More than half of American adults still turn to AM/FM for local news, according to new Pew Research Center data published as part of the Pew-Knight Initiative, in a seven-year decline so small it separates broadcast radio from every other legacy platform measured.
Thefact sheetdraws on two surveys conducted in late 2025: one fielded in August and one in December, both among US adults nationally.
Radio stations ranked as the second-most-used source of local news in 2025, with 52% of participants saying they get local news from radio at least sometimes. That figure is down just four percentage points from 56% in 2018; a modest decline compared to local TV’s five-point drop and local daily newspapers’ seven-point fall over the same period. Online-only news sources, by contrast, more than doubled from 15% to 42%.
The preference numbers are less favorable. Only 8% of those surveyed named radio as their preferred platform for local news; however, there is a bright side. Radio is the only traditional local news platform whose preference share has not decreased in seven years. Television fell from 41% to 34%, and print dropped from 13% to 8%.
For radio stations now hosting news on digital platforms, there are even more positives. News websites and apps climbed from 23% in 2018 to 28% in 2025.
The demographic picture reinforces radio’s core audience profile. Adults 50-64 prefer radio for local news at 10%, and that figure holds at 8% for the 65-and-older cohort, consistent with where radio’s listening strength has long been concentrated. Republican and Republican-leaning adults prefer radio at 10%, compared to 7% among Democrats and Democratic leaners.
The broader context in the report is not favorable to any traditional media. The share of Americans who follow local news very closely fell from 37% in 2016 to 21% in 2025. The share who say their local news outlets are doing well financially dropped from 71% to 57% over the same period.
Source: Drudge Report
