One of the best pathways toward the promotion of a robust radio business in the immediate future is the widespread availability of FM on cell. A campaign to promote it is underway and participation from the industry is sought.
As NAB President/CEO Gordon Smith said, “This campaign is the fruition of leaders in the radio business working together to provide listeners with an exciting new broadcast radio experience that is dependable in times of emergency and provides the interactivity listeners seek. Please help us by uniting in this important effort to secure a bright future for radio.”
RAB president Erica Farber also weighed in, saying, “As radio broadcasters we continue to collaborate to bring forth innovative solutions to ensure our product is available to our listeners wherever and whenever they want it. This we know is critical to our future.”
At issue is more than just having radio available on a smartphone. NextRadio technology also increases the attractiveness of radio in the car. In short, it has the potential to be a major weapon in the battle to maintain radio’s in-vehicle dominance.
TagStation noted, “ALL local FM stations can be heard on NextRadio – 11,300 so far. Stations don’t have to “buy in” to be heard. If you can tune to it in your car, you can hear it on NextRadio. And according to our metrics, that’s about 4000 stations every day now. As broadcasters, we’re precious about resources, and NextRadio utilizes your most valuable asset: your FM signal, allowing you to spend your energy where it counts most – that content your listeners love.”
Here are the latest metrics:
* Over 1,740,000 app downloads
* Over 11,300 FM radio stations tuned to from the app
* Over 3,060,000 hours of listening through NextRadio
* A 4/5 Google Play Store user rating
