New Jersey Broadcasters Association President Paul Rotella is encouraging broadcasters to contact Verizon to embed and activate FM chips in their cellphones.
The NJBA believes it was the first state broadcast association to get behind the FM chip movement.
Now, New Jersey becomes ground zero in this awareness campaign to activate the FM Chip in Verizon’s cell phones, says Rotella in a message to members. “Moreover, getting the FM Chip activated by Verizon may now rise to be a matter of national security in the uncertain environment we find ourselves in as we are barraged by terror and health threats almost on a daily, sometimes hourly, basis,” he writes, likening FM chips in cellphones as a safety feature much like airbags and seatbelts in cars.
Sprint is embedding and activating FM chips in cellphones sold in the U.S., and T-Mobile and AT&T recently pledged to do so as well.
Rotella urges broadcasters to reach out to Verizon President/CEO Lowell McAdam and ask: “Why is it, in their home state, which was ground zero for Sandy, Verizon is the only carrier not willing to turn on the FM chip?”
