The NPR grimace

American workers that listen to radio at work online, as opposed to traditional radio receivers, grew dramatically from 2007 to 2008, according to data from Arbitron and Edison Media Research, MarketingCharts reports.

The Internet & Multimedia series of studies found that among people who are employed full- or part-time and listen to radio at work, the proportion of those who listen most often to radio stations through a computer over the internet grew from 12 percent to 20 percent in one year. Meanwhile, those that listen most often via a regular radio declined from 88 percent to 80 percent.

Among college graduates who listen to radio at work, 30 percent say they listen most often to radio stations over the internet on computers. That compares with 12 percent of non-college graduates who say they do so.

"For a growing number of people, especially among those who work in front of a computer, the internet is an increasingly popular way to listen to radio," said Bill Rose, SVPof marketing, Arbitron, Inc.

"These findings suggest that broadcasters need to think about the quality of their streams, and promote the ability to listen to radio online," said Larry Rosin, president of Edison Media Research.

"After all, on the internet, the competition is not just the other stations in town; instead the possibilities are essentially infinite."

About the study: A total of 1,857 people were interviewed to investigate Americans' use of various forms of traditional, online and satellite media.

From January 18 to February 15, 2008, telephone interviews were conducted with respondents age 12 and older chosen at random from a national sample of Arbitron's Fall 2007 survey diarykeepers.

In certain geographic areas (representing 8 percent of the national population), a sample of Arbitron diarykeepers was not available for the survey, and a supplemental sample was interviewed through random digit dialing.