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posted by Fnord666 on Monday February 20 2017, @07:24AM   Printer-friendly
from the what's-the-catch? dept.

In a speech given to the Future of Radio and Audio Symposium (PDF), Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai encouraged smartphone makers to activate FM radio chips, but stopped short of supporting a government mandate to do so:

As you know, the vast majority of smartphones sold in the United States do, in fact, contain FM chips. The problem is that most of them aren't activated. As of last fall, only about 44% of the topselling smartphones in the United States have activated FM chips, and the percentage is lower in Canada. By comparison, in Mexico that number is about 80%. So it's not just that the United States and Canada could be doing better. We could be doing a lot better. It seems odd that every day we hear about a new smartphone app that lets you do something innovative, yet these modern-day mobile miracles don't enable a key function offered by a 1982 Sony Walkman.

You could make a case for activating chips on public safety grounds alone. The former head of our Federal Emergency Management Administration has spoken out in support of this proposal. The FCC has an expert advisory panel on public safety issues that has also advocated enabling FM radio chips on smartphones. It pointed out that, "[h]aving access to terrestrial FM radio broadcasts, as opposed to streaming audio services, may enable smartphone users to receive broadcast-based EAS alerts and other vital information in emergency situations—particularly when the wireless network is down or overloaded."

Moreover, most consumers would love to access some of their favorite content over-the-air, while using one-sixth of the battery life and less data. As more and more Americans use activated FM chips in their smartphones, consumer demand for smartphones with activated FM chips should continue to increase.

I'll keep speaking out about the benefits of activating FM chips. Having said that, 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. For despite the low numbers, we are seeing progress; in the last two years, the percentage of top-selling smartphones in the United States that have activated FM chips has risen from less than 25% to 44%.

Reported at Chicago Tribune and Recode.


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  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 20 2017, @09:27AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 20 2017, @09:27AM (#469218)

    But that's just physics: You need some longer antenna to receive the frequency range FM radio is transmitted on. Therefore you can either use a separate antenna cable, or you can re-use the cable of a headset for the antenna. I think the second option is the better one.

    There's however no reason why use of a headset as antenna should preclude the option to use the internal speaker for playing.

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  • (Score: 2) by davester666 on Monday February 20 2017, @08:39PM

    by davester666 (155) on Monday February 20 2017, @08:39PM (#469427)

    That's just it. The article just talks about "activating the fm chip" like that's all there is to it, just enable the feature of the chip, write an app to set the station and that's all there is to it. But it's not. You also need to make an external antennae for it, either as part of wired earbuds or as a separate antennae.

    For existing devices, with a headphone socket, there is no guarantee the chip's antennae port is connected to the headphone socket, or anywhere else for that matter.

    For new devices, I suppose the gov't could require all cell phones to have this specific feature, namely to have a FM receiver, at some additional cost (as there are always costs for every new feature, which this is).

    And if you don't use wired earbuds (and I haven't in years), you still need to deploy the antennae, either just hanging from the device or clipping it to your clothing, as it doesn't work nearly as well all balled up in your pocket. And you need a port to plug it into, as some newer phones don't even have a headphone jack.

  • (Score: 2) by dry on Tuesday February 21 2017, @04:00AM

    by dry (223) on Tuesday February 21 2017, @04:00AM (#469566) Journal

    The FM app that came with my phone has a preference that allows using the headphones or keeping the internal speaker working.