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Campaign Demands Telecoms Unlock the FM Radio Found in Many Smartphones (www.cbc.ca)
An anonymous reader cites an article on CBC: Your smartphone may include an FM radio chip but, chances are, it doesn't work. Now, an online campaign has launched in Canada, putting pressure on telecoms and manufacturers to turn on the radio hidden in many cellphones. Titled, "free radio on my phone," the campaign says that most Android smartphones have a built-in FM receiver which doesn't require data or Wi-Fi to operate. The U.S. arm of the campaign believes iPhones also have a built-in radio chip but that it can't be activated. Apple wouldn't confirm this detail. The radio chip in many Android phones also lies dormant. But the campaign says it can easily be activated -- if telecom providers ask the manufacturers to do it. In Canada, however, most of the telecoms haven't made the move to get the radio turned on. They'd prefer that you stream your audio, depleting your phone's costly data plan, claims campaign organizer, Barry Rooke.
I certainly don't doubt that FM broadcasters are...looking kindly and charitably... on this oh-so-grassroots campaign(and possibly doing some direct assisting); but it seems like a situation where it isn't an either/or: As a handset owner I'm clearly better off if the FM tuner I already have is decrippled(even if I don't end up using it, I've already paid whatever pittance it costs to implement FM reception with modern hardware, so I'm no worse off for actually having the option to use it; and if I do feel like using it I'm obviously better off); and FM broadcasters are certainly in a much better position if they are a roughly equal option, relative to streaming services, when I pick up my phone and choose an audio player application to use. Merely being present won't save them if they suck; but being able to tune in as easily as I can start whatever streaming app makes me a lot more likely to bother than needing a separate radio to do so.
There are some situation where the lobbying is an ugly business of two or more industries fighting over the right to screw the customer; but this seems like a case where, even if the free-our-phones side is largely a shill for broadcasters, it's still the shill acting in the interests of users.
Now, if they were pushing to make FM support legally mandatory (probably for some BS 'safety' reason) or playing the support-local-culture card to demand that the FM tuner app be given a suitably prominent and impossible-to-delete position in order to save Canadianness from the internet, or similar nonsense, that would be a serious problem; but if it just so happens that a nontrivially powerful industry pressure group also wants your phone's firmware to suck less? That sounds like a bonus.
There is Public Radio(NPR) that have very few ads, and fantastic quality programming.
They also play BBC content which is also great.
Then there are "community" radio stations that play all sorts of music and news programs that are great.
Perhaps you should pull your head out of the internet for a moment and take a look around at what else is out there.
We play the game with the bravery of being out of range
NPR is not state-run. They receive some (diminishing) state funding, but that's all. And if you actually listen to it you'll realize that any single journalist on NPR has more integrity than all of the "journalists" on for-profit cable and radio news combined. NPR has no qualms with reporting uncomfortable facts and asking tough questions of public figures and politicians, regardless of any party affiliation, from local politicians all the way up to President Obama. And they are the only news media I regularly consume which explicitly informs consumers of any affiliation NPR has with a subject of their reporting so that you can decide yourself whether or not that is a factor in how the story was reported.
You can stream NPR (and France Info, etc. it seems), so that's not a good response to the OP.
Except streaming consumes data cap.
Matter of fact, all the local radio stations I listen to(being the traditional sort) in the car offer streaming - they tell us so. Public, College, Commercial, all of them.
Still, while I don't come close to using my cap, I think that it's not a bad idea because it should also save power - no need for transmitting for all those packets, just the FM signal.
I don't read AC A human right