Radio Ink Convergence conference, held earlier this week. For two days, digital experts talked about the surprising growth of online radio listening in the past 12 months. We heard statistics and facts about significant increases. We heard that the iPad is the new transistor radio and the smartphone is the new radio receiver. We heard that Google's YouTube is about to launch a radio service like Pandora, and that Apple is doing the same. So what I heard should have been no surprise, and in a way it wasn't. But it was a shock.
AM and FM are being eliminated from the dash of two car companies within two years and will be eliminated from the dash of all cars within five years.
Well I guess most of us here could have seen this coming! There have even been conversations on this forum about how broadcasters only concerned with money, arbitron ratings, placing syndicated programming in place of local shows, running the same 10 songs all day that everyone has heard a million times, and running everything off of an unmanned computer doing the DJing instead of an actual host talking to their listeners was eventually going to kill off the support and popularity of the medium. Hell this is why most of us pirate and local part 15 operators exist to fill in the niche that these licensed money hungry stations have abandoned, or are completely oblivious to what is happening around them.
The sad part is that the idiots at the control killed their own industry and now the repercussions will follow down the line to the stations that actually do care and are local like your LPFMs, ma&pop stations, and even us.
Well I guess the good news is that if there are less listeners, less radios, then there will be less stations on the air which will free up a lot of channel space
In all seriousness a quote I read a long time ago comes to mind and that is "it's not the medium that makes people tune in, it's the content". I will never forget those words as they have been proved true to me over and over again.
I wouldn't put too much faith in that. Though the big wig radio corps killed their own industry, they are still quite influential and powerful.
Never underestimate tried and true technology that everyone here knows with the right stuff will endure a direct hit.
Side by side, net cannot hold up to terrestrial in reliability. When those net radios start to blip and lag and drop out right at the crucial moment like it always does, listeners will be so pissed off that their regular radio is missing and want it back.
Besides, terrestrial radio has quite a good foothold on the web already, and some are meshing that web digital with their terrestrial analog and HD very nicely and enduring their own demise.
Car companies were never that influential when it comes to entertainment.
Peace!
K-ROCKS RadioOne
ZeroPointRadio
AM Stereo 1670
FM Stereo 92.1
I just dont see it happening until satellite radio and the internet are more stable and wide spread. fast cellular data speeds and internet are still not readily available for a chunk of the country. Not saying they wont maybe offer every car with internet radio or something but they cant take am/fm out of cars especially with the large radio mega groups having the ties and backing they do.
"Well I guess the good news is that if there are less listeners, less radios, then there will be less stations on the air which will free up a lot of channel space." (Kage)
This is, on one hand, a very good thing just by itself, but is like paving the way for the disappearence of stations.
One other rather more technical aspect re. car radios is something I was haven't actually realised until paying a little more attention to what cars have already built in from the factory: the brand car rx that is "scattered" on the console, I mean, the display is one one place whereas the knobs are elsewhere, so quite unlike a good old, typical car radio.
Is it my plain ignorance or such car sets make the option for a car radio that the owner would like to choose & install almost or absolutely impossible?
Fortunately, there are still car radios on the market, but it seems certain old brands are currently with a zero or residual presence.
Another aspect: L&MW in the car radio. Despite many stations still using MW, and some LW, I suspect there's a heavy bunch of models around that no longer carry MW let alone LW.
Final aspect: the channel distribution on some car radio models. It simply makes me sick to see sets where one can't tune every 1 kHz, just 9 or, in the case of the Americas, 10 kHz.
It simply makes me sick to see sets where one can't tune every 1 kHz, just 9 or, in the case of the Americas, 10 kHz.
Don't forget how many of the car radios also don't cover 1710 or 520 on the MW dial. I found this out the hard way while telling a few friends to tune in to a broadcast I ran on 1710Kc. A few people thought I was joking at first telling me "Yeah right dude there is no 1710, radios only go up to 1700!". Some seem to have the frequency and others not and as we all know there are many pirates and part 15 broadcasters using that channel, and even some TIS stations in some areas!
Surprisingly Ford did a good job. My '94 Aspire and the wife's old '91 Tempo both w/stock radios, covered 520-1710 while my parents 2004 Cobalt doesn't! (yet the Cobalt has AM Stereo)
Even before experimentating with a mini-MF tx I have already referred to elsewhere in this forum, I decided to try to see whether I could improve reception a bit.
I have two different sets, both on 2 Land Rovers:
- Disco' TD5 II Series. Grundig WKC 5300 RDS Infomat, which can tune each 1 kHz instead of jumping every 9 kHz, but the upper limit of the MF band is 1602 kHz. The antenna is a 2 element, tiltable, Bosch telescopic of abt. 1 m mounted on the roof, near the upper edge of the windscreen. I regret the limited MF coverage.
- Defender 110 SW TD5 JVC KD-S 6060, tunes LF/MF on 9 kHz steps, upper limit is 1620. The antena is a multi-element telescopic near the bonet, just close to the windscreen, close enough that I can touch it if I stick my arm outside. I simply hate the rx, but it came along with the jeep, and I didn't want to spend money on a new one.
The Disco' has a rear suspension working off compressed air and this along with other car electronics pumps some noise into the rx. Apart from that, light switches, pedal brake, etc. also make noise when activated.
The Def'110 isn't that critical, but still generates some noise.
I didn't have much to look for except inspect the co-axial braid connection & antenna base which in the case of the '110 was simply wrong from factory! The paint was still there, so the electrical connection was none. Sanding the metal beneath and screwing the antenna back solved a good portion of the problem.
However, on both sets, I decided to experiment with an Amidon toroidal core I had around, viz. the FT-140-J ("J"=075 material): pulled both radios, disconneted the antenna plug and made a few turns around the toroid. Too few is almost as nothig, too many, or as many as you can insert, is too much; I found 4-6 to be the best compromise.
Result: MF reception did improve, and so did noise. I still have it, but in a lesser extent.
Maybe a different toroid would suit this need better, but that's the largest I have around that can accomodade the diamater of the 75 Ohm co-axial cable used between either antenna & the rxs.
I love internet Radio - I have 3 Grace Radios (love the old 40's syle wood paneled one) - and listen to OTR and theUKoldieradio stations.
It free too (outside of net service provider flat fee).
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but I dont have a smartphone nor ipad, maxipad or ipod - don't need em. And you can bet any Internet Radio via the automobile ain't gonna be via the free WiFi communcation protocal - NOPE, its be via 4G cellphone protocals and thus data usage fees out the arse for listening to your car Internet Radio.
It will probably be rolled into the price of the car. Then after 5 years or whatever, the pre-paid subscription will expire, leaving the owner with a choice of paying an exorbitant fee or doing without. Just another of many schemes the automakers cook up to force people to buy a new car every few years.
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