A Secret Radio Inside Your Phone? - Comments Page 2

The ability to hear the broadcast of the National Weather Service and Emergency Network System is in the public interest. The people own the airwaves -- not big business. GregPaul

Nokia lumia 635 at&t windoz go phone here. Fm radio app factory installed and works. Haven't activated with at&t. Wifi only at present. Need more windoz apps but pretty much love the 8.1 OS.

Sorry, but my Nokia Lumia 830 has FM Radio as a built in app. Has a page of its own in the manual. The earphones act as the the antenna.

Would like to have FM on my Apple phone. I don't go in for purchasing and don't know how to access iTunes--another of my "to-do" list of things to know!

The huge cracks in the crumbling foundation of the big carriers have been caused by GREED..... Back in the 70s and 80s, FM was cool. Here in south eastern Wisconsin, FM is a vast wasteland of repetitious, bad music and lots of loud, annoying commercials. I actually listen to Public Radio now and then. We need some good old fashioned pirate radio stations like they had in Europe back in the late 60s! Anyone remember Radio Luxembourg or Radio London?

One advantage of living in security-conscious Israel is that we not only don't have to fight to get radio broadcasts over the phone (I have an app called "FM Radio" which even changes wavelengths automatically when I move from one broadcast area to another so I remain on the same station), they even have wavelengths which broadcast SILENCE at night in time of emergency so we can go to sleep safe in the knowledge that the radio or phone will burst into action when we need it.

To Gary:

I certainly remember Radios Luxembourg and London but better by far was Radio Caroline, founded apparently because even Luxembourg (whose sound quality was uneven at best) was taken over by the record establishment. I think I recall listening to the first day's broadcasting by the much missed John Junkin back in '64.

I wonder whether the U.S. service providers request that manufacturers disable the ability to use the cell-phone as an MP3 player, for the same reason they request to disable the FM receiver.

This article just added another reason to a long list of reasons to NEVER buy a cell-phone from a service provider.

>>>> The carriers...are the manufacturers' customers...

This is the core problem!

The manufacturers' customer should be the USER, the one who pays for both the device and for the cellular service.

I have to agree with what Robert A. said. I live in an area (in hurricane territory) that sadly has not one FM radio station with a decent playlist for anyone who isn't either a senior citizen, a teen, a country music fan, or Spanish-speaking (and of course, a fan of the genre of Latino music they play). I don't stream music, I play the music I've downloaded onto my phone. I miss hearing new music in the adult alternative category, but I'll live with it. What I wouldn't like, though, is to be unable to listen to news reports the next time a hurricane (or 3, as in 2004) blasts through my area.

One of the lucky ones here...my Lumia 520 (prepaid) phone is one of the ones that does have the FM radio chip built in. Found a fabulous app (FM Radio X+) at the Windows Phone store that is dead simple to use, and have that pinned to my start screen. So I now have free FM radio available wherever I go...no cellular charges and no WiFi connection required...and all the mobile phone services I need via my prepaid contract with my carrier (Rogers in Canada), and I pay less than $100 per YEAR for all of it. Huge thanks to you, Bob, for this invaluable tip! I had no idea FM radio was available on my phone until I read your article.

I'd love to have access to FM radio on my cell phone! Grew up listening to the radio, and it's still my favorite source of local information when we lose power due to hurricanes, etc. Lately I've been streaming a good bit of radio from other parts of the country when local stations don't meet my needs - but I'd love to be able to use that chip instead!

Thanks for the informative article. As usual, it's all about the money!!!

Please. No "ummms" in your articles! As you say, grammar is important.