Banding Together To Keep Traditional Radio In New Cars

squonk

Fighting against the tide here I think.

https://www.rte.ie/news/2024/0711/1459301-radio-cars-digital/

I’m pushing on 50 and 90% of my radio consumption now is online. You can out traditional terrestrial radio front and centre but Pele won’t use it imho when they are connected up to their smart devices in cars anyway and can pull streams from there for any stations they want, from anywhere.

Expunge

More like King Canute than David.

Maybe if the regulator could make some more genre diverse licences available at less prohibitive costs to the operators, people might come looking for their offerings.

Shan Doras

Funnily enough, Today in 2024, you still get a few posters on forums like this and Reddit saying "The internet doesn't work in a car" or saying that they don't have enough data allowance for online streaming on account of still being on an o2 speakeasy deal from 2005🤷

timmyntc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058359167/banding-together-to-keep-traditional-radio-in-new-cars

Any actual numbers of the amount of people who stream music/radio in their cars instead of listening to radio?

I would imagine its very low, like 20% or less of drivers

Hibernicis

Wouldn’t bother me if the car radio disappeared as everything I listen to can be streamed. For almost all journeys over 10 mins I stream podcasts. Always have a queue waiting to be listened to. I fill the gaps with streamed music, or occasionally Lyric, Claire Byrne, John Creedon or Drivetime.

antfin

Radio, like linear TV, is in permanent decline and will eventually only be used by a smaller and smaller group of older people. When Spotify and multiple other platforms allow the listener to select exactly what they want to listen to without the pointless waffle and advertisments, the traditional format is facing an uphill battle. That said, most cars don't have a traditional "radio" as such anymore and just include a radio button on the entertainment console so I'd imagine the hardware wouldn't result in a significant cost.

Declan A Walsh

Here is a similar thread I started last year.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058293520/is-the-car-radio-becoming-the-last-bastion-and-saviour-for-traditional-radio-in-ireland

LambshankRedemption

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122367130#Comment_122367130

I recently moved into a place with no Sky dish. I have a Smart-ish TV but not smart enough to have built in Saorview which means I dont have normal terrestrial TV either but I have found I dont really miss it. I watched the presidential debate via YouTube. I have Amazon prime which does now work in Ireland. I dont have NetFlix but could get it if I wanted.

All my radio, and I am a heavy radio user comes via streams.

When I am in bed, I say, without opening my eyes, "Echo, play RTE Radio one", and it plays RTE 1. Having that functionality in a car where its important not to take your eyes off the road is what they should be pushing for, not resisting.

highdef

I use FM radio in my car and have no intention of changing that. I generally listen to one of three pretuned stations and I use my right thumb on a steering wheel switch to change between the three stations. It's foolproof and works fine when I drive through mobile signal dead areas, unlike mobile data sources. I'm in my mid-40's.

The J Stands for Jay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122366996#Comment_122366996

Used to work with someone who never used apps or internet on her iPhone because she only had calls and texts on her Ready to Go SIM....

In laws still have some ancient mobile plans that cost them a fortune. They also have never changed electricity suppliers......

The J Stands for Jay

They'd still need to have an arial and all the associated wiring.

Ronald Binge Redux

I stream in the car and am in my late fifties. As I don't listen to Irish country or dance music, or phone-ins or sport, Irish commercial radio and RTÉ is irrelevant to me. If they did something about their rubbish content before bothering the rest of us with their entitlement then that would be a start.

antfin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122367399#Comment_122367399

I use my thumb on the scroll wheel in the car to move between songs or shows on Spotify, or different apps that I save to my favourites or I simply use the voice controls in the car to play whatever album or playlist or song or podcast etc from whatever source that I want.. just as easy and foolproof and no advertisments or "witty banter" between the same boring songs on constant rotation. I'd say it's been years since I actually listened to FM radio in the car.

miamee

I still listen to FM radio in the car, I live in Sligo and often drive to Dublin and for the first 45 minutes of the journey if I go back roads I have no mobile signal so no streaming. I usually stick on the radio and go with that and would hate to lose it. Not planning to buy a new car anytime soon though!

Charles Babbage

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122367933#Comment_122367933

Hardly a major challenge.

Removing radios is not a good trend, everyone streaming their own stuff simply jams up the networks and is pointless when many might be listening to the same thing e.g. sports commentary.

rogue-entity

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058359167/banding-together-to-keep-traditional-radio-in-new-cars

They have only themselves to blame. They (the commercial broadcasters) consolidated into two or three owners, they defend their patch as though they've got a monopoly, they declined to pursue DAB. It's very very convenient that the Broadcasting Act of 2009 places authority for issuing FM, AM, DAB Multiplex (and DTT Multiplexes) solely upon the then BAI.

As listeners get fed up of multiple stations sounding like clones of each other, repeating the same music, or all playing the same class of programme at the same time with the resulting lack of choice, can anyone blame them for seeking to stream instead when they can?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122366996#Comment_122366996

I would be one of those, because such deadspots continue to exist for a myriad of factors, they're worse in some locations than in others but if you've ever tried to tether for a data connection while taking a train or stream while driving on just about any inter-city N road you've probably experienced it. I am still encountering them and I stream stations that are unavailable here

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122367342#Comment_122367342

I would see two reasons for radio stations to band together and call for an FM radio continue being fitted in new cars

1. If cars only shipped with, for example, the Spotify app or a similar paid-to-be-included service then that would encourage listeners to choose what they want since they're presented by default with a wider selection of music or podcasts vs what's only available on FM
2. The elephants in the room: streaming is not free, it's disproportionately more expensive for the broadcaster than the listener and both have to pay for it compared with FM or DAB broadcasting which is a fixed cost one-to-many solution.

On a more personal note, I would be strongly opposed to cars moving to abandoning FM/DAB radios, we don't need a repeat of RTE-on-Sky on our car stereos.