Radio Survivor

On Monday the trade publication Automotive News reported that the number of car makers offering HD Radio is up, mostly relying on stats provided by iBiquity, which owns the technology. According to the article pricey brands Volvo, BMW and Rolls-Royce now offer HD Radio as standard, while twelve other brands offer it as an option. Curiously, only one Japanese brand, the Toyota division of Scion, offers HD.

However, there are a lot of things one can buy as an option on a car, so the more important question is, Is anyone buying? On the surface, thing don’t look too bad for HD. Apparently 438,000 automotive receivers were sold in the nine months ending June 30, contributing to a total of three million HD Radio receivers sold in the US, both car-based and not. By comparison about eight million cars were sold in the same period, meaning only about five percent of new cars sold were equipped with HD Radio.

After reading a recent Radio World article, I wonder if at least part of the blame is due to the difficulty of actually buying the option. Writer Thomas R. Ray III, who is normally a cheerleader for HD Radio, recounts the difficulty he faced in getting an HD receiver in his brand new Ford Escape. It turns out the Ford dealership had never heard of HD Radio, and so he ended up with a factory-installed analog radio. He encountered further trouble integrating an aftermarket receiver because of the Ford’s much ballyhooed Sync system.

As long as HD Radio remains an option on most cars, I don’t think it’s going to see the kind of growth it needs to become a mainstream technology. As it is, there isn’t enough to recommend HD Radio to make it work the extra hundred bucks or so to the average car buyer, who is probably more concerned with a CD player or iPod connectivity. I remember back when I was a kid in the 70s that AM radios were standard and FM was an option. It wasn’t really until AM/FM radios became standard that you saw FM radio start to take off. I’m not convinced HD offers nearly as much extra as FM did thirty years ago.

As we reported back in January, all the big radio hoopla at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show as about the incursion of internet audio services like Pandora into car stereo systems. Things have been quiet on that front until I noticed an article in the New York times last week that asks “Will the Internet Kill Traditional Car Radio?.” It looks like writer John R. Quain is one of the first press reviewers to have his hands on one of the new Pandora-equipped car receivers, the Pioneer AVIC-X920BT.

Quain reports that the sound was not quite CD quality, but better than some satellite stations. Tethered to his iPhone he noted that

AT&T’s 3G wireless service is notoriously patchy in New York City, so there were occasional dead spots when the music dropped out as the cellphone searched for a signal. Furthermore, the software will not let you create or add new Pandora stations, a nod to concerns about distracted driving.

His is the only review–such as it is–that I could find, though it does look like the Pioneer is shipping.

For everyone else who doesn’t yet have Pioneer’s top-of-the-line car receiver, listening to internet radio in the car still means connecting it via a cable or bluetooth and messing with your smartphone’s controls. And, certainly, 3G data coverage is going to be one of the most limiting factors, especially outside major cities or off major interstate highways.

Until a critical mass of car receivers will interface smoothly with smartphones and wireless broadband is more consistently available, traditional broadcast and satellite radio are going to be the choice for most folks who want to listen to something besides their own CDs and MP3s.

While there are quite a few streaming radio apps for all the major smartphone operating systems, I’m quite doubtful that too many listeners will be clamoring to listen to a local or distant cookie-cutter active rock or adult contemporary commercial station over their smartphone instead of just scanning the radio dial. I’m guessing that services like Pandora, specialty internet-only stations and unique non-commercial broadcast stations like KEXP or WFMU will end up being the winners when mobile internet radio becomes truly practical.

Ever since radio lost its prominence to television as America’s number one form of entertainment, it has been in the background of American life. The primary place where many people listen to radio has been in their cars on the open road. The audience for traditional AM/FM forms of radio is shrinking, but the market for personalized Internet radio services such as Pandora radio continues to grow. Drivers have sought to bring Internet radio with them on the road since mobile smartphones such as the iPhone, Blackberry or Android phones started offering mobile Internet radio applications.

The problem is how to do this. Launching the radio apps on phones and then connecting them to a car stereo’s auxiliary port has so far been the only way to take Internet radio to its fullest potential. But this creates further distractions for the driver and can contribute to driver error and traffic accidents. This week the Ford Motor Company announced their solution to this dilemma.

