True story:  Several years ago, when Apple CarPlay was gaining adoption in new cars, our mobile apps company – jacapps – was having trouble connecting with the powers-that-be at Apple.  Contrary to what you might think, there is no 1-888-CALL APPLE hotline for developers with questions.

The issue?  We needed to be sure that when drivers connected with CarPlay, our radio station apps on people’s iPhones would appear on the dashboard touchscreen.  Finally, a connection at Radioplayer UK turned me onto an Apple rep somewhere in England, who helped us connect with the right folks in Cupertino.

So, the call was set up.  Now we had to anticipate what Apple’s CarPlay team was thinking and how they’d react to our request to make sure our radio apps would show up.  The call went as you might imagine.  The Apple folks listened to us, but knew very little about radio.

In fact, they wondered aloud why we’d care whether our radio apps were visible on the CarPlay home screen, as long as there was a radio tuner in the car.  And we explained that when a driver enables CarPlay (or it happens automatically), the radio tuner essentially disappears.  It’s not gone, of course, but it’s hidden behind the CarPlay screen.  The driver can get the actual radio to reappear, but it requires a few touches and someone who knows what they’re doing.  If those apps automatically populated on CarPlay, it was a win for radio.

They countered by saying they didn’t want their CarPlay screen “cluttered” (I think that was the term they used) with a dozen or so radio apps.  We replied the average person only listens to a handful of stations.  We’d probably be talking two or three apps at the most.

Of course, their team lived in and around the Bay Area, and we station-dropped that we did some research work for KQED, the local public radio station in town, as well as developed their mobile app.  They mentioned they listened to KQED’s app, and we told them that in our apps, consumers can listen to a station’s podcast lineup as well as the stream.

Eureka!  The sheer mention of “podcasts” changed the tone of the conversation.  They were intrigued by the notion terrestrial radio stations produced podcasts, accessible in station apps that could live on the CarPlay home screen.

And that led to a trial run, and eventually the green light to make this happen with all our apps, as well as those of other developers.  I don’t know this for a fact, but I believe jacapps was the first to get the okay to enable our apps for CarPlay.  I still get a little shiver every time I see the WMMR or WDRV app on my car’s Apple CarPlay screen.

The moral of the story might be different than what you’re thinking.

Technocrats and automakers don’t give a damn about radio, or any of the issues we deem to be critical.  They just don’t care, and why should they?  Do we ever stop for a minute to consider challenges facing Apple, Facebook, or BMW?

When Paul and I first started attending CES, we’d strike up a conversation with someone from Ford or Toyota.  And after a while, they’d look at our badge and ask, “So what’s Jacobs Media?”  We’d explain we work in the radio industry, and oftentimes they’d ask, “Oh, you mean Sirius?”  Or “Do you work for Pandora radio?”

And we’d explain the type of radio we work for – the AM/FM terrestrial kind.  And they’d pause and think about it, and maybe remark they grew up listening to radio in their hometown metro.  Or in some cases, they’d mention a broadcast station they listen to, usually in the car.

But care about radio?  Not a chance.

Our DASH Conferences in 2013, 14, and 15 were designed to close the gap between the worlds of automotive and radio broadcasting.  And for a moment, it worked.  The NAB created an automotive committee under the auspices of Steve Newberry.  He commissioned Paul and me to conduct a metadata audit in three markets back in 2017 – Grand Rapids, Charlotte, and Philadelphia.  The results were in a word, dismal.  While some stations had RDS and/or HD Radio displays that were good looking and accurate, many others were filled with inaccuracies, bad graphics, and messy, inconsistent text.

That’s where the industry was a few years ago.

Fast forward to today.

Today, I’m joining Steve, along with my brother, Paul, Mike McVay, and Joe D’Angelo for a webinar titled “Quu’s In-Vehicle Visual Report” today at 3pm ET.

You can still register for it here. 

The webinar is a walk-through of a new audit conducted by Quu.  They literally broke down the top 100 best-selling new vehicles based on their in-dash features:

• Do they have Apple CarPlay?
• Is the vehicle equipped with a “radio” button – or is it something like “media” or “audio?”
• Are there embedded streaming apps – like TuneIn, iHeartRadio, etc.?
• And of course, is AM/FM radio part of the infotainment package?  (Relax, they’re quite ubiquitous.)

The end result is data like this, summarizing the state of the art of the dashboard in 2024.  And by the way, Quu intends to replicate this report next year, and in successive years.

(You can download the report here.) 

On today’s webinar, each of us will be talking about what this new Quu report means to specific parts of how we run our radio stations.

I’ll be talking about programming and content considerations, as will Mike McVay.  From my vantage point, this data benchmarks key information radio’s programmers and marketers need to know when they think about messaging and marketing in radio’s #1 listening location – the car.

(It will also help us when it’s time to buy or lease that new car.)

The report makes it easy – at a glance – to zoom in on a make/model to take a deep dive about its feature set, its infotainment package, and even a photo of the display screen itself.

No bots were used in the making or this report, nor did the Quu team simply Google car models.  They physically visited dealerships, audited a vehicle’s features, and took photos of their dashboard display.

Say, I want to take a look at the BMW X5.  The top-line of the report provides key data points (also allowing me to compare the X5 to others in its class):

But these data points just scratch the surface.  If I want a deep dive on the X5, I simple click on it, and this expanded report appears:

The above screen shot is just a partial view of Quu’s checklist.

The feature I truly appreciate are the photos the Quu analysts took of the dashboard display itself.  As a programmer, this put me in a position of a record producer who test their music on a variety of speakers.

The photos give radio and digital programmers a way to see their “artwork” out on a variety of models to determine how it will display to drivers and passengers:

Here’s the HD Radio display on the X5:

Armed with this data, as a programmer, I can start planning and strategizing my messaging and tactics for dashboard communication with my P1 listeners.

Whether my station is acknowledging a holiday like Easter or Ground Hog Day, or an event like this week’s total eclipse or the 50th anniversary of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, I can now tactically use the dash in ways they simply aren’t doing over at FM radio’s audio competitors:

Join us for today’s webinar presented by Quu at 3pm ET.  You’ll learn more about the in-car battlefield and how your station can best deploy your strategy.  Paul will give you the sales story, Joe D’Angelo will talk about what’s next in the car, and Mike and I will paint the picture for programming and on-air marketing.

In less than an hour. Register here. 

In case you’re wondering about the meaning of this post’s title, it’s an homage to the Bartell family who owned a group of FM T0p 49 stations in the 1960s and ’70s – all ending in “Q.”  From KCBQ in San Diego to WDRQ here in Detroit, these stations represented the format well on the FM dial.  One of their slug lines – and bumper stickers – was “I Q in my car!”  

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Fred Jacobs

President & Founder at Jacobs Media

Fred Jacobs founded Jacobs Media in 1983, and quickly became known for the creation of the Classic Rock radio format.

Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.

In 2008, jacapps was launched - a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created - a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact.

Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.

Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.

Latest posts by Fred Jacobs (see all)

• Baby, Please Don’t Go - November 22, 2024
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