THE RADIO TUNER ON YOUR PHONE EXPERIMENT

In 2016, I became VP of CHR, Hot AC & Rhythm for Cumulus Media.

I came into the job thinking we had an opportunity to change the direction of radio. Put more local back into the mix. Utilize our PDs in individual markets to help formulate what we played and how we programmed our stations.

I actually held a Friday music meeting with some of our PDs—Leslie Whittle, Davey Morris and Joe Dobbins, to name a few. I tried to rotate other PDs into the mix, including programmers from smaller markets, so they had input and insight into the music selection process.  It was a fun collaboration.  But I digress.

THEN CAME HURRICANE MATTHEW

In October 2016, Hurricane Matthew was bearing down on Florida's east coast.

One of the stations I was responsible for was WAOA/107.1 A1A in Melbourne, Florida. The National Hurricane Center reported tropical-storm and hurricane conditions in the Melbourne/Cape Canaveral area as Matthew moved just offshore.

At about the same time, something fascinating was happening with smartphones. NextRadio was working with manufacturers and wireless carriers to make it possible for certain Android phones with compatible hardware to receive live, over-the-air FM radio.  Not streaming.  Not cellular.  Actual FM radio.

That distinction became incredibly important with a major hurricane approaching.

We knew there was a possibility that power, internet service and cellular networks could be disrupted. So WAOA PD Mike Vincent began telling listeners that if they had a compatible Android phone, they should download NextRadio. If cellular or internet service became unavailable, they could still receive local FM broadcasts and emergency information over the air.

After Hurricane Matthew passed, I contacted the NextRadio people and asked what they had seen.

My recollection is that they usage in our area had increased by nearly 400% during the week of the storm.  I haven't been able to locate the original market-level report to independently verify that exact number a decade later, so I'm relying on my recollection of that conversation. But subsequent NextRadio research documented the same basic phenomenon: during major weather emergencies, people with FM-capable phones increasingly turned to local radio for information.  That experience stuck with me. It was the silver bullet.

Why shouldn't every smartphone be capable of receiving free, over-the-air local radio?

No subscription. No paywall. No cellular data required. And, perhaps most importantly, another communications path when other infrastructure fails.

SO WHY DIDN'T IT HAPPEN?

This is where the story gets more complicated than I originally remembered. Ajit Pai became FCC Chairman in January 2017.  Pai had previously worked as Associate General Counsel at Verizon from 2001 to 2003 before eventually joining the FCC and becoming a Commissioner.

But here's something important: Pai actually supported activating FM capability in smartphones.

Shortly after becoming Chairman, he publicly argued that there was a compelling public-safety case for activating FM reception in smartphones.  What he did not support was an FCC mandate requiring manufacturers or carriers to do it.  He believed the marketplace should make that decision.

Later that same year, after Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, Pai publicly called on Apple to support FM reception, saying that when wireless networks go down, smartphones capable of receiving FM broadcasts could provide Americans with potentially lifesaving information.  Think about that for a moment.  The Chairman of the FCC publicly acknowledged the value of having free broadcast radio available on the device almost every American carries.  Yet the FCC stopped short of requiring it.

Apple responded that its newer iPhone 7 and 8 models did not contain the necessary FM radio hardware and antennas to enable reception. The National Association of Broadcasters disputed portions of Apple's characterization based on its own teardown research and continued urging Apple to include FM capability in future devices. FCC officials also acknowledged at the time that it wasn't clear whether the agency had the legal authority to mandate FM activation.

And ultimately, the marketplace decided.  Look at your phone today.  We know how that turned out.

WHICH GOT ME THINKING ABOUT THE FCC

Who at the FCC has actually worked in broadcasting?  Not regulated broadcasting. Not represented broadcasters as an attorney. Not studied broadcasting.  Not written policy about broadcasting.

Actually worked inside a radio or television station.  Programming. Sales. Engineering. Management. Operations.  Running a station every day and being responsible for serving a local community while also generating enough revenue to keep the lights on.  I started looking and what I found surprised me.

The current FCC has three Commissioners: Chairman Brendan Carr, Commissioner Olivia Trusty and Commissioner Anna Gomez.  All three have extensive professional qualifications in communications law, telecommunications policy, government and regulation.  But I have found no documented professional experience among the current Commissioners of actually working inside an AM/FM/TV broadcast station.  I then looked at the publicly available biographies of their senior staffs and current senior Media Bureau leadership.  Again, I found considerable expertise in law, regulation, government, telecommunications, wireless and technology.  What I did not find among the senior people was significant professional experience actually operating a terrestrial station.

I want to be careful here: the FCC employs hundreds of people, and detailed employment histories aren't publicly available for every career employee. There may well be people within the agency who have worked at radio or television stations. But at the Commission and senior leadership level, station-level broadcast operating experience is remarkably non-existent.

THEN I FOUND JIM QUELLO

To find an FCC Commissioner with substantial professional experience actually running broadcast facilities, I had to go back nearly three decades.

James H. Quello.

Quello entered commercial broadcasting, joining WXYZ-AM in Detroit before moving to WJR. He eventually became Vice President and General Manager of WJR and spent decades in broadcasting. His career included programming, management, community service and industry leadership.

He is even credited with helping put legendary Detroit personality J.P. McCarthy into a key drive-time position. McCarthy went on to dominate Detroit morning radio for decades. 

