Since my forwarding of Rhoads' "Radio Ink" article caused a lot of response on
these lists, here are some responses refuting Rhoads' suppositions about the
"impending" disappearance of AM & FM radios in cars...
Kinsey Wilson of NPR sent out an email to its station reps:
I wanted to respond briefly to the concerns raised on this list by Eric Rhoads’
blog post (below). The suggestion that automakers are preparing to simply
eliminate AM/FM radio from the dash in the next five years is frankly at odds
with anything we’ve heard in our dealings with more than a dozen manufacturers
over the past three years. When I saw Chuck Miller’s post, I reached out to
Don Grage, who manages NPR’s “connected car” initiatives and is in daily
contact with the car companies; and I exchanged e-mail with Fred Jacobs, who
was on the panel that provided the fodder for Rhoads’ post. Fred said the claim
was made a Gartner analyst at the very end of the session and that he offered
little support for his contention. (You can see Fred’s response to the
controversy in a post he published this morning under the title “Why the Sky
Isn’t Falling.”)
Our take: We are not aware of any move to eliminate AM/FM reception from
the automobiles. At the same time, it’s clear that automakers are incorporating
a variety of entertainment alternatives in the dash and that the “center stack”
is undergoing the same kind technological transformation that were seeing on
other platforms. While we don’t expect radio to be eliminated, it’s quite
possible that the simplicity of AM/FM channel selection will suffer as more
options become available.
That’s why we’ve been working to ensure that NPR and local public radio
content has a prominent, branded presence in the cars of the future and that
our programming is not lost amid the clutter or rolled up by aggregators.
We’ll continue to provide details of these efforts as they move forward
and hope in the meantime we can help keep things in perspective.
General Motors' "Chief Infotainment Officer" (whatever that is!) sent out this
email:
General Motors Will Not Abandon Radio
The recent editorial by Radio Ink Publisher Eric Rhoads "A Cold Harsh Reality
for Radio," quoting panelists at Convergence 2013 in Santa Clara, has amplified
the discussion about the role of AM/FM in future automobile dashboards.
Eric's piece has generated pages of feedback from the radio industry and
has been shared, liked, and tweeted more than any Radio Ink piece in years.
The article prompted this response from General Motors Chief Infotainment
Officer Phil Abram:
Dear Mr. Rhoads:
Your March 8 article "A Cold, Harsh Reality For Radio" came as a surprise to me
and the Global Connected Consumer team at General Motors. We are responsible
for setting the strategy for infotainment systems across GM. While we are
excited about the possibilities of Internet radio services and other emerging
services, we understand that AM/FM radio is still a significant source of news
and entertainment. In fact, it is an expected feature.
We can’t speak for other automakers, but to be clear, GM has no near term
plans to eliminate AM and FM from GM vehicles. We are committed to providing
consumers innovative services that dramatically enhance the driving and riding
experience. We expect AM/FM radio to be one of the choices consumers have in
our vehicles.
We know consumers want to be safely connected in their cars, and we’re
enabling it with world-class infotainment platforms, telematics systems and
safety services. I invite you to visit our facilities to check out our latest
developments.
Sincerely,
Phil Abram, Chief Infotainment Officer
General Motors"
And Jacobs Media's "JacoBlog" (Fred Jacobs) says simply, "The sky isn't
falling."
http://jacobsmediablog.com/2013/03/11/the-sky-isnt-falling/
Randy Stewart
Springfield MO
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