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The reason why FM receivers are present on smartphones is that they can be used to locate your position by noting a simple thing as signal strength of transmitters. More advanced methods makes use of SNR, frequency deviation and multipath interference characteristics. And the same method can be used for WiFi which of course makes collection of such data very useful for localization purposes where GPS etc isn't useful. Arrival time of a radio signal that is reported to the operator from many devices may also be used for the same purpose.
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Smartphone with FM Radio Tells Your Position
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The last time I saw him he was walking down Lover's Lane holding his own hand.
-- Fred Allen
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday May 21 2014, @06:40PM
"cut the cord"
Most of the stuff is the same on TV, cord cut or not. Well, I take that back, the resolution and bitrate is usually higher if you cut the cord.
Not so with music, unless you only listen to top40. OTA there's like six stations competing for the small local maxima of adult contemporary, an urban or two, and a country, and thats about it. Also there must be like a law or something where you're forbidden from broadcasting music between 4am and 9am, its all morons laughing uncontrollably at fart jokes, which I guess is supposed to be appealing. Well, in between 50% commercial breaks, anyway.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 21 2014, @11:33PM
six stations competing
Where I am (supposedly one of the top radio markets), it isn't that much better.
top40[. . .]country
Here, the "Country" stations *are* Top40.
There was a station that had *one* show 10PM - midnight that would play stuff as "old" as the Urban Cowboy craze (as far back as their disc collection went, it seems).
They even quit that late last year.
Apparently, anything older than 2 months is passe.
Hearing Haggard or Jones around here is a novelty.
I only know of 2 hours per week of interesting twangy music being broadcast here.
http://howdylicious.com/ [howdylicious.com]
College station; very loosely affiliated with NPR; all on-air personnel are volunteers.
There was another for-profit station around here playing Smooth Jazz but they recently changed the format radically.
Now I'm down to 1 station [ksbr.org] that plays that part-time. [ksbr.org]
(Their 3-hour Blues show once a week is good too.)
Again, college station; very loosely affiliated with NPR; gets headline news from AP.
What is arguably the best Jazz station remaining anywhere in the country is around here. [kkjz.org]
That's on the grounds of a college; run by pros; loosely affiliated with NPR.
They also do a 4-hour and a 5-hour Blues show on the weekend.
A DJ whom I'd nominate as The Best Anywhere is syndicated there: Bob Parlocha. [wfmt.com]
His eyesight is failing and he has health problems due to his advanced age, so I don't know how much longer we'll have him.
Conversely, I hate it when AOR DJs talk over the music like they're on an AM Top40 station and it's 1963.
The Album Rock station here that started with the promise that *It's all about the music* has started that shit (personnel changes and looser standards).
The legacy AOR station has alway been that kind of shit.
Now, maybe my musical tastes are too narrow and I'm missing something great that's being broadcast locally--but I doubt it.
Seems like it's mostly programed by childern for children.
-- gewg