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How Long Before FM Tuners Become “Typewriters”?

+48V

+48V

hi-fi or die
First and foremost let me preface this thread with the fact/assumption that AK is probably a “more aware” group than most of the general population. i.e. many here do in fact realize that nearly all terrestrial (aka tower based) stations also simulcast/stream their feed over the internet.

So, while this is most likely a big “duh” factoid to most here, I came upon a recent study that was quite fascinating and surprised me to a greater degree than I expected. Connected as most everyone is these days, I was a bit taken aback at how “unaware” this average Joe study group was as to being able to “tune” into their favorite local FM radio station.

The jist of this “study” (cheeky thoughts down the line on that “fact” later) focuses on the debut of a smartphone app called NextRadio. Most smartphone’s (iPhones excluded) have the chips and means to receive FM broadcasts. (ala your phone probably has an FM tuner inside) Yet all but one (Sprint) of US carriers enable this functionality. We can address the obvious and/or ponder the reasons why carriers do this when it comes up.

OK…to the 123 meat of the post and to kick things off I offer up a link to the research site and short video of the interviews for discussion. Watch, digest, then offer your take & thoughts.
http://www.colemaninsights.com/NextRadio

In the mean & between time….Some rhetorical questions to ebb the flow.
1.Obviously FM is still king in the car for most people—why?
2.Do you think the NextRadio app will take hold and be practical?
3.Are FM tuners and/or OTA content as we know it going the way of the typewriter?​
 
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iPhones have an FM chip in them too, but it's not active.

Did you mean all but sprint disable this feature?

The standalone tuner market's pretty much been in the toilet for a long time, due to the crappy state of commercial radio and the rise of internet streaming. But I don't see it going away anytime soon in cars.

Mobile data networks are still too spotty to be reliable, and data costs are too high, for streaming to replace FM in cars, but the nextradio app may change that somewhat since it doesn't use data.
 
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I can see FM sticking around for the short term, but who knows what the next 20 years holds. My area doesn't play much music I really care for, so it's either talk radio or streaming of some form.
 
I think analog FM OTA broadcasting will probably be moribund by the end of this decade.
I for one will miss it.
 
mhardy6647 said:
I think analog FM OTA broadcasting will probably be moribund by the end of this decade.
I for one will miss it.
Click to expand...

I think you are right, the stations have been bought and sold numerous times and with the syndicators like ClearChannel pumping simultaneous feeds around the country from locations with cheap labor, the passing of true Locally Originated Signals is just a matter of time ...

But its been YEARS since the days of radio I craved in the local (DC) market ...
 
Just about the only thing I find tolerable on the radio is public, but that gets interrupted by incessant begging sessions, so I'm pretty much radio free.
 
I'd have thought that too. FM is soon t be dead. But I stumbled into the building a year and a 1/2 ago that my old broadcasting school now occupies. I ran into the owner who taught me back in 1981. I was surprised to hear that in western Canada at least there was no shortage of jobs for his students.

FM stations seem to be popping up like mushrooms in the 3-10,000 population communities and are making a go of it... for now at least. Back when I left the business for the night club scene the word was in the future ( late 1980's) all FM would be syndicated shows playing in small markets. As I travel my province for work it all seems to be locals "on the mic" and no syndicated stuff at all.

What the future holds is pretty hard to tell in the Media / entertainment mix these days. Richer people than me have gone broke trying to figure it out.
 
mhedges said:
iPhones have an FM chip in them too, but it's not active.

Did you mean all but sprint disable this feature?

The standalone tuner market's pretty much been in the toilet for a long time, due to the crappy state of commercial radio and the rise of internet streaming. But I don't see it going away anytime soon in cars.

Mobile data networks are still too spotty to be reliable, and data costs are too high, for streaming to replace FM in cars, but the nextradio app may change that somewhat since it doesn't use data.
Click to expand...

That may be...but I recall (probably erroneously) that iPhone's didn't "chip" in on the tuner. iPhones are notoriously absent from the list of supported devices.

In any event...yes; Sprint is the renegade stateside. While it's pretty common in the UK, and elsewhere to have an active FM tuner in your phone, US carriers disable the functionality of the FM tuner chipset. Sprint is the exception. They are actually promoting the NextRadio app.---

Even more oddly, Sprint is offering a 6 month free trial to Spotify in tandem! Huh & WTF with 'oh no you didn't' snaps!~ How's that for convoluted chase your tail with dollar sign irony and calling out while you paint the kettle black? It's a free-for-all money grubbing madhouse! LOL
 
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I'm lucky, I live in a place where FM is still worth it -- CBC Radio One and Two are worth owning a tuner for alone. Yes, I know they stream in every time zone, but it's not the same; the sound is better, and it's simpler. All I have to do tune in my stations is turn my stereo on.

