
Total	266,409,800	82,347,100	30.9%
New York	24,359,800	7,489,600	30.7%
New Mexico	2,077,200	628,700	30.3%
Arizona	6,419,100	1,934,300	30.1%
Georgia	9,974,600	2,982,900	29.9%
South Dakota	898,200	259,100	28.8%
Minnesota	5,475,300	1,563,100	28.5%
Texas	23,999,300	6,697,900	27.9%
Michigan	8,578,500	2,371,600	27.6%
Iowa	3,549,300	958,200	27.0%
Massachusetts	7,937,900	2,022,300	25.5%
Florida	18,768,700	4,714,200	25.1%
Oregon	4,331,100	1,087,100	25.1%
Hawaii	1,130,100	283,500	25.1%
Nevada	2,918,900	726,100	24.9%
Pennsylvania	14,986,200	3,685,700	24.6%
Idaho	1,994,400	461,900	23.2%
Missouri	7,273,500	1,634,700	22.5%
Tennessee	7,247,200	1,587,100	21.9%
Kentucky	5,564,100	1,095,600	19.7%
Louisiana	4,267,500	831,100	19.5%

Key takeaways:

• States with the largest proportion of AM listening tend to be from the Midwest with a few from the West Coast
• The states with the largest AM radio usage have a wide variety of sizes and broad geographical diversity

Top DMAs with the highest % of AM radio listening

Nielsen’s Designated Market Area (DMA) geography assigns every county in the U.S. to only one market. TV viewing in the county determines DMA assignment.

The TV market with largest proportion of viewing from each county dictates the county associated to the DMA. The DMA geography is typically larger than the radio metro. To see which counties are assigned to a particular DMA, utilize Nielsen’s free DMA tool here.

Click here to download the full Nielsen AM listening report detailing audiences by state, DMA, and metro.

Here are the DMAs with the highest proportion of AM radio listening (markets with over 25% of the AM/FM radio audience reached by AM radio):

