talkingDigital

Current rumor has the next iPhone equipped with an FM radio, something that SanDisk, Microsoft and other have offered for several years.

FM radio offers music with DJs and not much else. Anyone who knows how to use their media player probably has every song they really like already loaded on their device. This makes FM radio a very poor feature. There are few things less random than most media player’s random play feature. FM radio is one of the few exceptions. Chances are that your local CHR, AOR or Top 40 station plays the same 20 songs during the same time blocks every day – perhaps in different order.

Enter AM radio. Few people use AM radio for music. Talk, news and sports are the primary uses for AM radio – in other words, live radio. The content found on the most popular AM stations is best if listened to live. Live callers, live sports, live and breaking news.

More FM news, sports and talk stations are popping up, but AM radio is still primarily where live programs are aired.

I tend to listen to podcasts more than music on my iPod. I like podcasts because they offer timely news and conversation about topics that I am interested in. Sounds an aweful lot like talk radio doesn’t it? I would gladly give up the FM radio, voice recorder, cover art and loop single song feature for AM radio.

I can’t figure out why the industry hasn’t seen the connection. While the top radio format is often country – news, sports and talk are almost always sure bets for high ratings. The content is rarely stale to the interested listener whereas any song eventually gets old if you hear it enough times.

Shows like Rush Limbaugh, Dr. Laura, Tom Martino, Dave Ramsey etc. have more daily loyal listeners than any modern popstar. I would love to see a major manufacturer release AM radio into a device. At first analysts would gripe, but the fans of AM radio are large enough to make a big difference in sales. That is a fact that can be seen by the fact that all of the most popular talk radio shows offer monthly podcast subscriptions. If you can’t listen while you are on the go, then you must pay to listen later.