[EAS] FM Radio in cellphones during emergencies makes little sense

[John Willkie]

So, let's get rid of this "highly questionable" meme of needing the FM chip in (most) smartphones being 'important' in an emergency. 

I strongly advocate for FM being in cellphones.  Indeed, I didn't buy a cellphone until I found one that was inexpensive, worked with my carrier and had the FM chip activated; a Nokia 635 running Windows Phone. 

My experiences lead me to believe that "simply turning on" the chip in the emergency context is a red herring.  As a consumer and someone who is pro-broadcasting, I have always thought this to be a no-brainer since the days of the first iPod.  But, too much of this (in the emergency context) is close to rubbish: more like "the world is full of nails, if you are a hammer." 

For those who don't have a cell phone with an active FM receiver, I'd suggest that it isn't a matter of merely turning on the FM chip; it's also not having an antenna to receive the signal.  My phone has no FM antenna per se: one's earphones must be plugged in to use the FM, since the (sub-optimal) headphone wires are used inductively as the antenna.  So, in an emergency for EAS in phones to work:
1) The FM receiver must be "on" to receive the alert;
2) The phone's headphone must be in use;
3) The user must have the headphones at least adjacent to their ears or be on the phone during the alert.

Really, to make this work
1) The FM receiver chip (at least the front-end RF section) must be on at all times;
2) The FM receiver must work with or without headphones installed;
3) The FM receiver must be able to come out of quiescent (low power mode) on an alert signal (and go off at the eom signal) and provide the user interface with textual information and possibly save the EAS audio for playback;

I will note that the basic functionality I have outlined directly above is "built-in" to ATSC 3.0.  But, not Mr. Armstrong's analog FM.

The use case here is -- to be very polite -- fuzzily non-existent.  The user is expected to follow all the steps outlined above (and lose battery life) because cell phone alerts don't work or cover the wrong area? 

Then there is the simple matter of "where to turn to for more information" after an alert.  You have a cell phone in your hand.  Are you going to wait for an automated station to give you actual usable information, or are you going to use your _cellphone_internet_capability to search for more information? Shouldn't there be an online source for such "official news and information?"

If a user needs long-form information in an emergency, they are more likely to use streaming media to listen to your station (assuming they can) than to waste battery life on FM radio.  There is no way to "turn off" the cellular radio to save battery life (such as when cellular is down) for the FM.

There is no way that the meme "turn on the FM chips" solves much, if anything, with emergencies.  Mostly, it creates problems insurmountable or that are the purview of your competitors -- cell carriers.

John Willkie
EtherGuide Systems +1 619 567-9486