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FCC Chairman Wants It To Be Easier To Listen To Free FM Radio On Your Smartphone (recode.net)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Recode: Your smartphone has an FM radio in it, only it's unlikely that you're able to use it. That's because in the U.S., less than half of phones actually have the FM tuner turned on. But FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, who just recently assumed the top position at the regulatory agency under President Trump, thinks that should change. In remarks made to the North American Broadcasters Association yesterday, Pai said that it's a public safety issue. Both the former head of the Federal Emergency Management Association and an FCC advisory panel on public safety have advocated for turning on the FM radio capabilities in smartphones, since radio is a reliable source of information when internet or cellphone networks go down in severe weather. Although Pai thinks smartphones should have the FM chip turned on, he doesn't think the government should mandate it: "As a believer in free markets and the rule of law, I cannot support a government mandate requiring activation of these chips. I don't believe the FCC has the power to issue a mandate like that, and more generally I believe it's best to sort this issue out in the marketplace."
It requires the use of wired earphones because the wire acts as the FM radio antenna. The FCC cannot change that.
If he's not changing policy, then its still just the free market at work. If the free market hasn't enabled FM receivers, that must mean that the free market won't enable FM receivers. The only conclusion I can draw from that is he says that the free market isn't implementing a feature he thinks is necessary - sounds like a failure of the free market to me.
Even if your phone has the FM Tuner built in (it's not true that all smartphones have one, BTW--I worked at a major phone manufacturer and some of ours lacked the chipset) you have to have headphones plugged in to make it work, as the headphones are used as the antenna.
There's at least one phone lacking that feature...
That seems reasonable.
I have FM on my Microsoft Lumia that I use as an iPod. Do I ever listen to FM on it? No. Not so long ago I had FM on several of my Nokia phones. How often did I listen to FM? Very, very seldom. I listen to FM in the car and at home. But not from the phone. This is such a boondoggle. This Ajit Pai guy is another crony with a bullsh*t agenda. What a waste of taxpayer money.
nothing really on there to listen to except endless streams of commercials.
Hey, I like my AM stations better! Down with the FM bigots!
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
Carriers have little financial incentive to do so because they profit from streaming data, says Barry Rooke of the National Campus and Community Radio Association.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
Don't get me wrong, I have fond memories of FM, but it'll only work if they'd stop playing 15 minute long ads.
The way they write this makes it sound like nearly all phones have an FM chip/capability already built-in, which I believe is actually quite far from the truth. Its only a few specific models.
"I believe it's best to sort this issue out in the marketplace."
The marketplace has sorted this issue out. That's why the FM tuners are disabled.
http://nextradioapp.com/suppor...
I bought an unlocked phone on Amazon to use with my service. How do I know if my FM chip is enabled, and if it isn't, is it really my carrier that has to do this and not me?
the broadcasters don't pay him as much as the cell phone companies
The FM chip is a tiny part of it. Phones in general are just far too locked down and prevent people from controlling the way they work.
That's fine in the Android space where there is some real competition, but it's not fine in the iOS space where Apple has a monopoly.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
No thanks, just let me use my phone as a radio - don't "help" me by tracking what I listen to, or let me "tag" songs or anything.
In remarks made to the North American Broadcasters Association yesterday, Pai said that it's a public safety issue... Although Pai thinks smartphones should have the FM chip turned on, he doesn't think the government should mandate it: "As a believer in free markets and the rule of law, I cannot support a government mandate requiring activation of these chips. I don't believe the FCC has the power to issue a mandate like that, and more generally I believe it's best to sort this issue out in the marketplace."
It's a public safety issue, but it should be left to the marketplace, and if you can't afford an extra $10 per month for this "public safety" feature, then you deserve to die in an emergency?
Let people download an app and make up their own minds about FM. This whole 'the marketplace has decided' bullshit is often just cover for 'We have our reasons. Go away and stop bothering us.'
There are some subtle differences between broadcast FM and streaming content revenue models and middlemen. I wouldn't be surprised if the streaming proponents just want to steer the ad bucks their way. Follow the money.
Have gnu, will travel.
Wonder if this FM chip has the ability to tune to the NOAA weather frequencies? The GPS in the phone could be used to figure out the S.A.M.E. code and automagically tune to the correct freq and provide alerts when the cell towers are down???
Karma: Bad
The quote at bottom of Slashdot earlier today was:
How many teamsters does it take to change a lightbulb?
17, you got a problem with that?
The chairman has told the companies "I (who can royally fuck you over at my leisure) think you should enable the FM chip. I'm not going to waste my time with the whole bureaucratic rule making process for just this one thing right now, but I think it would be a good idea for you to enable it before I start on the next round of rules I put on you."
Sometimes streaming get erratic or just quits when I'm listening to some of my favorite commentators. Since the same show is broadcasted on AM I have turned to my radio to hear the rest of the program.
Its not a free market anywhere. The radio spectrum is very limited.
When the public gives a private company exclusive access to some it's complexity fair to attach some requirements.
The quote is now, "The best things in life are for a fee".
