While maintaining broad use of AM/FM radio, consumers continue to explore radio in all its digital platforms - Online Radio, Satellite Radio, HD Radio, and audio podcasting, according to a recent study by Arbitron and Edison Media Research, MarketingCharts reports.

AM/FM radio continues to have a significant impact on people's lives, according to "The Infinite Dial 2007: Radio's Digital Platforms." The study asked consumers to rate the impact that various digital audio platforms has on their lives: Nearly one in five (19 percent) said radio had a big impact on their lives - second only to mobile phones (35 percent).

The weekly Internet radio audience remained steady over the past year at an estimated 29 million: 11 percent of the US population age 12+ said they had listened to Internet radio in the past week; some 16 percent of persons age 18-34, and 14 percent of persons 18-49, said they had done so.

iPod/portable MP3 player ownership continues to increase: 30 percent of Americans age 12+ own an iPod or other brand of portable MP3 player, up from 22 percent in 2006 and 14 percent in 2005. More than half (54 percent) of those age 12-17 own a digital audio player.

Awareness of the two satellite radio companies has essentially not changed in the past year: Although Howard Stern's move from FM to SIRIUS Satellite Radio generated a large increase in awareness, the level of awareness for both SIRIUS and XM has hovered around 60 percent in the last two years.

MarketingCharts provides additional findings and charts.