Many smartphones today already come with FM chips. In other countries, these get turned on. But not all cellular carriers in the United States support FM radio out-of-the-box. Sprint only began "lighting up" those FM chips in 2013.
Now AT&T is the latest telecom company to add support for FM radio, partnering with the company NextRadio to offer access to radio programs that come to you over the traditional airwaves rather than the Internet. NextRadio is an app that adds an FM tuner to your smartphone, letting you select and change channels.
"This is a big milestone for the radio industry," said NextRadio in a statement, "and shows working together and supporting this initiative is paying off."
Radio stations have been asking regulators to make turning on FM chips a mandatory requirement for cellular service providers. But Tom Wheeler, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, has said he wants to leave that decision to the telecom companies.
The National Association of Broadcasters, which represents radio stations in Washington, welcomed AT&T's deal with NextRadio on Tuesday, calling it a "new beginning in mobile technology."
Of course, cellular providers have an incentive to discourage radio listening so that consumers will rely more on Internet streaming — a medium that has taken off with services such as Spotify and Rdio.
AT&T didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
