It’s time to rethink radio demographics.  Who’s valuable and who’s not.

Back when I worked for a national radio group, “The Money Demo” was Adults 25-54 – the age group Madison Avenue prized most.  Anyone older than 55 was lumped into a demographic covertly nicknamed “55 to Dead.”

But today’s Baby Boomer generation has begun spilling into the age of retirement controlling more disposable income than Generation X, Y or Z.

You can see this seismic shift in population manifest itself in media consumption across all platforms.  Take a look at last fall’s late night television audience:

The Median Age for “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” was 58.2.

The Median Age for “The Late Show” with David Letterman was 58.9.

Perhaps older than expected, but maybe not surprising for the “old school” late night talk shows.  The numbers would skew much younger for the new guys, right?  During that same survey period:

The Median Age for “Jimmy Kimmel Live” was 54.1.  Younger, but not dramatically younger.

An hour later, the Median Age for “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” was 53.1.  Wait.  What?

Yup.  Young, upstart Jimmy Fallon was whipping his hair back-and-forth (with a buff, 64-year old Bruce Springsteen), entertaining an after-midnight audience; half of whom were older than 53 years of age.

Part of that is a function of the graying of our population with rising life expectancies.  But part of it stems from the media lifestyle consumption of today’s 60-somethings.  These “oldsters” grew up on The Beatles and Hendrix, not Lawrence Welk and the big bands.  They’re the generation of the original Saturday Night Live, which still entertains late night audiences (with its original producer) nearly 40 years later.

On radio, music formats like Classic Rock and Adult Hits/Oldies stations deliver this 50+ demographic.  And there’s nothing “Pat Boone sleepy” about their lives and lifestyles or their music.  Anyone who’s seen 71-year old Paul McCartney’s nearly-three-hour marathon concerts can tell you what I mean.

So avoid the knee-jerk temptation to cut off your target audience target at 44, 49 or 54.  You’d be ignoring millions with billions in spending power.  Instead, give them reason to whip their wallets back-and-forth.

Mark Lipsky is the President and CEO of The Radio Agency. Please follow The Radio Agency’s Blog “Sounding Board” by subscribing to the email or RSS links above.Visit our website TheRadioAgency.com