Boston's first radio station, WBZ-AM, began broadcasting on September 15, 1921.  The process of getting the station's programming from the studio into the home of local listeners required tall-transmitting towers with miles of underground copper wire in the middle of massive fields.

For the next 72 years, this massive investment in real estate, steel, and cooper was the only method of delivering a radio advertiser's message into the ears of Boston consumers.

In 1993, however, new technology permitted Boston radio stations to augment the reach of their tall towers by simultaneously streaming its over-the-air programming via the internet. This provided local consumers with the choice of listening to their favorite stations on their car radios, clock radios, and boom boxes or on an internet connected devices like computers, smartphones, or tablets.

Today, based on estimates from Edison Research, 11% of listening to local radio stations occurs on a streaming media device.  The ability for AM/FM to migrate from their tall towers to internet streaming allows Boston radio to reach more local consumers every week than all other media.

Radio came to Boston in September of 1921 when WBZ signed-on. The station was owned by Westinghouse Electric. The debut broadcast was from the Eastern States Exposition in Springfield, perhaps the first-ever radio-remote.

From that day, many predicted radio's success would succumb to advances from new technologies. In 1927, the challenge came from talking movies. In the 1940s, the predators were 13-inch TV sets. In the 1970s, it was 8-track and cassette tapes. In the past 20 years, there was a multi-flank attack from iPods, Zunes, YouTube, Sirius, XM, Pandora, Spotify,

So far, all of these challengers have failed. Not even a pandemic has been able to remove radio as a vital force in the life of Boston consumers.

Every week, according to Nielsen, more adults tune-in to Boston radio than watch TV or cable. Use social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram. Read newspapers. Or, stream music from Pandora or Spotify.

Local radio came to Boston on September 19, 1921, when WBZ signed-on. The station was owned by Westinghouse Electric. The debut broadcast was from the Eastern States Exposition in Springfield, perhaps the first-ever radio-remote.

For almost 100 years, small business owners have depended on local radio stations to successfully market their goods and services through depressions, recessions, wars, and natural disasters. Even now, during a pandemic, advertising on Boston radio remains a dependable way to make cash registers ring.

Here are five facts every Boston Small business owner needs to know about local radio in 2020.

There are 1.8 million adults in the Boston area who have earned a four-year college or postgraduate degree, according to research from Nielsen. A study from the Federal Reserve indicates that these educated consumers have been least affected by the economic consequences of the pandemic and they have money to spend now.

"While the labor market disruptions have affected workers in a wide set of industries and occupations, those without a college degree have experienced the most severe impact," say Mary C. Daly, Shelby R. Buckman, and Lily M. Seitelman authors of The Unequal Impact of COVID-19 in the Economic Letter published by the Federal Reserve of San Francisco.

Although the unemployment rate increased among consumers of every education level in late March when the Governor of Massachusetts lockdown the state to slow the spread of the Coronavirus, the smallest increase was among those with bachelor or postgraduate degrees, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Seven months later, job recovery among those with college degrees is closer to pre-pandemic levels than consumers with lower levels of educational attainment.

Many small business owners have seen the correlation between advertising and survival during the economic crisis inflicted by the pandemic.  With precious few dollars to invest, it is crucial that every advertisement reaches consumers who have disposable income to buy. Right now, the most likely spenders are customers with college degrees.

By key advertising metrics, the best way to reach consumers with higher education is on Boston radio.

Boston shoppers are expected to spend a record $12.5 billion online in 2020, based on the most recent projections from eMarketer. This would represent year-over-year growth of 32.4%.

During the same period, according to eMarketer, receipts at brick-and-mortar stores have contracted by 3.2%.  Overall, excluding gas and auto sales, e-commerce will account for 20.6% of all retail sales this year.

The Coronavirus pandemic is credited with this seismic shift in shopping behavior as consumers continue to avoid stores and opt for online shopping.

“We’ve seen e-commerce accelerate in ways that didn’t seem possible last spring, given the extent of the economic crisis,” said Andrew Lipsman, eMarketer principal analyst at Insider Intelligence. “While much of the shift has been led by essential categories like grocery, there has been surprising strength in discretionary categories like consumer electronics and home furnishings that benefited from pandemic-driven lifestyle needs.”

Even before the onset of the pandemic, 82.1% of Boston consumers had bought goods online over the prior six months, according to Nielsen research. Purchases included clothing, health & beauty products, travel reservations, books, furniture, and groceries.

There are approximately 635,000 households in the Boston area with existing mortgages, according to the US Census Bureau, American Housing Survey. The median amount owed on these homes is $232,000.

Yesterday, there was extraordinary news for many of these borrowers and for Boston area banks, credit unions, and mortgage companies

According to The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), mortgage rates have hit an all-time low of 2.86%.

Advertising on Boston television and cable is becoming less attractive to local business owners as viewers rapidly defect to alternative video entertainment sources including, Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, Amazon and Disney+.

Collectively these streaming services are referred to as Over-The-Top Television (OTT) and Connected-TV (CTV). Viewers can only access this OTT and CTV content via smartphone, tablets, computers, smart-TVs, Amazon Fire Sticks, and Roku Sticks, Nielsen reports that 94.3% of Boston adults own at least one these devices. Furthermore, they are using them.

According to Nielsen, OTT and CTV networks now reach 43.4% of all Boston consumers every week.

New data from the US Census Bureau has optimistic news for Boston companies that sell business-to-business.

There are approximately 122,000 businesses in the Boston area, according to the Census Bureau. Indeed, many of these businesses have suffered since the onset of the Coronavirus, especially in April.

Current census now indicates the fortunes of area companies are improving. This includes those companies with 500 or fewer employees. These small businesses account for 94% of all Boston area firms.

During the week of April 26, 45.6% of Boston area small businesses reported temporary closures.  By July 1, the number dropped to 20.8%

Also, during that same week, 77% of Boston small business owners were reporting decreases in revenue versus the prior week.  By the end of June, that number fell by half.

In both June and July of this year, national data shows all retail and food services spending significantly outperformed the prior year by between two and three percent.

As the business climate improves in the Boston area, the fortunes of B2B companies will accelerate as well. These include those businesses that sell office supplies, restaurant supplies, cleaning services, legal services, accounting services, transportation services, banking services, technology, and commercial real estate.