NextRadio Hails Indiana Resolution Urging Carriers To Activate FM Chips in Their Smartphones

Backers of the NextRadio FM-in-smartphones app hailed the Indiana State Senate’s adoption Thursday of a resolution urging wireless carriers to activate the FM receiver chips in their handsets, the backers said in a Friday statement. NextRadio’s prime mover, Emmis Communications, is based in Indianapolis. The resolution “focused on the need for Indiana residents to have direct access from their smartphones to the emergency information broadcasts of local radio stations,” NextRadio’s backers said: “Activating the FM receiver in smartphones would provide immediate access to a radio in the device most residents currently carry even in the event that wireless data networks become unavailable or overwhelmed.” Except for Sprint, they said, major U.S. wireless carriers “have not taken steps to activate the FM chip in the smartphones they sell, and as they profit from the consumer data usage of streaming media, do not feel compelled to provide a free alternative.” NextRadio launched an “awareness campaign” in February with NAB support to trumpet that FM chips already are built into most new smartphones and need only to be permitted by the carrier and activated with the handset maker (see 1502200041) .