If you are a certain age, you might remember the pocket transistor radio. You could take it anywhere. Under the covers at night, to school, to church. Limited only by your capacity for risk, you could attempt to covertly listen to a Cardinals' broadcast almost anywhere.
Though you don't realize it, you've probably got a radio in your pocket right now. But it's probably not working. While nearly every smartphone comes equipped with a built-in FM chip that allows it to tune into FM radio, the feature is only enabled on about a third of them. Most mobile phone providers sell Apple, LG and Samsung phones without the chip turned on.
The little FM chips are a relatively inexpensive feature, and a very popular one in other markets around the world--particularly in poor and developing nations. So, to quote untold thousands of city editors over the years: Why we not have?
The answer is as simple as it is depressing. Wireless carriers also sell data plans to go with the mobile phones, and one of the ways customers use data is by listening to the radio via apps. Why should the carriers give you free access to content they could otherwise sell to you? They'd be leaving money on the table.
Sure, the National Association of Broadcasters and National Public Radio would like to see the chips activated. If people could listen to radio on their smartphones, some of them would, and maybe that would help local broadcasters.
But there's a more important reason to unlock all these FM chips. In the event of an emergency or natural disaster such as a tornado or hurricane, a radio can become a life-saving device, providing access to emergency information. And radio listening burns through less battery power than streaming--a recent study suggests the average smartphone battery lasts six times longer when its turned to a radio station as compared to streaming the same local station over a wireless data network.
FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate has said radio-enabled smartphones would have been helpful in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, when cell systems failed or were overloaded. More and more, people are relying on a single device, the phone in their pocket, to stay connected to the wider world. Wireless carriers could and should voluntarily activate the FM chips already installed in our mobile devices.
After all, you paid for your phone. You deserve all of its capabilities.
Editorial on 05/04/2015