Sprint finalizes deal with radio industry

Story by Inside Radio

The radio industry’s long, hard quest to activate FM receivers on cell phones takes a major step forward as Sprint announces it has signed a deal with the industry to install the NextRadio app on its smartphones beginning with two models: the HTC One and HTC EVO 4G LTE. The first of its kind deal will allow the mobile company to provide the NextRadio service on a broad range of Sprint smartphone devices during the next several years.

The free app comes preloaded on HTC One from Sprint for all new activations. Sprint says customers who already own HTC One or HTC EVO 4G LTE from Sprint can download NextRadio through Google Play at no additional charge. From Aug. 16 through Aug. 30, Sprint will offer a special two-for-one promotion of the HTC One.

A big part of the mobile company’s marketing pitch is the ability to listen to your favorite local radio station without draining its battery life. “When compared with streaming, NextRadio consumes about three times less battery life than other music apps,” Sprint says in a press release. The company is also playing up the interactive radio listening experience enabled by the app, which uses a wireless connection to bring to life additional content such as album art and artist information, listener feedback, song tagging capabilities, enhanced advertising options and social integration.

“Our customers already enjoy listening to a variety of music apps on their smartphones, but NextRadio makes it easier than ever to interact with the local radio stations they enjoy listening to in the car virtually anywhere,” Sprint SVP of product development Fared Adib said in a statement. “Marking another innovation milestone for Sprint, our partners at NextRadio is transforming the FM radio listening experience by allowing users to interact with their favorite radio shows by calling or messaging directly from their smartphone.”

NextRadio allows users to browse stations in their local area by genre or frequency, set favorites, view recently played stations or use a traditional tuner interface; call or text the radio shows and send instant feedback to the station; view album art, station logos, song and show details, and instant actions like sharing or purchasing songs right from their phone.

A headset or speaker wire plugged into the 3.5mm stereo audio jack is required and serves as the antenna for the FM radio chip. Stations on the NextRadio onscreen guide are divided by music genre or can be selected using the station’s dial position. The app also includes radio station logos, slogans and programming description.

Data for the NextRadio app is supplied by TagStation, the cloud-based engine that offers stations the ability to upload branding images that will display as default artwork in the app, as well as call letters, format, station name and slogan. This basic, free level of station integration is open to all radio stations. If a station does not register at TagStation, listeners using the NextRadio app will still be able to hear the radio station but may not see the station’s logo displayed. More than 1,500 stations have signed up for the free services offered by TagStation and thousands more are expected following today’s product launch. Beasley, CBS Radio, Entercom, Greater Media and Hubbard have registered for the additional services through TagStation. “Today we set a new course as an industry, one that will bring exciting audience and advertiser engagement opportunities,” Emmis Chairman & CEO Jeff Smulyan said. “This announcement is a credit to the entire radio industry, which has unified to make this happen.”

“We’re excited that an innovative wireless carrier like Sprint is leading the effort to offer American consumers something they’ve always loved – listening to the radio – right in the palm of their hands,” NAB CEO Gordon Smith says. “This service expands on that experience by enabling consumers to interact with local broadcasters directly through the application.”