A new upgrade to its SYNC systems named AppLink will natively and wirelessly use radio applications such as Pandora or Stitcher radio from smartphones, allowing the driver to use these applications hands free. After Ford rolls out the new software update later this year, all SYNC enabled vehicles will be able to use AppLink. The system works by syncing smartphones to Ford’s SYNC systems and then the user navigates Pandora or Stitcher using voice commands. (more…)

On Wednesday Sirius XM radio (SIRI) announced that it added 171,441 net subscribers in the first quarter of 2010. While this is certainly better news for the company than a net loss, the gain still doesn’t quite put its subscriber base at the same level it was at the end of 2008. Then the company had 19 million subscribers, but tumbled during the first quarter of 2009, losing 404,422. Subscribers now stand at 18,944,199.

Sirius CEO Mel Karmarzin attributes the rebound to “the broad appeal of our unrivaled programming, the benefits of a recovering auto industry and an improving economic environment for consumers.” I’d reckon that increased car sales is probably the biggest factor, given that satellite radio is heavily dependent on its appeal to drivers, most of whom still can’t listen to internet radio while on the road. The downside of this reliance is that the first year or so of satellite radio service for a new car is free. The real sign of recovery will be whether or not these new non-paying subscribers re-up when they have to shell out for it. For the quarter that just ended 45.2% of customers decided to stick around and pay, which is a little better than the 44.6% who did in the first quarter of 2009.

The news caused Sirius stock to bump back up over a dollar today for the first time since February. Nevertheless, the company remains delisted from out of compliance with NASDAQ. It will be interesting to see if Sirius’ subscriber base grows over its 2008 level again, or if 19 million ends up being a plateau. Satellite radio faces very still competition from mobile broadband this year as higher-speed 4G rolls in many major cities and those first Pandora-capable car radios hit the streets.

Already some of us have been listening to live streaming internet radio on our mobile devices, like iPhones and Blackberries. But, as I argued last month, the experience still doesn’t quite add up to true mobile internet radio, especially because when you’re using cell data like 3G it saps the heck out of your battery. My experience streaming live radio on my iPhone gives me a little more than an hour before I’m nearly out of juice. The new Apple iPad looks to be a great mashup of an iPhone and netbook, which are both decent devices for listening to internet radio on the go, but also have their drawbacks.

The fact that some iPad models offer 3G wireless data connectivity out-of-the box, for a very reasonable $30 a month without any contracts make it a great candidate for mobile internet radio listening. It won’t necessarily be any better for the car than an iPhone, Blackberry or Android phone. But in other mobile circumstances it shows distinct promise.

So the question is, will the iPad bring us one step closer to truly mobile internet radio? Based on early specs, and having never touched it myself, the answer is a distinct maybe.

The first important factor is battery life. If the battery poops out after only an hour, then it’s only good for short trips. But if you have a longer train or bus commute, or are outside away from a wi-fi connection you probably want at least two good hours. While Apple specifies that you get 10 hours of active wi-fi use on a charge, no 3G batterly life specs are published. With a much bigger battery than an iPhone one would expect that constant 3G use would go longer, but we’ll have to wait until the first longer-term reviews come out.

The next big issue is sound quality. I currently use my iPhone, netbook or MacBook Pro to stream audio in a variety of circumstances, including home and when away in hotels. They’re all fine for using with headphones or external speakers, though the iPhone is the clear winner for fidelity. But I don’t always want to use headphones or lug around speakers. In a pinch the iPhone’s speaker is better than nothing at all (sounding like a pocket radio), and the netbook is barely any better. My MacBook’s speakers are the best in this category, but at the same time it seems wasteful overkill to use this powerful laptop computer just to listen to radio. My hope is that it will sound at least as good as a MacBook Pro, which itself is on par with a portable radio the size of a paperback book. We’ll have to see how the iPad’s speakers measure up against these competitors.

