Radio Survivor

Federal Communications Commission Chair Julius Genachowski did his best to sell the agency’s upcoming National Broadband Plan to country music and country radio fans this week—both on and off the ‘Net. The Plan is due to be released this Tuesday—a blueprint for how to speed up high speed Internet adoption across the country.

“What will the National Broadband Plan mean for this marketplace of artists, radio station owners, Internet entrepreneurs, and music lovers?” he asked at a meeting of the Country Music Association’s Board of Directors on Wednesday. The answer is that it will get more rural country music lovers on line.

One thing is for sure, Genachowski had a good time delivering this pitch . “You thought I was going to say something about my wife leaving me, my dog and my truck, didn’t you?” the FCC’s boss asked the Board.

Relevance needed

But seriously folks, the meat and potatoes of the talk was that the venues for selling country music are going to the Internet. The challenge is to get the country music market to the ‘Net too, Genachowski explained: (more…)

Next Tuesday the Federal Communications Commission will reveal the entirety of its National Broadband Plan, over a year in the making. Required by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which authorized $7.2 billion in broadband stimulus spending, The Plan will weigh in on about a thousand broadband related subjects—how to help more people get it, how to help industries provide it, ways to encourage innovations that the FCC hopes will stimulate more broadband adoption, like IP video.

The chances are, though, that it won’t have much to say about radio

Oh yes, it will talk about “radio” spectrum a whole lot—in the sense of licenses from 500 KHz to 2.5 GHz that licensees use to transmit video, voice, text, audio, and whatever. But unlike every other broadband related medium, from social networking through web video, almost no one has anything to say on a policy level about radio delivered over high speed Internet, either through desktops, laptops, netbooks, or smartphones.

Indirectly, however, the National Broadband Plan will no doubt have an impact on both Internet and broadcast radio. Here are my speculations as to why and how. But nota bene, this is strictly thinking out loud stuff; as the saying goes, ‘I’m just talking.’ (more…)

Sirius XM satellite radio CEO Mel Karmazin warned the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday that the FCC’s proposed non-interference rules with a nearby wireless band won’t do.

“We are extremely disturbed by the proposal,” Karmazin confided in a letter sent to the agency’s Chair, Julius Genachowski. “The proposed rules seem to bear little resemblance to the technical record in this proceeding. More importantly, the proposal raises the real and direct threat of crippling interference to our 35 million current listeners and the 90 million satellite radio-equipped vehicles that will share the road with mobile WCS by 2015.”

As we’ve reported, Sirius XM and the owners of spectrum in the Wireless Communications Services band have been wrangling for years about how to avoid interference, given the nearness of their licenses to each other in the 2.3 GHz zone. The owners of WCS, which include AT&T, Comcast, and NextWave, want to step up use of the region for broadband, but these interference concerns have gotten in the way.

Last year, WCS reps proposed compromise limits on transmission power for WCS base stations and Sirius XM repeaters. But Sirius questions whether the interference tests conducted in Ashburn, Virginia upon which the recommendation was based would be as accurate as looking at Clearwire’s WiMAX network in the Philadelphia area, especially when it comes to mobile video use. “As this data was based on the real-world functioning of an operational WiMAX system, it provides a more transparent look into mobile handset performance than any other WiMAX-related information or description previously filed in these proceedings,” the company wrote last month.

WCS and Sirius XM engineers had a meeting about the FCC’s latest proposals on Tuesday. We don’t have a copy of the plan, but here’s the rest of Karmazin’s reaction to it: (more…)

As Federal Communications Commission watchers everywhere know, a huge part of the agency’s strategy to build out the nation’s broadband infrastructure will be to get more spectrum licenses to the wireless industry. In fact, FCC Chair Julius Genachowski says the Commission’s National Broadband Plan will propose freeing up 500 MHz over the next decade. And then there’s this comment from Genachowski, which has me scratching my head a bit:

“The Plan proposes resolving longstanding debates about how to maximize the value of spectrum in bands such as the Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) or Wireless Communications Service (WCS) by giving  licensees the option of new flexibility to put the spectrum toward mobile broadband use—or the option of voluntarily transferring the license to someone else who will.”

We’ve been watching the WCS fight for a while here at Radio Survivor, and (more significantly) so have Volvo, Ford, Chrysler, Comcast, AT&T, NextWave, and quite a few members of the House of Representatives, all of whom have communicated with the FCC on this matter (Mercedes-Benz just filed a week ago).

Here again is the “longstanding debate,” in a nutshell. As the table below indicates, Sirius XM transmits its content over spectrum very close in proximity to the Wireless Communications Services band. (more…)

Slacker radio's auto refreshing feature

The Slacker mobile radio service unveiled BlackBerry 3.0 and Android 2.0 from Research In Motion today. The upgraded operating systems allow users to update their favorite stations via a “Cache Station” menu within the app. Or they can use an “auto refresh” feature that wakes the mobile up overnight and updates station content.

“Cached stations are stored on the memory card of the BlackBerry smartphone and can be played on subways, planes and all destinations in between with no network drop-outs and minimal battery usage,” the release Slacker sent us boasts. “Along with station-storing capabilities, Slacker Radio Plus features ad-free listening, song lyrics, unlimited song skipping, unlimited song requests and more.”

Ditto for the Android, that is, if the user has a Slacker Radio Plus subscription. If you’ve got Slacker Basic Radio you can try the new features out on either Android or BlackBerry for free for fourteen days. (more…)

A recent article on Retrevo.com (“the ultimate electronics marketplace”) analyzed how consumers view shopping on their mobile phones and how they’ve reacted to the associated advertising on their devices. In general, Retrevo concluded that consumers are warming up to researching and shopping with their mobile phones, but many appear to be turned off by mobile ads, often tuning them out.

