You may not know it but most of today's smartphones have FM radios inside of them. But the FM chip is not activated on two-thirds of devices. That's because mobile makers have the FM capability switched off.
The National Association of Broadcasters has been asking mobile makers to change this. But the mobile industry, which profits from selling data to smartphone users, says that with the consumer's move toward mobile streaming apps, the demand for radio simply isn't there.
Full disclosure: NPR, along with the NAB, has been part of a lobbying effort to require this free radio feature to be enabled. In 2013 they teamed up to create a free app that allows for free FM listening on smartphones.
NPR's Robert Siegel spoke with Jeff Smulyan, the point man on this issue for the NAB.
Smulyan is CEO of Emmis Communications, an Indiana-based corporation that owns radio stations across the U.S.
Most smartphone models come with a built-in FM feature. Samsung, Apple and LG are among those who have not switched on the chip, but HTC and Motorola chips haven't been blocked, Smulyan says. Sprint has turned on the FM chip for phones on its network.
The smartphone has fueled a change in media consumption habits and it's a growing challenge to radio as the go-to audio source for news. To get local broadcasts, Americans increasingly download podcasts or stream from news apps where they can skip or pause our segments. As popular as this form of consumption is, these apps all suck up costly data.
Aside from the huge benefit he sees for the radio industry, Smulyan says users could avoid expensive data charges and save battery life if they listen to the FM chip for free.
"Listening to streaming drains your battery three to five times faster than listening to the exact same content on the FM chip," he says.
It's a critical resource in an emergency, he argues, when there is no Internet or cell system.
"When the power grid is out, the only lifeline for the American public is having an FM tuner," he says.
He adds that it's a question of giving the public a choice. "Every time you buy a phone, you've paid for that radio," Smulyan says.
Smulyan's lobbying has prompted the Indiana Senate to urge mobile carriers to activate the FM chip.
FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate has also argued that radio is critical in a crisis. "As more and more people use their smartphones as streaming devices to get news, get radio, get a lot of things like that over their networks, I don't think people realize how vulnerable they get," he says in a video for FreeRadioOnMyPhone.org, a collection of radio organizations that includes NPR.
He points to Superstorm Sandy and the North American derecho storm, both in 2012, in which the carrier overload blocked many users from getting any information via cellular devices.
But Jot Carpenter, vice president of government affairs for CTIA-The Wireless Association, resists the move to turn on the FM chip.
At a NAB convention in Las Vegas this week, Carpenter said there would have to be demand by smartphone consumers for mobile carriers to consider switching on the FM chip.
"What Americans really want is the ability to stream, download and customize music playlists to meet their personal preferences," Carpenter said, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, "and that's not what the traditional FM radio offers."
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Transcript
ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:
There was a time when radio had little competition.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WHO LISTENS TO RADIO")
SARAH VAUGHAN: (Singing) Who listens to radio? That go-where-you-go medium called radio.
SIEGEL: The go-where-you-go medium - that jingle was written by the late Stan Freberg for the Radio Advertising Bureau in 1965. Today, smartphones are the go-to for go-where-you-go audio. But even though most smartphones actually have FM radios inside them - actual receivers, they are not activated on two thirds of those devices. Before we go any further, a full disclosure here. NPR is part of a lobbying campaign to get them switched on. The Indiana State Senate is now also urging wireless carriers to activate the FM receivers, and similar actions are expected to happen in other states.
Jeff Smulyan is the point man for the National Association of Broadcasters on this issue. He's president and CEO of Emmis Communications which owns radio stations in Indianapolis, New York, Los Angeles. He's in Indianapolis. The NAB is in the midst of its convention in Las Vegas, I guess, this week. Welcome to the program.
JEFF SMULYAN: Thank you, Robert.
SIEGEL: And tell us - there are actually little FM receivers in most of our smartphones even if we can't listen to radio with them?
SMULYAN: We think just about every one - every one.
SIEGEL: Well, can we just download apps which would activate the FM receivers?
SMULYAN: Only in a couple. The HTC and the Motorola phones have not been blocked, but Samsung, the iPhone, LG have all had the chips turned off. Now, from Sprint, we know that all those phones have turned on the chip, and the chip is there and active.
SIEGEL: Why do companies build these receivers into the phones but then not activate them?
SMULYAN: Well, that's a good question. In the rest of the world - these phones are mostly manufactured for global use, and in the rest of the world this isn't an issue. They're in the phone. They're turned on. People listen to them. So it's just not an issue.
SIEGEL: Now, I have to tell you that when this subject came up at our daily meeting, several of my younger colleagues looked really oddly at those of us who thought it might be a good idea to get FM radio on your phone. Why, was the question. Why would you want to have that? And, for example, I have an app on my smartphone called TuneIn radio here. I can start it right here.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (Through phone speaker) ...The campaign finance corruption...
SIEGEL: You know what station that is?
SMULYAN: No.
SIEGEL: That's WIBC in Indianapolis.
SMULYAN: Yes.
SIEGEL: Yes. Why do I need an FM radio if I can even get your station from Indianapolis anywhere in the country with that app?
SMULYAN: Very simply - number one, the American public spends 10 billion hours listening to local radio on streaming devices, and they're paying for every instant of that data. That is millions of dollars of data charges that they could avoid if they listened to the FM chip for free. So you could listen to all that local radio for free. Also, listening through streaming drains your battery three to five times faster than listening to the exact same content on the FM chip. And in an emergency when the power goes out, there is no Internet. There is no cell system.
SIEGEL: The NAB has asked the mobile phone makers for this. What's been the response from Apple and other companies?
SMULYAN: We've had dialogue. And there's - make no mistake, Craig Fugate, the head of FEMA, has said, look, in an emergency, this is critical, and called for it to be adopted. The carriers of the discussions are better since we launched an industry campaign letting every American know there's a free chip in their phone that they paid for. That's really turned up the pressure, but what we've said to the carriers is, look, we will offer you a share of interactive revenues to sort of recognize that you're giving up data that you would be selling the American public. And the discussions are moving along.
SIEGEL: Jeff Smulyan, thanks for talking with us.
SMULYAN: Thank you.
SIEGEL: Jeff Smulyan is president and CEO of Emmis Communications. And we should clarify - the FM chips in iPhones, even those sold by Sprint, do not work. We asked Apple for a response. We got a call back, but we don't have a specific reply yet. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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