The final big factor is multitasking, and on this measure we already know the answer: there is no multi-tasking on the iPad. This is important because all of the streaming radio apps are not made by Apple, and you can only run one non-Apple app at a time. So you want to listen to a live feed of a Cubs game while Tweeting? No can do. Catch a live feed of the State of the Union while reading the New York Times online? Also a big no. So, unless Apple decides to add the ability to listen to live streams to the iPad’s iPod app–which is allowed to multitask with other apps–this is probably the biggest count against the radio capabilities of the iPad.

At least as far as mobile internet radio is concerned, the iPad looks like a tiny step forward. If the 3G battery life and sound quality are up to snuff, then it’s a bigger step. But without multitasking where you can listen to a live stream while using other apps, the iPad is not the next big thing in mobile internet radio.

I keep reading all this hype about how HD Radio is the big audio deal at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, yet I fail to quite see what’s so exciting. Sure, there are some new models of HD Radio receivers rolling out, but the number of new entries roughly equals the number of models being retired. The end result is that there will be about as many HD receivers on the market as last year. That’s big news?

I guess Ford announcing stronger support for HD and the new iTunes tagging features count for something. But where the rubber meets the road is whether car buyers are willing to pony up the extra cash for the higher-end stereos. While Ford is doing better than Chrysler and GM, the last time I checked, the auto industry isn’t exactly thriving. And let’s not forget that just few years ago the big hype was how the auto manufacturers were embracing satellite, yet that seems to have mostly resulted in lots of XM Sirius-equipped rental cars.

I keep searching for information about all these new non-automotive HD receivers and I keep coming up with the same iBiquity press release regurgitated all over the place. The release lists off a pile of model numbers, but no other info that might help me evaluate how great these new receivers might be.

iBiquity set up a special page just for “breaking news” from CES 2010. But today, the next-to-last day of the show, there’s no news to be found.

Only This Week in Consumer Electronics has any useful information, including the most valuable data of all: price. Amongst the models listed by TWICE, at $69 the lowest cost receiver is Radio Shack’s FM-only Gigaware-branded add-on for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The price isn’t outrageous, and marks only a $10 – $20 premium over a typical FM-only radio for the iPhone. Past that, all of the new HD receivers come in over a hundred bucks. That includes even the entry from discount electronics brand Coby, whose HDR700 has a street price of around $99.

I really believe that price is the key here. With the collapse in the quality of commercial radio programming, HD Radio really has not been able to sell itself on programming, despite the largest broadcasters like CBS Radio blanketing their stations with ads touting HD’s virtues. The quality issue is also debatable. So, at best, I think HD Radio is still a curiosity for most people who might be attracted by having a few more channels at their disposal, or having AM news, traffic and weather on the FM HD channels. But what are people willing to pay for this curiosity?
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The biggest news at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show might be Google’s new Nexus smartphone, but that doesn’t mean there’s no space for radio in all the gadget frenzy. Your resident RadioSurvivors don’t yet have the travel budget to jet off to Vegas to roam the show floor in person. Instead, I’m picking through the press releases and news stories (which often are just rewritten press releases) from cold and snowy Chicago.

Although I am not a car owner myself (I traded my old Subaru for a new bike this year–no lie!) the automobile is still the site of much radio listening, and the realm of some interesting tech developments. Internet and iTunes tagging appear to be the radio stars this year, with satellite playing a supporting role. As one of our readers pointed out, Ford recently announced that it would offer a factory-installed HD Radio receiver that includes iTunes tagging. In addition the company said it’s working on integrating tagging with Sirius satellite radio, which will also feature the ability to record and playback up to 45 minutes of satellite audio. Shades of Apple’s “live-pause” in the new iPod Nano?

Sony also offers up a car HD receiver with iTunes tagging (CDX-GT700HD) and Pioneer offers up several new models with the same features. But their new top-end receiver (AVIC-X920BT) goes one better by adding support for Pandora. The catch is that you need an iPhone that connects via a USB cable. Once linked, then you can browse stations on the receiver’s 6.1″ display.

Alpine also takes the iPhone route to offer Pandora in your auto with its iDA-X305S receiver. No to be left out Ford promises Pandora integration along with Stitcher, which is apparently the news/talk yin to Pandora’s yang, and something I’d never heard of before. Yet again, Ford’s approach requires an intermediary, with SYNC project manager Julius Marchwicki promising,

in the future, if you bring Pandora or Stitcher into the car on your phone, it will work seamlessly.

