Radio: Something to Fight for

A few weeks ago I felt a little like Diogenes while attending and speaking at a digital radio event, WorldDAB, in Prague, Czeckia.? I was carrying a smartphone instead of a lantern and I was looking for a radio advocate rather than an “honest man.”

Just a few months after a couple of European car makers had introduced relatively inexpensive electric cars with no AM/FM radios I found myself speaking with executives from Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz forcefully arguing in favor of the relevance of in-car radios.? The comments from these car executives were fueled, in part, by the enduring concern for emergency communications – in this case via digital FM radio.

The concerns of these German auto makers were colored by the impact of catastrophic floods across Bavaria and other parts of Europe that had occurred just days earlier.? In such circumstances, cellular communications often fail, leaving radio as the only reliable means of communicating urgent evacuation notices.

Also attending the WorldDAB event was a representative of the National Association of Broadcasters from the U.S. who noted that legislation calling for an analog AM radio mandate for cars sold in the U.S. was progressing through the U.S. Congress with a better than 50-50 prospect of adoption.? Both the NAB and the Federal Communications Commission have come out in support of the mandate in no small part because of its importance to emergency communications.

Unlike Europe, though, car makers and auto industry executives have not been in the forefront of radio advocacy and certainly not in support of an in-car radio mandate.? One U.S. auto maker was represented at the WorldDAB event and his presentation highlighted the unique role played by the auto industry vis-à-vis broadcast radio.

Frank Nowack, function owner broadcast radio in-vehicle infotainment and connectivity EV services for Ford-Werke GmbH, discussed the challenges of delivering digital broadcast radio content in moving vehicles.? His detailed presentation highlighted the reality that a rising tide of digital radio listening is washing up a growing debris field of consumer complaints on the shores of auto makers.

In essence, cars have become mobile sensors detecting the weaknesses of digital radio implementations.? While Nowack had substantial praise for broadcasters on the whole, he noted that it is car makers who must field consumer complaints regarding digital radio experiences that are the result of poor station implementations.

Car makers must then convey these complaints to radio stations.? This is where the inter-industry interface becomes troublesome as car makers, such as Ford, discover broadcasters with limited resources struggling to deliver a satisfactory digital experience to cars.

Nowack stated that radio will remain an essential part of vehicle entertainment systems, but that streaming services will also be implemented.? Car makers are enabling access to slide-show and electronic programming guide features associated with digital radio, which means that broadcasters need to implement these metadata elements accurately and reliably to be competitive with streaming alternatives.

In essence, broadcast radio is entering a period of innovation with the onset of digital radio, globally, and ZoneCasting and MaxxCasting (from GeoBroadcast Solutions) in the U.S. and India.? In the case of both digital radio and the GBS solutions, testing often revolves around automobiles acting as mobile labs assessing the reliability and availability of radio signals.

While digital radio has broad regulatory support around the world, including a mandate in the European Union, ZoneCasting and MaxxCasting have had a more tortured path to market in the U.S. where the NAB and National Public Radio (NPR) have fought them even as a growing roster of broadcasters have moved to adopt and implement the technologies.

GBS’ MaxxCasting allows for the expansion of improved?FM signal coverage within authorized contours?and enables some geotargeting of program content and?advertising.? ZoneCasting, which was recently granted FCC approval, allows for geo-targeted broadcasts of advertising, public service or emergency communications, or other content for three minutes/hour.?

In spite of receiving FCC approval in the U.S., NAB and NPR continue to object to the technology. ?Meanwhile the FCC has approved the deployment of more than a dozen ZoneCasting capable?FM boosters, a precursor to the introduction of ZoneCasting itself.? The technology is seeing a more widespread adoption in India.

The significance of the onset of digital radio and the introduction of ZoneCasting is the recognition that automobiles – while serving as ideal testing platforms for mobile radio reception – are uniquely suited for establishing attribution between ads and consumer actions.? Digital radio platforms such as Xperi’s DTS AutoStage will enable unique, visual, and interactive advertising experiences in cars that can be geolocated.

ZoneCasting will enable even more targeted advertising by subdividing broadcast signals to hone in on city centers or suburbs to reach unique audiences.? By subdividing the broadcast signal – for three minutes per hour – broadcasters who opt to emphasize advertising may be able to offer discounted advertising rates even as they are selling the same time slots to different geo-focused advertisers. ZoneCasting and MaxxCasting from GBS also geotarget messaging to visual displays and improve digital radio signal reception.

As noted in its presentation at WorldDAB, NAB has played an essential role in refining the integration of broadcast radio elements with Google's Android operating system. Perhaps NAB can play an enhanced role in supporting automotive digital radio deployments and stepping back from its opposition to ZoneCasting.