In 2020, there were 23,012 new cars and trucks registered in the Augusta metro area. This number is based on projections from the National Auto Dealers Associaton (NADA) and the U.S. Census bureau.

In all, says NADA, there are 490 new-car dealerships in Georgia. Despite the pandemic, these dealers, including those in the Augusta area, sold $29.7 billion worth of new vehicles.

Through June of this year, these same dealers have already rung up $19 billion in new car sales.

When it comes to buying new vehicles, Central Savannah River Area (CSRA) consumers have a broad range of preferences. Some buyers want Fords while others want Chevrolets, Toyotas, or Teslas.  Some buyers want pick-up trucks, while others want sub-compacts, SUVs, or sports cars. Of course, some want blue vehicles, while others want pearl white, orchard green, or redolent red.

There is one purchase criterion, however, that most CSRA car buyers can agree on. They want an AM/FM radio smack-dab, in the middle of their dash.

Radio came to Georgia on March 15, 1922 when WSB went on the air. The station was owned by The Atlanta Journal.

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 Central Savannah River Area consumers.

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

Car radios came to the Central Savannah River Area in June of 1930. For just $120, about $1200 in present dollars, local drivers could install these early mobile devices into their Fords, Studebakers, Packards, and DeSotos, 

The first car radios were built by the Galvin Manufacturing Company of Chicago. They named their invention, and eventually their company, Motorola.

Today, more than 357,000 car radios fill ears of area drivers with music, news, sports, and information. As a result, local radio reaches more consumers than all other media.

In a typical pre-COVID-19 week, according to Nielsen, 89% of adult consumers would tune-in to an Augusta radio station. This is significantly more than were reached by local TV, cable, social media, newspaper, or streaming media sites Pandora and Spotify.

More than 93% of Central Savannah River Area households own at least one vehicle. 

Pre-pandemic, 86% of workers spent, on average, 52 minutes every weekday in these cars commuting to-and-from their jobs.  

On their way to work, many of these drivers would contribute to the Augusta area's $9.3 billion retail economy by visiting the convenience stores, coffeehouses, auto repair centers, gas stations, daycares, grocery stores, or hundreds of other businesses they passed.

At lunchtime, these same cars would take their owners to restaurants, dentist appointments, nail appointments, barbershops, and on an infinite number of other errands.

On the weekends, these vehicles filled the parking lots of hardware stores, furniture stores, car dealers, appliance stores, bowling alleys, movie theatres, and nightclubs, 

Then in early April when the Governors of Georgia and South Carolina shut down their states to slow the spread of COVID-19, traffic came to a standstill and so did the spending.

There are strong indications, though, that in the CSRA, roads are filling up again.