I didn’t even realize Qualcomm removed the built in FM radio from their chips. Huh.

  • thantik@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Or you could…ya know…just use the emergency safety features.

    This is a ploy by broadcasters. Just like “think of the children!!” - they want more listeners to toss more ads at. They’ve been tossing this article around for a bit now, under the guise of “safety”, because they are losing listeners.

    • darcy@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      i dont understand. what do the broadcasters get out of this? is it just exposure about the existence of radio? u can always not use the radio in your phone

      • thantik@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        FM radio has been removed from most phones for a while now. They want it added back. Having an FM radio in the device for “emergencies”, means that now phone producers will be required to have working FM radio capabilities, and if they have that much - it’s a no-brainer for them because they’re required to have it, to just add the FM radio app to the device by default. THAT is what broadcasters get out of this. They don’t actually give a shit about using FM capabilities for emergencies - it’s just a convenient way for broadcasters to force phone manufacturers to add the capability back when they don’t really care to.

        • darcy@sh.itjust.works
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          1 year ago

          i get that, but i feel like most people still wont listen to radio, even if they have an unremovable app for it.

          • thantik@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            There are OVER 6 billion smartphones in the world.

            “Most People” not listening to radio, still leaves a FUCKTON who do/will.

            There are over 250m in the US alone.

            • darcy@sh.itjust.works
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              1 year ago

              ok. now im confused as to what youre arguing. im trynna say that whether or not a phone has inbuilt fm radio hardware, it wont really sway people to listen to radio more. i understand a lot of people listen to radio still, and some dont care about it. but internet radio apps exist, so i dont think many people would change their listening habits based on whether they need to download an app (and connect to internet). not saying fm radio hardware is bad, just that i dont believe the broadcasters would really care enough to advocate for it. id say an overwhelming majority would prefer to listen to the radio in their car, alarm clock, or standalone device.

              • thantik@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                So why add FM radio back into phones then if FM radio exists in multiple places around these people already anyhow? Why do they need to force an additional device to have it?

                Additionally – in some countries, don’t companies have to pay a licensing fee to broadcasters in order to add this?

    • joshhsoj1902@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      What emergency safety features? Making a 911 call?

      The last time a major weather event happened it was really hard to get updated information, the power was out, internet was down. I only had an old battery powered radio that still had an FM tuner.

      As time passes fewer and fewer devices have the FM tuners, and it’s less and less likely I have spare working batteries for them. A phone on the other hand, I’m already setup with backup batteries I can use to recharge it, I don’t need to be as “prepared” to be able to stay up to date if it could still pick up the radio

    • cook_pass_babtridge@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      What FM broadcasters don’t have an internet radio presence? Arguably that’s more profitable from an ads standpoint since you can get analytics about who’s listening, vs FM radio where you’re just broadcasting to whoever’s out there.