Also appropriate here.
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
What about "I don't think I have the authority to make this decision" says to you that he's planning on exercising that authority in the future?
Those who advocate genocide deserve every protection afforded by law, and none afforded by common human decency.
I guess he doesn't want to be forgotten mere minutes after his tenure ends so he'll make some noise about nothing affecting no one?
Big Brother would never use this to listen in on you.
Big Brother cares only that you can get radio FM signals on your cellphone.
We have always been at war with AM-Asia.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Perhaps he's not going to force the issue, but if you're AT&T or Samsung and you're presented with an easy way to get on the FCC chairman's good side, you do it.
A more forceful way of saying the same thing would be:
I may not have the authority to force you to turn on the FM chip, but I do have the authority to kick you in the balls re spectrum allocation and a thousand other things you really care about.
Not that I'm saying he's making a statement quite that forceful. He's expressed an easy way for companies to get on his good side. If you are a peon in the IT department of your company, and the director of manufacturing mentions that your cubicle sure is a mess, you probably tidy it up - even though he's not in your direct chain of command and won't officially order you to tidy up.
I agree, commercial radio is the best way to inform (and influence but we'll be positive today) the unwashed masses. That's why every disaster survival kit is meant to have a receiver, separate from a telephony/computing device and accepting 1.5 volt standard batteries. It's why cars should still receive the commercial FM band, not just digital audio: A large number of people will be in their car when disaster strikes.
I suspect he wants to revive the US emergency broadcast system as a state-controlled service and possibly, move Amber alerts to it. This will reduce the pressure on the digital communications network in times of disaster. The problems are two-fold: 1) The small batteries in modern phones, means reception is limited to about 12 hours; a fraction of the 168 hours (7 days) the government says it may take to save you and restore normal services (electricity, water, communication). 2) Most people don't carry the earbuds required for Phone radios to work, so several of them may need to be part of the disaster survival kit.
I would like to note that navigation devices such as radio beacons and radio compasses use the AM band.
Bob & Tom. 'nuff said.
But why the hell would I want to listen to commercial FM radio?
Doesn't matter if it's free, its full of ads and rarely playing music I want to hear.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai wants FM radio services in smartphones, and as head of the FCC he could do something about this. He won't do anything about this though because he doesn't believe in the FCC. So he's going to talk about the issue and issue soothing nostrums about consumer choice and the free market and rule of law.
Well, if those things were going to lead to FM radio services in smartphones, frankly it would have happened by now. Really, is there anything a smartphone doesn't do these days? Whip up a tasty latte? Hold your hand after a breakup? Keep the zombie invasion at bay? FM radio services are small potatoes compared to the other things smartphones do.
As my Father used to say, "eyewash". Pai wants to justify his salary and stay in the public eye. He'll be working for AT&T, or Comcast, or T-Mobile within 3 years, count on that. What he will do beyond that, will be nothing. Until then it's just collect some sweet government coin and become a "person of importance".
Broadcast FM in the US is 88-108 MHz. NOAA is generally around 162 MHz. It's quite a stretch for an analog tuner, pretty much requiring more hardware for filters and so on; for most SDRs that can already tune FM broadcast, these frequency ranges aren't really a lot different. For a dedicated digital receiver, it may not even be remotely possible.
So ultimately it depends on just how the phone is doing FM, and of course, if the software lets you do what you want to do.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
My hands are tied - honestly! I just tied them myself!
He says he wants FM on all capable phones, and in the same breath says he doesn't "believe the FCC has the power to issue a mandate like that". Well, Ajit, you slimy fuck, I have news for you: your alleged belief doesn't mean shit, you do have the power, and any assertions you make to the contrary are simply inept and sophomoric bullshit politicking. Being a liar is bad enough - being incompetent at it is just diarrhea icing on the crapcake you're trying to get people to swallow.
'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
Honestly, I don't even use the radio in my car anymore. It's been ten years or more since I listened to the radio.
On the other side of the atlantic pond, radio in cars tends to be used a lot, specially for traffic information.
Last time I listened to the car's radio has been lat time I drove it :
the car automatically suspended the music we were listening to announce some traffic jams and incident on the highway.
Most GPS (specially the in-car built-ins) are also able to leverage the digital information (TMC signal on the RDS on FM radios) to also display and take into account such traffic information.
So radio on portable devices can be useful for such traffic informations.
The only thing is, as far as I know, most smartphone with disabled radio chips only have *FM*-Radio (i.e.: plain old analog. Sometimes not even with support for digital metadata over RDS).
Whereas lots of European regions are moving to DAB/DAB+ Radio (digital radio, transmitted as MP2 or AAC digital stream respectively), which is not directly supported on purely FM chips, and would be quite taxing on the battery life if attempting to decode on CPU in software (SDR - software defined radio).
