April 16, 2012
NAB President and CEO Gordon Smith spoke at the NAB Show about how advanced the automobile dashboard has become -- an area radio has always dominated. It's now a battle for space, as everyone wants the spot once only occupied by AM and FM radio. And perhaps radio has not been totally committed to that war. Smith challenged radio stations to decide on a path to streaming: "Where are you going to be?"
Smith said Ford is already letting people tweet in the car, and there's more technology like that to come. He said to broadcasters, "Where are you going to be? I imagine many of you are getting pressure to get into streaming. Only you know the right answer for your business. Whatever path you decide, NAB will be there on your behalf. Ubiquity tomorrow means your ability to get to people at all times in all places and on all devices."
Smith then went on to criticize the cell phone industry. "Even today, broadcast radio and TV are where the ears and eyeballs are," he said. "Even in an area of Pandora and Spotify, local radio is by far the number one source for new music. Radio has a new opportunity, including on cell phones. Carriers don't make that known and may be refusing to activate the chip. Some say they want to charge for data streaming. We're hopeful, over time, carriers will come to appreciate having an activated radio tuner."
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