Radio is also free, and can be listened to almost anywhere with minimal technology. I really don't think its demise will be as soon as people think.

As an aside, my HTC One has a pretty good FM tuner in it. It pulls in stations better than my car tuner, and sounds better on most stations; my son actually uses it in the car to pull in a station he likes that the car can't tune very well.
 
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Will S. said:
It might be kind of cool if corporate radio went bankrupt and the stations, equipment and FM licenses got sold at fire sale prices. It could usher in a whole new era of underground radio programming.
Click to expand...

I agree, but I suspect the entire FM bandwidth would be re-purposed and sold
for some other commercial use to the highest bidder despite the "public use" mandate. No way (imo) the media conglomerate let their investment go to seed...
 
at work were not allowed to stream internet music, radio, etc.

still using old fashioned radio at work and in the car...
 
Another Western Canadian here, and in Vancouver, there are three CBC FM signals, French Radio 2, English Radio 2, and Radio 1. In addition, we have Co-op radio, and the local University Radio Station.

With my Sansui TU-9900, I get good quality music, a great variety, and all for free. Hope that it stays this way for a long while....
 
One of my favorite things about long drives is scanning for decent programming- esp at night. Some great stuff can be found if you look around-mostly on college/public radio stations.
 
Will S. said:
It might be kind of cool if corporate radio went bankrupt and the stations, equipment and FM licenses got sold at fire sale prices. It could usher in a whole new era of underground radio programming.
Click to expand...

Well, that happened already--just not on the bandwidth between 87.5 and 108 MHz. The new dawn of underground programing t'was spawned on the ether circa 1993-1998 and by now is surely (at least I thought it was) ubiquitous.

Yikes! Not so much according to the current sampling of <40 "connected" year olds in the video. They are surprisingly clueless as to the availability of FM radio streams...be it OTA corporate or internet underground. "I can only get FM radio in my car".

This speaks to two things. For one, there is a ****-ton more **** consuming consumers' attention today. For two and most notably, what a day late and dollar short terrestrial radio was/is coming to the party and educating their audience that they exist in this space.

Ahhh...but had the terrestrials tooted this smorgasbord of inter-net bandwidth horn way back when.....would not the "underground" have cannibalized them sooner? Easy to say so now, but that was their backward and curmudgeon like think......until now. Karma?

As for phone tuners and NextRadio......
I do consider and appreciate the benefits and needs for having an active AM/FM tuner in your phone. So shame on the carrier cartel for purposefully crippling our receivers! Frankly it's a no-brainer past, present and future. Alas, to me, NextRadio's app/Schick is as woefully misguided as it is behind the times. They're scooping and selling melting ice cream. In other words, they showed up just in time for them to pivot.

FM's music delivery days are dwindling and most certainly numbered. Will it inevitably morph into some form of purist analog niche or emergency goto utility?

Ah...the future is so bright & uncertain... I gotta wear shades. ;)
 
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noise gate said:
I'd have thought that too. FM is soon t be dead. But I stumbled into the building a year and a 1/2 ago that my old broadcasting school now occupies. I ran into the owner who taught me back in 1981. I was surprised to hear that in western Canada at least there was no shortage of jobs for his students.

FM stations seem to be popping up like mushrooms in the 3-10,000 population communities and are making a go of it... for now at least. Back when I left the business for the night club scene the word was in the future ( late 1980's) all FM would be syndicated shows playing in small markets. As I travel my province for work it all seems to be locals "on the mic" and no syndicated stuff at all.

What the future holds is pretty hard to tell in the Media / entertainment mix these days. Richer people than me have gone broke trying to figure it out.
Click to expand...

I love those little stations. :thmbsp:
 
FM Stereo

I hope first the rid the FM/AM tuner from Home Theater AVR's. I listen to VTuner internet radio and other internet music sites. When i listen to regular FM stations in my truck or home i get :boring:..
 
As long as there is expensive and capped bandwidth on mobile devices (and it may be coming to Cable TV also) and IT departments block streaming and some care about sound quality, AM and FM tuners will be with us. I hope home theater dies.
 
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