When the Lights Go Out – – – Radio Stays On!: Listening Data from Hurricane Sandy.

Radio listening increased in the New York radio market as the Super Storm Sandy made landfall during the evening of Monday, October 29th.

70 percent increase in radio listening as the storm hit the coast

Compared to the week prior, the average number of people using radio* in any quarter hour from 7PM to Midnight on the storm night (10/29) increased 70 percent.

When the lights when out, when TV and desktop PCs were no longer available, many New York area residents turned on their battery powered radios. Many radio stations along the path of the storm, regardless of their regular format, revamped their programming to provide their listeners with weather updates, news and emergency information.
Radio is a recovery lifeline

In the wake of the storm, radio remained an information lifeline to the residents of New York, particularly in the coastal areas of the market. Average radio listening on Tuesday, October 30 in New York was 1,525,500 persons in any given quarter hour between 6am and Midnight, up 8 percent from 1,406,700 persons 6+ the week before.

The average audience in the NY coastal communities (Monmouth, Fairfield SN, Nassau-Suffolk, Staten Island and Middlesex) totaled 670,200 on the Tuesday (6a-Mid) following landfall (10/30) which is 38% higher than the average of all Tuesdays year to date.

The Average in the NY coastal communities (Monmouth, Fairfield SN, Nassau-Suffolk, Staten Island and Middlesex) totaled 651,200 on the Wednesday (6a-Mid) following landfall (10/31) which is 35% higher than the average of all Wednesdays year to date.

*radio encoded for Arbitron PPM measurement

Editors Note: The Arbitron New York Radio Metro consists of the following counties:
Connecticut: Fairfield (Stamford-Norwalk Split)
New Jersey: Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Passaic, Somerset, Union
New York: Bronx, Kings, Nassau, New York, Putnam, Queens, Richmond, Rockland, Suffolk, Westchester