Local businesses have been marketing their goods and services on Las Vegas radio since 1930. That's when local resident John Heaton was awarded a license for KGIX. 

Prior to the arrival of KGIX, radio listeners in Las Vegas were dependent mostly on distant broadcasts. These were primarily from Los Angeles-based stations.

KGIX, unfortunately, lasted for only five years. The station was both underpowered and under-financed.

In 1939, a more successful radio station was licensed to Laure Belle and Maxwell Kelch of Las Vegas. The call letters KENO were chosen.

Who could have guessed that 93 years later, advertising on Las Vegas radio would still be the best advertising option for all types of retailers and business owners.

Every week, according to Nielsen, Las Vegas radio reaches 1,475,493 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.

Las Vegas radio reaches more local consumers each week than any other advertising medium.

According to Nielsen, 1,475,493 adults tune in to their favorite AM/FM stations every week.  This is significantly more consumers than are reached by Las Vegas 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 1.7 million Las Vegas area adults who take to the road in their car or truck every week, according to Neilsen.

Local business owners have been advertising on Las Vegas radio since KGIX first signed-on in 1930.  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, 1.5 million adults listen to a Las Vegas 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, Las Vegas radio reaches the most consumers every week. 

According to Nielsen, every week 1.5 million adults tune in to their favorite Las Vegas 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 Las Vegas 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 26.3% of all consumers who listen to a Las Vegas 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 3.8% of a station's total audience is listening on a device other than a traditional receiver.

There are about 1,400,000 registered passenger vehicles in the Las Vegas 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 the Las Vegas area 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 Las Vegas area 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 Las Vegas 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 73,451 businesses located in the Las Vegas 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 Henderson might think it would be clever to use 'March Madness' in its commercials on Las Vegas radio to promote a big spring sale. A non-profit in Summerlin feels it would be a good way to describe its charity fun run on social media and online advertising. A sports bar in Paradise 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 Las Vegas 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.

Las Vegas area business owners are expected to spend $487 million advertising online in 2022. This, according to Borrell Associates, a company that tracks advertising expenditures across the country.

Borrell's forecast indicates that almost 50% of Las Vegas's online expenditures will be in the form of paid search. The most recognizable type of this advertising is the paid ads that appear adjacent to the results of almost every search query on Google, Yahoo, and Bing.

Borrell's forecast also indicates that approximately 26% of online expenditures will be in the form of display advertising. This consists of traditional banner ads that appear across millions of websites and apps, including social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. According to SmallBizGenius.net, the average Las Vegas area consumer is served more than 1700 of these ads per month.

Video advertising in Las Vegas is forecast to account for 23% of all online ad dollars in 2022. Like search and display, millions of websites can support this type of advertising. This includes sites, apps, and platforms like YouTube, Roku Channel, Hulu, Paramount+, and most social media sites.

The remainder of online advertising dollars is expected to be spent on audio advertising, including streaming sites like Pandora and Spotify; or email marketing campaigns.

When KGIX-AM became Las Vegas's first radio station in 1930, there was no Facebook, no Cox Cable, no Sirius/XM, no Netflix, and no podcasts. It would be 23 years before there was even a local TV station.  Consequently, it was pretty easy for radio to become the number one reach medium among local consumers.

Over the past 91 years, Las Vegas business owners have come to depend on the mammoth reach of radio among local shoppers to successfully market the goods and services they sell. Advertising on Las Vegas radio has helped Nevada companies to survive and thrive during world wars, natural disasters, recessions, depressions, and even a pandemic.

Heading into 2022, local consumers have more media choices than ever before. But, despite the overabundance of social media, video streaming, audio streaming, cable, and other technological marvels, Las Vegas radio is still the most used advertising medium.

According to Nielsen, 386,216 Las Vegas consumers listened to or downloaded a podcast during the past 30 days. This is 21.7% of the adult population.

A podcast is a downloadable digital audio file available to listeners on an internet-connected device like a smartphone, tablet, or computer. These files are typically part of series focusing on a particular theme such as true crime, professional football, politics, or pop culture.

Las Vegas consumers can listen to their favorite podcasts whenever they choose using apps like Spotify, Pandora, Google, and Stitcher. The most used podcasting app, though, is Apple Podcasts.

Research from PodcastHosing.org indicates that Las Vegas consumers can access more than 2,000,000 podcast series comprising over 48,000,000 unique episodes. According to data compiled by Edison research, the top 10 podcasts during the second quarter of 2021 were:

Since 1930 when KGIX-AM signed on, local small business owners have been advertising on Las Vegas radio to market the goods and services they sell.

Lately, some of these advertisers are voicing concerns, though, that the accelerating use of smart speakers could erode the effectiveness of commercials on local stations. Current research, however, reveals that these devices actually extend the reach of the medium and its ad content.

More than 472,150 consumers in Las Vegas have a smart speaker in their homes, according to Nielsen. This is 26.5% of the local adult population.

Smart speakers are internet-enabled devices controlled by spoken commands and capable of streaming audio content, relaying information, and communicating with other devices. 

According to the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) data, Amazon Echo (aka Alexa) accounts for 69% of all smart speakers in use. Google's smart speaker makes up another 20% of the market. The remaining 11% of the market comprises Apple Home (aka Siri), Sonos, and Bose.

Las Vegas consumers can use their smart speakers to accomplish a diverse range of tasks, including accessing news, weather, and sports information; turning on lights in the house; shopping; and food delivery.

The most common use of a smart speaker, though, is streaming audio, including Las Vegas radio stations, according to eMarketer. Edison Research's Share of Ear Study indicates that consumers devote 13% of their total time using a smart speaker listening to AM/FM radio stations. This is second only to the time spent listening to Amazon Music at 19%.