Market rank	Market	Monthly AM/FM radio net reach	Monthly AM radio net reach	% of AM/FM radio reach from AM radio
210	Glendive	6,800	4,900	72.1%
207	Juneau	22,400	14,500	64.7%
54	Buffalo	1,220,800	655,900	53.7%
38	Milwaukee [PPM+D]	1,760,800	944,400	53.6%
166	Billings	230,200	122,300	53.1%
145	Minot-Bismarck-Dickinson (Wlstn)	311,100	164,300	52.8%
113	Fargo	505,100	265,000	52.5%
3	Chicago [PPM+D]	7,738,500	3,965,200	51.2%
36	Cincinnati [PPM+D]	1,943,300	883,400	45.5%
77	Rochester, NY	843,100	374,700	44.4%
209	North Platte	27,500	12,000	43.6%
191	Great Falls	120,700	52,600	43.6%
203	Zanesville	67,000	28,700	42.8%
12	Seattle-Tacoma [PPM+D]	4,486,400	1,920,700	42.8%
170	Rapid City	204,800	87,500	42.7%
49	Albuquerque-Santa Fe	1,511,300	640,100	42.4%
93	Cedar Rapids-Wtrloo-Iowa Ct-Dubq	703,900	293,900	41.8%
201	St. Joseph	89,100	37,200	41.8%
31	San Antonio [PPM+D]	2,324,300	967,100	41.6%
199	Mankato	99,600	41,200	41.4%
10	San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose [PPM+D]	6,092,200	2,513,500	41.3%
101	Tri-Cities, TN-VA	626,200	256,100	40.9%
119	Eugene	514,500	210,000	40.8%
73	Omaha	912,600	366,100	40.1%
67	Spokane	964,200	386,100	40.0%
106	Lincoln & Hastings-Kearney	571,700	228,000	39.9%
64	Dayton	930,500	365,900	39.3%
98	Boise	723,100	283,800	39.2%
108	Ft. Wayne	576,000	223,900	38.9%
20	Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto [PPM+D]	3,564,100	1,374,800	38.6%
6	Atlanta [PPM+D]	5,814,800	2,229,300	38.3%
165	Bluefield-Beckley-Oak Hill	221,400	84,800	38.3%
112	Sioux Falls (Mitchell)	538,600	204,400	38.0%
72	Madison	889,800	336,100	37.8%
48	Louisville	1,418,000	534,300	37.7%
116	Youngstown	497,500	185,500	37.3%
162	Missoula	251,900	93,900	37.3%
149	Sioux City	306,100	113,700	37.1%
121	Montgomery-Selma	496,300	183,700	37.0%
33	Kansas City [PPM+D]	2,077,900	767,600	36.9%
68	Des Moines-Ames	924,600	338,600	36.6%
65	Tucson (Sierra Vista)	949,400	347,600	36.6%
151	Rochester-Mason City-Austin, MN	292,700	106,600	36.4%
138	Rockford	346,000	126,000	36.4%
114	Springfield-Holyoke	553,500	196,600	35.5%
146	Anchorage	342,500	121,200	35.4%
132	Wausau-Rhinelander	362,300	128,000	35.3%
127	Monterey-Salinas	594,000	208,600	35.1%
90	Champaign & Springfield-Decatur	704,400	245,000	34.8%
51	Providence-New Bedford [PPM]	1,370,200	474,700	34.6%
56	Richmond-Petersburg	1,195,600	413,900	34.6%
15	Minneapolis-St. Paul [PPM+D]	3,922,600	1,357,700	34.6%
29	Salt Lake City [PPM+D]	2,733,400	945,500	34.6%
18	Miami-Ft. Lauderdale [PPM+D]	3,811,500	1,318,000	34.6%
30	San Diego [PPM]	2,642,500	913,700	34.6%
86	Colorado Springs-Pueblo	802,800	277,400	34.6%
4	Philadelphia [PPM+D]	6,717,000	2,320,200	34.5%
69	Green Bay-Appleton	929,700	321,000	34.5%
102	Reno	626,700	211,400	33.7%
196	Cheyenne, WY-Scottsbluff, NE	117,600	39,300	33.4%
120	Macon	518,100	172,600	33.3%
19	Cleveland-Akron (Canton) [PPM+D]	3,077,900	1,024,500	33.3%
186	Butte-Bozeman, MT	164,600	54,600	33.2%
11	Phoenix (Prescott) [PPM+D]	4,685,600	1,553,300	33.2%
14	Detroit [PPM+D]	3,958,000	1,299,600	32.8%
193	Parkersburg	118,100	38,400	32.5%
109	Johnstown-Altoona-State College	560,500	181,800	32.4%
13	Tampa-St. Petersburg (Sarasota) [PPM+D]	4,236,200	1,365,600	32.2%
175	Harrisonburg	208,200	67,000	32.2%
35	Austin [PPM+D]	2,044,500	656,000	32.1%
16	Denver [PPM+D]	3,799,200	1,216,400	32.0%
124	Santa Barbara-Snta Mria-Sn Lu Ob	558,800	178,900	32.0%
1	New York [PPM+D]	17,524,100	5,571,000	31.8%
2	Los Angeles [PPM+D]	14,496,500	4,608,400	31.8%
115	Lansing	523,700	165,800	31.7%
178	Elmira (Corning)	171,400	53,900	31.4%
59	Albany-Schenectady-Troy	1,093,400	343,800	31.4%
34	Hartford & New Haven [PPM+D]	2,120,800	666,700	31.4%
104	Davenport-Rock Island-Moline	569,900	178,600	31.3%
141	Topeka	346,600	108,000	31.2%
52	Memphis [PPM+D]	1,392,800	431,900	31.0%
	Total	266,409,800	82,347,100	30.9%
5	Dallas-Ft. Worth [PPM+D]	6,735,900	2,076,800	30.8%
63	Lexington	1,039,300	319,700	30.8%
190	Lima	138,300	42,500	30.7%
128	La Crosse-Eau Claire	445,200	136,700	30.7%
57	Wilkes Barre-Scranton-Hztn	1,165,000	357,400	30.7%
9	Boston (Manchester) [PPM+D]	5,545,500	1,691,300	30.5%
189	Twin Falls	149,900	45,600	30.4%
107	Evansville	568,400	172,100	30.3%
43	Harrisburg-Lancaster-Leb-York	1,577,900	475,600	30.1%
183	Jonesboro	174,100	52,300	30.0%
42	Grand Rapids-Kalmzoo-Battle Crk	1,617,900	482,900	29.8%
152	Joplin-Pittsburg	297,700	88,400	29.7%
7	Houston [PPM]	5,998,100	1,774,500	29.6%
184	Bowling Green	163,600	48,300	29.5%
122	Peoria-Bloomington	465,900	137,400	29.5%
32	Columbus, OH [PPM+D]	2,094,400	612,900	29.3%
53	Fresno-Visalia	1,596,400	460,900	28.9%
117	Yakima-Pasco-Richland-Kennewick	554,900	160,000	28.8%
40	Las Vegas [PPM+D]	1,901,500	548,200	28.8%
161	Binghamton	256,200	73,800	28.8%
176	Quincy-Hannibal-Keokuk	190,600	54,900	28.8%
164	Yuma-El Centro	298,300	85,300	28.6%
139	Duluth-Superior	325,100	92,600	28.5%
130	Corpus Christi	441,700	125,800	28.5%
205	Helena	60,900	17,300	28.4%
22	Portland, OR [PPM+D]	2,834,200	800,100	28.2%
95	Baton Rouge	722,800	204,000	28.2%
71	Roanoke-Lynchburg	891,800	249,200	27.9%
204	Victoria	68,800	19,100	27.8%
180	Bend, OR	184,600	51,200	27.7%
144	Palm Springs	370,300	102,400	27.7%
26	Pittsburgh [PPM+D]	2,302,800	631,200	27.4%
85	Syracuse	761,900	207,700	27.3%
81	Huntsville-Decatur (Florence)	807,700	215,100	26.6%
45	Birmingham (Ann and Tusc)	1,528,000	406,500	26.6%
82	Waco-Temple-Bryan	863,600	229,000	26.5%
129	Wilmington, NC	401,900	106,000	26.4%
194	Greenwood-Greenville, MS	128,800	33,700	26.2%
160	Sherman, TX-Ada, OK	259,700	67,800	26.1%
84	Chattanooga	809,800	209,900	25.9%
126	Columbus, GA (Opelika, AL)	462,900	119,800	25.9%
92	Paducah-Cape Girard-Harrisburg	716,600	183,500	25.6%
17	Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne [PPM+D]	3,656,600	930,500	25.4%
61	Knoxville	1,117,700	284,300	25.4%
66	Honolulu	1,126,200	286,000	25.4%
155	Idaho Falls-Pocatello (Jackson)	324,800	81,900	25.2%
202	Fairbanks	70,200	17,700	25.2%
172	Utica	203,000	51,100	25.2%

Key takeaways:

• DMAs with the largest proportion of AM listening tend to be smaller, rural, and from the Midwest
• The DMAs with strong AM radio usage have a wide variety of sizes and broad geographical diversity

Download the PDF:

Pierre Bouvard is Chief Insights Officer of the Cumulus Media | Westwood One Audio Active Group^®.

Contact the Insights team at CorpMarketing@westwoodone.com.