Poll Shows Consumer Demand FM in Cell Phones

RADIO ONLINE | Tuesday, September 14, 2010 | 2:30pm CT

NAB issued a statement Tuesday applauding the results of a new poll conducted by Harris Interactive, which shows that a sizeable majority of American cell phone users would like the ability to listen to their favorite local radio stations through a built-in radio receiver on their mobile phone. The survey, conducted by Harris, was commissioned by NAB.

"Today's survey results demonstrate convincingly that there is significant demand for radio-capable cell phones in the United States," said NAB Executive VP/Communications Dennis Wharton. "Unfortunately, most U.S. mobile phone users have been denied over-the-air access to their favorite free and local stations."

The poll found that 76% of cell phone owners would consider paying a one-time fee of 30 cents to access local radio stations through a built-in radio chip. Local weather and music are the top reasons they would listen to their local stations on their cell phones.

73% of cell phone owners indicated that having a radio built into their cell phone capable of providing local weather and emergency alerts in real-time would be "very" or "somewhat" important.

While two thirds (66%) of adults would use a built-in radio, young adults are even more likely to use such a feature. 71% of 18-44 year olds as well as 73% of single and never married adults indicated they would use a built-in radio to listen to local stations if their phone was equipped to receive local radio stations without using mobile apps or their cell phone provider's data plan.

A 2008 study from global market research firm TNS found that 45% of mobile users in Latin America and Asia cite AM/FM radio as one of their top three reasons for purchasing a mobile phone -- making the feature more popular than Internet access, texting and a camera function. Another 2008 study, commissioned by NAB's technology advocacy program, NAB FASTROAD, concluded that the growth of FM-capable mobile handsets is "very robust" from a global perspective."

Opining in a recent blog, NAB's Wharton suggested what might be motivating U.S. wireless carriers and device manufacturers to prevent consumer access to FM-enabled cell phones: "It could be a simple case of anti-competitive behavior," he wrote. "Every minute a cell phone user listens to free, local radio is one less minute spent using the wireless industry's fee-based applications. Moreover, since listening to local radio would require no network bandwidth."