Two new phones set one-day record for NextRadio

Story by Inside Radio

The buzz about NextRadio was undeniably positive at last week’s NAB Show in Las Vegas. It almost overshadowed the release of two new popular smartphones that Sprint put on sale last weekend, both of which are NextRadio-enabled.

The Samsung Galaxy S5 and the HTC One (M8) are among the carrier’s best-selling product lines. The FM-activating app now comes pre-installed in both models and that’s having an impact for NextRadio.

Emmis says a one-day record of 5,000 downloads was set on Saturday. That’s about twice the average. “We expect to see a nice bump in activations from both of those in the coming weeks,” Emmis says in an update to the industry.

The latest figures show the app has now been downloaded more than 300,000 times with users logging 275,000 hours of listening to more than 8,400 FM stations. Emmis CTO Paul Brenner told the Las Vegas conference that Sprint is rolling out a handset at a time, adding, “The growth curve is outgrowing what we expected it to do.”

Sprint product manager Eric Williams said last week that the company’s internal data shows use of NextRadio is “growing straight up” and urged broadcasters to add interactive features and album art to keep the public engaged.

FCC’s Clyburn “impressed” by NextRadio.

It looks like the NextRadio booth was a must-see for the FCC at last week’s NAB Show.

Commissioner Mignon Clyburn says like chairman Tom Wheeler and commissioner Michael O’Rielly, she too had a chance to see firsthand the radio industry’s FM entry onto Sprint phones.

Clyburn says she was “impressed” by NextRadio, calling it “fascinating” and “consumer friendly” and deeming it one of the “innovative developments” in broadcast technology today.