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One of the most satisfying aspects of putting together our review of the decade’s most important radio trends was the number of comments we received. It appears we touched a nerve or two. And while not everyone agreed with our arguments or conclusions, we did get some thought provoking responses.

Seeing as how we like to encourage some rousing debate about radio, with this post I’d like to highlight a few of them.

Responding to #11, cash-strapped schools turn their backs on college radio, Seth Thornberry points out:

In another example of the spirit of independent radio, the DJs from KTXT got together and created The Llano Idea which has kept up the volunteer run radio (online, at least).

In response to #6, HD Radio launches, but who listens? Who cares? BrianK finds some hope for the service:

Ford announced today that HD Radio is factory installed in their autos and the at least 4X digital power increase for HD radio is on the cusp of being approved which will give listeners stereo reception upto twice as far as traditional auto FM receivers in noise-free and to my ears much better high frequency response

But Greg begs to differ, noting that,

Ford has been announcing that it would add HD Radio since 2007, but it never materialized. Also, Ford is an investor in iBiquity. … BMW even has an HD Radio trouble-shooting guide, and there are nothing but complaints about HD Radio in BMW Forums, so I’m guessing that it will be the same situation with Ford.

And Robert D Young Jr quips:

PS. just one little correction: CD quality is really “seedy” quality.

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At end of the first decade of the 21st century there are more audio entertainment options available than any time before. Even if traditional broadcast radio has a case of the doldrums, the viability of radio-like media has never been stronger. Satellite radio is one medium that entered the scene, although its long-term prognosis is still hazy.

By 2000 the perception that commercial radio had seriously declined in quality was widely held. Even listeners unaware of the massive consolidation in the industry perceived the tightening of playlists, more repetition, the inability to talk to a live DJ and make a request and an increase in commercials.

Then, with what seemed like perfect timing, two companies emerged on the scene to offer up a new radio service that promised a real alternative: satellite radio. Americans were already accustomed to receiving television by direct broadcast satellite. But satellite radio would be different. Where satellite TV mostly offered a cable-like service with the same channel, the new satellite radio companies–XM and Sirius–would offer up scores of new radio channels produced and programmed by the companies themselves.

Both companies vowed that their music channels would represent a return to the values of progressive rock radio, with programs hosted by live DJs choosing music according to their informed tastes. By the time both services were live in 2003, there were countless press profiles marveling at Sirius and XM’s array of narrow program genres and guru-like hosts. Home entertainment magazine Sound and Vision ran a lengthy cover story in June 2003 that asked “What’s so great about satellite radio?” The question was answered by four hosts from each of the services. Remarks by Lou Brutus, programmer for the XM freeform-revival station “Special X” were characteristic:

I don’t care how many CDs you have, there’s never been anything like Special X. It could be the day-to-day stuff that falls under the umbrella of “weirdness,” where you might hear “What’s He Building in There?” from Tom Waits, followed by William Shatner singing “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” followed by a 28-minute Jack Kerouac piece… The people at XM are thinking all of this stuff out and putting it together in coherent neighborhoods of sound, for lack of a better term. When radio is done right, I think it’s the most personal medium of them all. *

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I’m actually amazed at how noncommercial radio has become the site of so much innovation in the medium in the last decade, and how commercial radio is getting left in the dust. On the music side we have Seattle’s indie rock KEXP and New Jersey’s freeform WFMU which both have significant internet listenership along with substantial on demand archives and net-only programming. With traditional public radio you can find archives of nearly every nationally syndicated program, as well as live streams and internet-only shows.

Now public radio has taken a big leap in mobile with the 2.0 release of the Public Radio Player for the iPhone. The previous release of the player provided an easy way to listen to the live stream of public radio stations across the country. While a convenient app, there was little to differentiate it from any number of other apps that let you listen to live radio streams.

The new 2.0 player breaks new ground by integrating on demand listening to hundreds of public radio programs, both national and local. The Public Radio Player is a collaboration between all the major public radio organizations led by the Public Radio Exchange, which is itself an innovative (but not the first) online archive of public radio content from member stations, networks and independent producers.
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