Pai: Activate FM Chips in smartphone, but let the marketplace do this

I remember trying to connect to our former online station built for grins and giggles, The Renegade Roadhouse, on TuneIn. This was several years ago, the user experience may have improved by now, but the buffering of the stream via TuneIn was unacceptable. Much better results were obtained by connecting directly through our website.

I spent a number of years administering a radio traffic reporting network, including the establishment of a traffic website. Problem was, twelve years ago the technology wasn't ready for prime-time. Today, traffic on the radio; who needs it? Information comes through phone apps much faster, easier and with more relevance.

"Build it and they will come" the adage from Field of Dreams is an Iowan curse well known by transportation planners. The volume of traffic on a road rebuilt to increase capacity will increase in short order and absorb the excess capacity. Our transportation network based on almost a one-to-one relationship (one car, one or two passengers) gets overwhelmed in times of excess demand. There's a corollary in our modern telecom system. Is there enough capacity to accomodate the connectivity demands we'll put on it in the future?

The one thing I have to admit broadcast can never deliver and online apps can, is measureability. Granted, I could hire click farms and distort the results, although I don't have Trump's money...

Back to topic: the one thing I do not understand is why it is that in Europe and most of the rest of the industrialized world, FM chips are activated and have been for a long time. Granted, analog FM is closer to extinction there since they've had a generally better roll-out of DAB, but their phones will probably include DAB capabilities in short order.

About the antenna problem: the solution may be walking and breathing just inches away from your smartphone. I've only briefly scanned this Google result as it's a 150 page thesis, and I won't pretend I remotely comprehend it. The Human Body Antenna: Characteristics and its Application The biggest problem I see is the antenna lead-to-skin interface. I'm afraid it'll be like little acupuncture needles!

joebtsflk1 said:

This was several years ago, the user experience may have improved by now, but the buffering of the stream via TuneIn was unacceptable.

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Two things have changed: The platform is faster, and so is the internet speed. So yes, radio is very listenable via TuneIn. Back then, they were a platform for other streams. Now in addition, they're creating their own channels or stations. So they're trying to become a destination, along with iHeart, Pandora, and everyone else. With all that competition, transparency of platform is important.

joebtsflk1 said:

Is there enough capacity to accomodate the connectivity demands we'll put on it in the future?

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Maybe. The telecom industry is constantly trying to improve the network. It's certainly better than it was. All that costs money. The government doesn't want to get into that business, but if they want affordable high speed internet, someone has to make the investment in it, and someone has to pay the bill. If not the consumers, then who?

joebtsflk1 said:

Back to topic: the one thing I do not understand is why it is that in Europe and most of the rest of the industrialized world, FM chips are activated and have been for a long time. Granted, analog FM is closer to extinction there since they've had a generally better roll-out of DAB, but their phones will probably include DAB capabilities in short order.

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Different governments get different results. European governments have no problem requiring things like health care and FM chips. Here, it's another story. Plus, US satellite radio changed things by paying auto companies to include them in cars. Phone manufacturers thought, if FM wants access to our device, they should pay. That's what led to the current situation, where the radio industry is basically paying for access on certain devices. I don't know if there's any revenue from it, but it's at least starting to make a change. As we've seen, a government mandate won't be coming.

After reading through this thread, it seems that our future is a mixture of cellphone radio 'reception' only, or a version of pay-to-play for everything else. Sort of like cable TV. Soon enough, the days of free broadcast reception (funded by commercials) will be as extinct as the dodo. The only OTA 'radio' will be of the amateur, illegal variety.

And as for Sirius/XM? Won't they suffer the same fate? Who wants to carry around a satellite dish to listen to something they can probably get on the internet anyway?

boombox4 said:

After reading through this thread, it seems that our future is a mixture of cellphone radio 'reception' only, or a version of pay-to-play for everything else. Sort of like cable TV. Soon enough, the days of free broadcast reception (funded by commercials) will be as extinct as the dodo. The only OTA 'radio' will be of the amateur, illegal variety.

And as for Sirius/XM? Won't they suffer the same fate? Who wants to carry around a satellite dish to listen to something they can probably get on the internet anyway?

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SiriusXM has been pushing its customers online for a few years now, through relentless on-air promotion of the SXM app and by making certain niche channels available online only.

And the service doesn't require any sort of dish. The antenna is quite small.

CTListener said:

SiriusXM has been pushing its customers online for a few years now, through relentless on-air promotion of the SXM app and by making certain niche channels available online only.

And the service doesn't require any sort of dish. The antenna is quite small.

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I figured they'd be pushing people online. But I wish them good luck competing with everything else out there. For a while they were THE competition to OTA radio. Now they are facing the same basic fate OTA radio faces. Except it's an all pay service. But at least they still have Howard Stern.

Thanks for the info on the antenna.... is it small enough to fit inside a smart phone? Probably not.

boombox4 said:

Now they are facing the same basic fate OTA radio faces. Except it's an all pay service.

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At some point, my expectation is that everything online will become a pay service. It will have to be, given the digital music royalties, which increase every few years. Online advertising isn't keeping up with increased costs. Pandora is peddling faster and faster, increasing revenues, yet a greater percentage of it goes to SoundExchange. This is why it's in the government's best interest to keep AM & FM radio alive.