The connection is, most people I know would listen to the radio in a car?

Not saying there's not other ways to consume. but as an anecdote myself or my partner never listen to radio anywhere but in my car either, it's pretty common I believe!

Radio just works. Someone else is choosing the playlist and you kinda hear the music in between the ads and annoying hosts.

At home, I can select what I want to hear. I don't need to keep my attention on the road.

Do you not have radio stations where you value how the host selects, curates, and gives the background to the music for you?

What about the current affairs, plays, comedy, history?

I can’t imagine going without the radio!

No, not really in America. There are a few freeform music stations that still have actual DJs in the booth selecting records that they like, but mostly al the FM broadcast stations here are owned by 1 or 2 advertising companies who play preselected songs, have canned DJ banter, and a very low music-to-ad ratio.

Isn't A Prairie Home Companion a massive thing in the US?

Yes, but their shows are on at 2200-2300 on thursdays or something. The people who are active during the times I'm in my car are the morning jockeys who cater to the lowest common denominator.

I'm commuting at not-even-close-to-that-time. Can't get their shows even as podcasts, because the music rights would cost an arm and a leg.

They started dying out heavily over a decade ago. The best remaining stations are the local NPR stations, then there's the cesspool of talk radio stations, and there are some local gems like WFMU here in NYC which I stream online.

That's understandable because you have BBC Radio. Not every country has access to such high quality.

> Do people not generally have radios in their homes where you live?

No.

> And you must have a phone or laptop to be typing this where you could listen to the radio!

Do I need an RTL-SDR?

No I mean every radio station I know streams over the Internet as well.

Why would I choose listen to the radio with ads when I can listen to music without ads instead?

Not all radio has adverts though.

I'm in the US, and no, younger people do not generally have standalone radios anymore. Music listening happens on digital devices these days, primarily via streaming (whether it be YouTube or Spotify).

The radio model is heavily influence by cars listener. Sometimes marketing tools are just not able to track if customers left or just moved to another category.

Being in a car with spotty mobile connection which prevents people from using Spotify is apparently the biggest niche left for radio...