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
News at 11
I understand what you're saying, but I think that a more literal interpretation will prove to be more correct. There are a great many people in this country whose belief in free market principles is absolute. I don't consider that to be a particularly sensible position, but many do, and his public statement aligns quite well with that viewpoint. I mean, call it a character flaw if you will, but I think he means what he says, in the sense that he will only use his statutory authority if compelled to. I don't necessarily think it's a bad managerial style, I just think that you have overstated the level of implied threat somewhat. I don't agree with his principles, but I do think that he has taken a principled stand on this issue and respect him for doing so. In point of fact, I would rather believe that he is doing this because he thinks it's the right thing to do and the right way to do it, and that people will go along with it because it makes sense and he's asking nicely, at least until some further hint of ill intent comes along. I mean, I'm sure I'm a terrible person, but surely everyone else can't be as bad as all that, right? :)
Those who advocate genocide deserve every protection afforded by law, and none afforded by common human decency.
On the one hand, TFS quotes Pai as saying enabling the FM Radios is a "public safety issue". On the other hand, he says that the government has no place in dictating carriers turn the radio on.
Until the wireless carriers are going to provide an emergency-grade SLA in return for their oligopoly using public airwaves to make money, the government does have a mandate to make sure those carriers are acting in the public's, as well as their shareholders', interests.
Just like broadcast television you pay for it with your life. In exchange for the life you pay by having it wasted by advertising, advertisers give cash to the station. Nothing "free" about it.
I suspect advertisers are pushing the FCC on this and not some crazy consumer need for random "pay for play" songs that repeat every hour.
Just more bribery and corruption in our government, nothing to see here, move along.
but if I don't ever do anything to get one except tell people I should have one, I won't ever have one.
Pai will have about the same luck with his desire for FM radio on phones.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
Because the circuitry required to utilize the shield (ground) wire on the headset as an FM antenna increases the ground impedance and causes left-right and capture-playback crosstalk. The latter can be fixed by the phone's echo canceler, but the former cannot.
That's why FM radio is mainly confined to lower-cost phones. Premium phone buyers tend to be more particular about the headset audio quality.
You may well be 100% right.
> I mean, I'm sure I'm a terrible person, but surely everyone else can't be as bad as all that, right? :)
I'm naturally a bit of an asshole, so I work hard on being pleasant.
> that people will go along with it because it makes sense and he's asking nicely ... And I particularly try to be nice to my bosses, my wife, and one or two other people who can easily affect my life. So the two aren't mutually exclusive - perhaps he's asking nicely, amd CEOs know it's a good idea to be nice to him. :)
I was able to use my FM tuner when using Windows Phone 8, but lost the functionality when upgrading to Windows 10 Mobile....
Its not a free market anywhere. The radio spectrum is very limited.
I thought there was a free market for phones that work with any major carrier's spectrum license, especially now that all four major U.S. carriers use LTE. LTE is patented but, as far as I'm aware, licensed under a uniform royalty regime.
http://softwareengineeringmca....
Why are telcos and FCC so interested in Smartphone FM radio recently? What's the catch? Where's the money? Is there some way to use it for spying on users?
Now that they are back, I wonder if FM will be enabled on them
The Apple iPod nano supports FM Radio
http://www.apple.com/ipod-nano...
Other countries are turning of their FM radio stations in favor of digital signals. Why are we not doing the same?
My Galaxy S2 had a FM radio in it with the proper app to use it, my Moto G2 also had it, my current Zenfone2 also has it. And they were all unlocked. You have to choose what you buy :)
"Science will win because it works." - Stephen Hawking
...my EUR 20 supermarket-bought phone lets me access the FM tuner, even if the headphones aren't plugged in.
None of these smart devices allow AM radio because everyone other than Peter Thiel in Silicon Valley wants anyone to listen to AM since most AM listeners are in Rush Limbaugh's audience.
Thanks, tech companies for your dystopian liberalism.
If we leave it up to free market, then when it comes time to check the radio for emergency evacuation information, those who picked up the "Cheap" hardware are going to experience Free Market Darwinism.
Just to recap:
Sadly, a Libertarian cannot force his views on another, and freedom cannot spread as does the cancer known as religion.
I haven't personally listened to FM radio in years, unless I catch snippets on someone else's car radio while I'm driving with them. I now download my favorite AM radio podcasts from ITunes, because I couldn't stand the insanity of the iHeartRadio app getting bogged down in effing unlimited commercials. If you lose your streaming connection, and you immediately reconnect, the stupid iHeartRadio app restarts the commercial sequence from the very beginning, which could be as long as seven minutes.
How about requiring an AM transmitter? In Los Angeles, the best radio news still comes from the lone AM radio station left in the market. But outside of my car, I can't get a decent AM radio signal anywhere, which is why I switched first to Iheart radio, and then later to directly downloading radio show podcasts.
http://freeradioonmyphone.org/
A pox on web designers who feel that window.innerWidth == screen.availWidth
I listen to FM in the car a lot. Thousands of songs on a USB stick, and my ASD kid will get it on repeat for one song over and over for as long as the drive lasts. FM is much better.
On a phone, it uses no data, generally less battery power, and is free (should not be hard to see why the corps don't want you to have it). Also good for emergency use.