These findings have big relevance for mobile radio, which is still looking for the business model that will make it more sustainable.

Of the consumers surveyed (18+), those under the age of 35 seemed to enjoy doing product research on their phones the most (at least 50%). 15-17% of this group made purchases using their phones, an impressive number compared to consumers aged 35 and up (3-10%). Of the consumers who used their mobile devices for a purchase, 59% stated that they “searched for deals, found them, and got the best price,” while only 8% said that it “wasn’t worth it” and “wouldn’t use it again.”

With regard to ads on their mobile phones, 30% of the consumers under 35 and 41% of the consumers over 35 said that they found them irritating. But 20% of the consumers under 35 and 9% of the consumers over 35 stated that they have responded to an ad on their mobile phone.

As an individual who falls under the 35 and below category, I wonder how accurate these findings are. Although my phone has both internet and TV capability,  I have never intentionally used either function due to the insanely high data prices. Specifically, I have never used my internet capability to browse product options, and I can’t think of any of my friends (who fall under the same age category) who have either (for similar reasons).

I’d be curious to learn more about Retrevo’s sample with specific regard to any geographical, gender, or other possible bias and would appreciate further input from individuals who fall under either age category.

The FCC has begun a more extensive probe of wireless ETFs, evident in a letter they sent to AT&T, Google, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless yesterday. The letters, written by the FCC Consumer Bureau Chief, Joel Gurin, and the Wireless  Bureau Chief, Ruth Milkman, requests each company to provide information relating to facts and data on “the consumer experience in the wireless termination fees” with the purpose of “gather[ing] information about whether customers are adequately informed about [insert company]’s Early Termination Fees (‘ETFs’) for wireless service.”

The letter states that the existing ETFs are “substantial” and that the FCC believes that “it is essential that consumers fully understand what they are signing up for.” It also states that there is a growing concern over the fact that “there is no standard framework for structuring and applying ETFs throughout the wireless industry,” and that companies with no ETF policy actually exist.

Requesting each company to provide proof of how they publicize ETFs to consumers, the letter continues on to pose twelve specific questions: (more…)

Is the iPad good for mobile internet radio?

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.

The Stitcher mobile radio service is adding another gay oriented radio show to its schedule: Out in the Bay, a regular program on National Public Radio affiliate KALW-FM in San Francisco (91.7 FM). Out in the Bay is hosted and produced by  Eric Jansen and  Marilyn Pittman, both  of whom have tons of radio experience at Bay Area public and commercial stations: KQED-FM, KGO-AM, and shows like PRI’s “Marketplace.”

Pittman even did a stint at an early online radio service called GAYBC.com which eventually became  Sirius radio’s OUTQ channel (side story: I remember GAYBC because in 1999 they interviewed me about my first book about KPFA in Berkeley; one of its early managers in the 1950s, Wallace Hamilton, later became a prominent gay rights activist).

Stitcher has been helping the fill the void left by the demise of KNGY 92.7,  the Bay Area’s gay oriented dance  music station until it was sold and reformatted. The mobile service hired  KNGY’s popular morning show duo, Fernando and Greg, who now offer a regular podcast titled Fernando and Greg: Side Show. It’s a “side show” because  the team has also been picked up by CBS music station 99.7 (“Moovin’ 99.7″), which has a decent enough pop music format.  On the Stitcher show F and G warn listeners they’ll talk about “all the stuff we can’t talk about on 99.7,” so be forewarned (ooh ooh).

Anyway, good news, this Out in the Bay addition.   They do lots of interesting interviews,  including ones with John Waters, Ang Lee, Cybill Shepherd, Augusten Burroughs, and Charo. Their newest cast, now available on Stitcher, has an interview with writer Michael Luougo, who has an update on homophobic violence in Iraq.

Funny, there’s a real gap in AM/FM programming for gay folks in the San Francisco Bay Area, which I’ve never quite understood given that demographics’ huge purchasing power. But one shouldn’t underestimate terrestrial radio’s inclination towards risk averse decision making, so there’s that.

Oh, and Stitcher finally has released a download for the Blackberry 8330, so I’ve got it on mine. Plays real good,  too.

The Slacker mobile radio team sent us a press release this morning saying the service is now available in Canada. “Turning Canada on to personal radio has been some time in the making, and we are proud to unveil our Canadian Slacker Radio experience,” declared Slacker marketing Veep Jonathan Sasse in the  statement. “Whether it’s from the web or a smartphone, Slacker takes the work out of listening to your favorite music wherever you want.”

And the release continues:

“Canadian music fans will have access to the free Slacker Basic Radio for up to 30 days. After 30 days, they can upgrade to Slacker Radio Plus, featuring all the same great benefits of Slacker Basic Radio along with station caching for supported mobile devices, ad-free listening, complete song lyrics*, unlimited song skipping, song requests and more. Station caching enables mobile listeners to store their personal stations on selected smartphones for listening anywhere, anytime, uninterrupted.

Listeners can store a station by simply selecting “Cache Station” from within the supported app. The station can then be downloaded via Wi-Fi, over USB or through the cellular network. Cached stations are stored on the smartphone and can be accessed on planes, subways and everywhere in between requiring minimal battery usage and eliminating the need to access the mobile carrier network to play music.”

One question we had about the statement. It calls Slacker “the first personal radio experience to service Canada.” Hey Canadians, is that the case? We know that you can’t get Pandora up there (except maybe by proxy). What about last.fm? Here’s a comment from a disgruntled Canadian. What are the  availabilities?   Send us your comments.