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The Final Death Blow to radio

S

Skynet74

Car manufacturers may soon stop installing AM/FM Radios in new vehicles. It sounds like an April Fools Day prank, but it's not. It's real. Howard Stern was talking about this the other morning and he remarked how this would essentially kill radio as we know it. I just decided to look it up and see what he was talking about. Here's the link

http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/transportation/blogs/automakers-may-kill-am-and-fm-radio-in-two-years

If this actually happens, it's going to be the final nail in the coffin for lots of broadcasters. It won't happen overnight since there are already so many cars on the road. But it's going to be a slow death with a very bad outcome. If you thought that Radio was a risky career to get involved in before, there is a chance that a career in skydiving may be less risky now.

It's sad, but there are already so many people turned off to commercial radio. It doesn't look like it's going to get any better now.
 
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The article didn't sound at all like AM/FM was being deleted from vehicles. I also saw no specific manufacturer identified as one of the guilty. Teenagers do not buy new cars so using that demo to drive vehicle options is not relevant. I predict that in my lifetime OTA radio will not vanish from the dash. At some point the entertainment systems, instead of being all encompassing, might perhaps be individually optioned and AM/FM might become one of those options. Given the very low cost of AM/FM technology I doubt anyone with a thought to resale would choose to omit this basic entertainment option.
 
So a commentary blog that cites another opinion blog as its only source is what passes for news today?

I'll believe this absolute nonsense when I hear names.
 
If you look at the date for that article, it's March of 2012. Since then, the story has been discredited. Reporters have asked car manufacturers if they'll be eliminating AM & FM from cars, and they've all said no. It's an old story that's now dead. There's no reason for car companies to eliminate AM & FM from cars. None.
 
Oh I think it would be dumb too. Why would you give people less options? It doesn't seem very bright. Plus there are still a couple of formats that an ipod or satellite can't replace. That would be local News and Talk. However everything else is still fairly replaceable. I just wanted to pass the story along. Stern was talking about it like it was breaking news.
 
Stern has a mad-on against terrestrial radio. I wouldn't believe a word out of his yap anyways.
 
MickeyD said:
They want to make an AM/Fm radio an option
Click to expand...

No, that is not true. As Big A stated, that report has been clarified as it was based on a reporter's misunderstanding of the facts.

In a recent seminar with auto industry and radio folks, it was made clear that having radio on the dash was found to be important to just about all consumers. The confusion centers around the fact that consumers want more, such as connectivity with smartphones, real time traffic, and even streaming audio via the dashboard. But car manufacturers are not going to eliminate what is a "must have" base for all those other things.
 
DavidEduardo said:
The confusion centers around the fact that consumers want more, such as connectivity with smartphones, real time traffic, and even streaming audio via the dashboard.
Click to expand...

And keep in mind that the big radio companies are in the business of providing content, regardless of the platform. Clear Channel already provides the in-dash traffic service for many car companies right now.
 
There has been a shift away from old style traditional radio listening. Now many people don't care to listen to local radio and wait hours for their favorite song to be played or sit through endless commercials. That would just be a waste of time when you can pull your music up off an ipod or other personal playlist in 10 seconds. So I'm sure that car manufacturers have taken that into consideration. Maybe they won't pull AM/FM out of cars altogether. However many reports show that they have at least thought about it. That's disturbing in itself.
 
I believe AM/FM Radio is slowly being phased out in new cars in favor of apps on the dashboard. Didn't a german car company announce that radio will not be standard in their new cars but rather an option?
 
Skynet74 said:
There has been a shift away from old style traditional radio listening. Now many people don't care to listen to local radio and wait hours for their favorite song to be played or sit through endless commercials.
Click to expand...

"Many people?" Really? How many people only have ONE favorite song? If lots of them have a small number of favorites, yes, it's probably more efficient to have that small group on repeat. But that's not really what many people want.

What we've seen in our research, and most other research agrees, is that most people use multiple media sources for music, depending on the circumstances. That's what car manufacturers are seeking to serve.
 
microbob said:
Didn't a german car company announce that radio will not be standard in their new cars but rather an option?
Click to expand...

The traditional AM/FM radio is the cheapest device in the dashboard. All the others cost far more to the manufacturer.

What IS going away is the CD player. That should be a concern to record labels.
 
TheBigA said:
"Many people?" Really? How many people only have ONE favorite song? If lots of them have a small number of favorites, yes, it's probably more efficient to have that small group on repeat. But that's not really what many people want.

What we've seen in our research, and most other research agrees, is that most people use multiple media sources for music, depending on the circumstances. That's what car manufacturers are seeking to serve.
Click to expand...


You take my example much to literal. Not ONLY one song. People keep their favorite Song(S) ready to go on their own personal device. YES.... Many People. I know that it scares lots of people in this group to hear such a thing since many of you work in Radio. But that is the way technology goes. Either adapt to it or be blindsided by it when your current business model goes the way of the dinosaur. Record companies were in denial for a long time too and they started to sue everybody who downloaded a song or two. When they saw that didn't get them anywhere, they had to learn to adapt out of necessity. That is the exact same thing that radio stations are going to have to do to stay alive down the road.
 
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