In his excellent Hear 2.0 blog, researcher Mark Ramsey writes the following:

There are (at least) two ways you can view radio’s future.

Either that FM/AM “chips” need to be installed in every device that moves, whether it resembles a “radio” or not – or that radio as an industry needs to translate its content to everything that moves in original ways, and those are unlikely to be in the same form as that content currently lives on air.

I am squarely in the latter category.

Most broadcasters seem to be in the former one.

The idea of sticking radio into every mobile device is radio-centric, not audience-centric. And if there’s anything — ANYTHING — you should learn about the rapid pace of technological change, it’s this: It is being driven by newly empowered audiences, not by the mega-industries serving their own interests.

So while you may want a radio inside every mobile device, your audience says they don’t need this because they already have a radio — in fact, several — everywhere – thank you very much.

What they want is for you to transform your “radio” content into a new experience worthy of the gadgets that experience lives in.

For example, take a look at a map. Now take a look at a map experience on the iPhone. Do you get it yet?

Just as a book differs from the movie based on that book – so will a radio experience differ from what’s on the air now.

Listeners are begging for you to think of radio in more dimensions than the narrow “here’s what we play on the air, let’s move it to the phone” one.

Nevertheless, “FM on cellphones” will be a big topic at the upcoming NAB Radio Board meeting.

Not “multidimensional radio experiences,” but “FM.”

Because they just don’t get it.

========

Kurt here again. I’ve just come back from a two-week road trip (Los Angeles first, then New York City for the Webbys) and this topic came up regularly in my discussions with broadcasters.

My Palm Centro ($99) has (A) Internet access and (B) a media player that supports the streaming MP3 format. That means I can listen to any radio station in the world that offers its stream in that format (which is a pretty cheap and easy proposition for any station that’s streaming, and it’s clearly worth doing because it also makes it possible for millions of people to listen to your station via the popular iTunes application).

However, the CEOs of the companies who own FM stations (i.e., the NAB Radio Board members that Mark refers to above) aren’t satisfied that they can get their, say, “Rock 109” station onto my Centro by doing just this little bit of encoding work.

Instead, they want Palm to add an FM chip and antenna into every Palm device so I can receive the same “Rock 109” programming a different way — their way.

But there’s no value to the consumer there! (The station owners get lower transmission costs and fewer competitors, but the consumer gets nothing but a larger, heavier, more expensive device.)

In my opinion, their desire and this proposed initiative is a dog that just won’t hunt.

Comment

1. Bravos, Kurt. Spot-on. The first tribe of wireless needs to get into the export business and stop being obsessed with the single mission of importing listeners.

   — Dave Martin · Jun 12, 10:02 AM · #

2. Hi Jeff/Mark et Al,

   As a western firangi (foreigner) with several years experience in various asian markets. I can tell you that hardly anyone in asia is buying a new radio reciever they’re buying mobile phones that are FM enabled. Mobile phone companies most notably for India and Indonesia are currently using “FM in your phone” as a major selling point. The point is these phones are already being produced in large numbers by Korean Scandanavian and US companies so making them available in the US wouldn’t be that big a deal surely.
   Yes having an FM reciever maybe not such a big deal in the US with all the other technology available but I would suggest if you were to buy a phone which came with fm as a standard feature you may /would eventually get around to utilising it particularly if all your listening devices are conveniently sitting in one piece of hardware Mp3 player etc.
   The US was late into texting/sms ing as a phenomena.
   I would suggest listening to FM on your phone even in a mature market like the US may work as it’s easy,lazy leisure and perceived as free.You don’t have program/download/rip anything, just tune and listen.
   In fact a recent study in the US suggested that the number one attribute of radio was convenience.
   The marrying of fm radio to your mobile phone embodies convenience

   The chip that allows to stream/surf etc is a second discussion and does involve differing content/choice because you are asking the audience to pay

   — keith fowler · Jun 17, 02:17 AM · #

Other blog entries
Podcasting: Fad or trend?
Labor Day musings: Blame it on bad luck...again?
Must Pandora die?
Kurt's summary of the Internet radio royalty dispute
iPhone's radio apps are a canary in a coal mine
Part 2: DI's Ari Shohat on how to grow audience
Digitially Imported's Ari Shohat reveals how he built a huge global audience
Emmis's Jeff Smulyan responds re: FM in cell phones
Ramsey: "Broadcasters don't understand the radio 'experience'"
Honolulu's Brock Whaley: "I have heard the future in my car"