Most popular radio stations in Detroit 2020

The leading radio station in Detroit in October 2020 was WRIF-FM. In that month, the station had a rating of 6.0, which means that 6.0 percent of radio listeners in Detroit tuned into RIF-FM for at least five minutes in each quarter hour period.

A regular features in the top ten, WRIF-FM (rock) is owned by Beasley Broadcast Group, the owner of multiple radio stations across the United States. Detroit’s top radio stations also include sports, country and adult contemporary formats, suggesting a diverse radio audience.

Radio and diversity

Despite often struggling to compete with non-traditional media, radio undeniably has a lot to offer the consumer. Data shows that radio appeals to listeners of all ages, with younger generations preferring rock, rhythmic and top 40 stations and older adults making up the audience share for the likes of jazz, gospel and news/talk formats. Equally, the audience share for country radio stations as well as classic rock and Christian formats varied less across age groups.

Whilst radio offers variety in its content, the same is not true of its workforce. Calls for greater diversity in employment have grown louder and louder in recent years, but the vast majority of the radio news workforce in the U.S. is still Caucasian, with just tiny percentages of African American, Hispanic, Asian American and Native Americans employed in the industry. This is also the case with radio news directors. There is also a strong gender bias in the radio industry – female review writers for radio are in the minority, more so than in other media outlets.