Quello joined the FCC in 1974 and served approximately 23½ years, including a period as Acting Chairman. His FCC tenure ended in 1997.  That means it has been nearly three decades since the Commission included someone with that level of hands-on station management experience.

And something Quello said after leaving the Commission stopped me cold.

In the May 10, 2002 issue of Radio & Records, Erica Farber interviewed Quello about his broadcasting and FCC careers.

Explaining why he wanted to serve on the FCC, Quello said:

“The one thing that bugged me was that the commission had an average of power and a shortage of practical knowledge.”

That's quite a statement from a man who spent more than two decades on the Commission.

Quello believed at least one Commissioner should understand what it meant to be responsible for the financial success of an actual communications business.

He also told Farber that his industry experience allowed him to understand its strengths and weaknesses. And when the discussion turned to radio's future, Quello's prescription was remarkably simple:

“Local, local, local.”  He believed local service and civic involvement were fundamental to radio's future. Twenty-four years later, I think his observation about practical knowledge deserves another look.

THREE QUESTIONS

1. Does today's FCC have people who understand radio regulation?

Absolutely. There is tremendous expertise inside the agency involving communications law, spectrum, allocations, licensing, interference, ownership and technical regulations.

2. Does today's FCC leadership have exposure to the communications industry?

Absolutely. There are people with backgrounds in wireless, telecommunications, technology, communications law and government policy.  But those things aren't necessarily the same as running a broadcast facility and understanding daily operations and challenges.

3. Does today's Commission include someone who has actually programmed, managed, sold, engineered or operated a commercial radio station?

Based on the professional histories I have been able to document, no current Commissioner or Senior Staffer does.  And that raises a larger question.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE PEOPLE MAKING THE RULES HAVE NEVER DONE THE JOB?

This isn't an argument that attorneys, engineers, economists or telecommunications experts don't belong at the FCC.  Of course they do.  The communications ecosystem is enormously complicated.

But shouldn't broadcasting expertise have a seat at that table too?

The FCC regulates an industry built around something very different from most digital platforms.

Broadcasting is local. Its spectrum is public. Its signals are freely available. Its licensees have public-interest obligations. And during emergencies, local broadcasters can continue delivering information without every listener establishing an individual data connection to a cellular network.

That brings me right back to that phone in my pocket.

WHAT IF A RADIO TUNER HAD BECOME STANDARD ON EVERY SMARTPHONE?

Imagine if, beginning around 2016, every smartphone sold in America had included an easy-to-use FM receiver alongside its other standard functions.  No special app hunt.  No subscription.  No data plan required to listen.  You tap RADIO just as easily as you tap Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music or another audio app.  What would radio look like today?

Would more young people have discovered local radio because it was sitting on the device they use all day?  Would radio have become a more important part of the mobile ecosystem? 

Would broadcasters have had a stronger incentive to invest in personalities, local news, community information, sports, events and compelling local programming?

And during a hurricane, wildfire, earthquake or widespread network outage, wouldn't having another independent way of receiving emergency information be valuable?  Those questions matter even more because the economics are different. Streaming audio requires data infrastructure and exists inside ecosystems built around subscriptions, advertising, data consumption, apps and user engagement.

An FM receiver doesn't.  Once the phone contains the necessary receiving hardware, the radio signal arriving at that device is free over the air.   That doesn't prove that wireless carriers or technology companies deliberately kept FM out of smartphones to protect revenue. I haven't found evidence strong enough to make that accusation.  But it does raise a legitimate policy question:

When the marketplace decided whether Americans would have free broadcast reception built into their phones, were the financial incentives of the companies making those decisions necessarily the same as the interests of consumers and local communities?

That's a question worth asking.

MAYBE JIM QUELLO WAS RIGHT

Maybe the FCC doesn't need fewer lawyers, engineers or technology experts.  Maybe it needs a few more broadcasters.  Someone who has sat in a station during a tornado warning.  Someone who has watched the phones light up when a community needs information. Someone who understands why a local personality matters. Someone who has had to make payroll. Someone who has sold advertising, dealt with ratings, hired talent, programmed music, managed an engineering problem and stood in a conference room trying to figure out how to keep a station relevant.

Someone with what Jim Quello called “practical knowledge.”

Would FM reception on every smartphone suddenly solve all of radio's problems?  Of course not. Radio still has to create something people want to hear. But access matters.

If free local radio had occupied a permanent place on the device Americans carry everywhere, I believe broadcast radio would have had a much stronger opportunity to compete for mobile listening. Maybe that opportunity has passed. Or maybe it hasn't.

Perhaps the real question isn't whether government should force Americans to listen to radio.  It shouldn't.

The question is whether Americans should have had—and perhaps should still have—the choice to receive their local broadcast stations easily, directly and free on the most important communications device they own. So I'll leave you with this:

Would putting free over-the-air radio on every smartphone be a game changer for broadcasting today?

Or are we just throwing spitballs at a grizzly bear?  I'd love to hear your perspective. 

And if anyone from he FCC is reading this, I’m available and willing to work relatively cheap because broadcasters deserve a seat at the table from someone who has sat in the chair.  Call me!

Sources: Federal Communications Commission statements and personnel records; National Association of Broadcasters; National Hurricane Center; Radio World; Michigan State University's James H. Quello Center; Erica Farber, “Publisher's Profile: James Quello, Former FCC Chairman and Commissioner,” Radio & Records, May 10, 2002, p. 104.