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Roger Lanctot: Car Radio Facing Digital Vulnerability

by Roger Lanctot

Roger Lanctot is Associate Director of Strategy Analytics, and a thought leader in the connected-car space. In this guest article, he starts by noting that GM removed HD Radio from five 2015 car models, and nobody seemed to care. “HD Radio is poised to realize its full potential to transform the listening and content integration experience in the car. But work remains to be done and questions of signal quality must be resolved. Recent events suggest that consumers and (at least one) car maker are in danger of tuning out.”
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WorldDMB examines DAB adoption in Europe and Australia

WorldDMB released an infographic compiling data about use of broadcast digital radio in Europe and Australia. The report highlighted three of the key trends emerging in digital radio for those regions: Digital switchover is firmly on the agenda in Europe; network coverage is now over 90% of the population in the UK, Switzerland, Norway, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands; in the UK, 61% of new cars sold have DAB as standard, and in Norway over 60% have DAB/DAB+ fitted. Continue Reading

Abacast becomes WO Streaming, as WideOrbit integrates products

WideOrbit announced this morning the launch of WO Streaming, a re-branding and integration of the Abacast Clarity product in the company’s software suite. WideOrbit acquired Abacast last June. Clarity (now WO Streaming) is Abacast’s cloud-based streaming and ad-insertion solution. Continue Reading

Editor’s Notebook: Ipsos In-Car Audio Study confirms people like what they’re familiar with

by Brad Hill

A new Ipsos In-Car Audio Study, sponsored by iHeartMedia, reveals that most repondents listen to AM/FM radio in the car, and overwhelmingly like push-button radios in the dashboard. This column notes that the average American car is 11.4 years old, and that technology change is always resisted by a preference for the familiar. Continue Reading