A finite amount of attention

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“Perceptual Load Theory states that we have a finite amount of attention and that once that capacity is maxed out, we cannot process anything else. To test whether paying attention to radio traffic reports can be bad for our driving, Gillian Murphy asked 36 people to drive a route in a full-sized driving simulator while listening to a traffic update on the radio.”

Listening to the radio could impair drivers’ concentration

GIF

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coffee-donuts

I still think of these as “animated GIFs” even the accepted terms these days is simply, GIFs. I find most of these annoying but once in a while I come across some I like.

Will radio find a home in your next car?

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This article says yes (I think). Everyone seems to agree younger listeners are turning to their phones for audio but there are still lots of folks listening to the radio.

Ninety-three percent of U.S. adults listen to radio weekly, according to Nielsen. 96 percent of U.S. adults (and 94 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds) owned a radio in 2008; today, 79 percent of adults do, and just 68 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds do.

The big radio companies are apparently in the shit but that might be the result of some bad business decisions as much as changing listening habits.

iHeartMedia (formerly Clear Channel), the largest radio company in the U.S. with 850 stations, currently trades for just around a dollar a share, down from around $6 last April. The company is loaded down with debt, and restructuring or bankruptcy could be in its future. Cumulus Media, which owns 454 stations, trades at just $0.54 a share, and NASDAQ has warned that its share price is so low it could be delisted. Emmis Communications stock trades under a dollar. And CBS announced last month that it is planning to sell off its radio stations.

I could certainly have done without the CD player in my MINI. And probably the radio but I don’t think that was even an option.