Most radio stations have streams available in much better quality than FM. Why choose FM over streaming ?
Last time I went up into the mountains.
In my country mobile coverage is 99.5%.
What country is that? Even relatively well connected countries like Sweden and Norway have lots of spots out on some islands, deep in the forests or out in the mountains that don't have any mobile connection at all.
The Netherlands.
That 0.5% is mostly on the borders where there is possibility of interference with networks in the neighbouring country. The problem is also being fixed after a bit of national outrage over the fact that people can't reach emergency services in that 0.5% and the operators had to make promises to quickly cover that last bit too.
Last time when there was a power outage. Every cell tower died. When the power come back, it took about half a day before the cell towers where working again.
But, even if it is a legal requirement, it will not always work. All that is needed is a major storm that disrupts the normal power, and it will be down for days or maybe even months...
Every day, at places in and around my work, within a stones throw of the California State Capitol.
1. Only radio stations over a certain size. That necessarily means more commercial, less off-the-beaten path material. When I visit Miami, for example, there are many small, interesting radio stations with no internet portal.
2. Discovery. If you don't know what stations are available in your area, there is no simpler way to find out than simply spinning a dial along one axis. And what's the advantage of stations in your area? See #3 :)
3. Relevance of local culture. I like to hear banter, jokes, news, weather and concert listings from around my area.
4. Use of a single device. This is more of a cell phone vs. FM radio question. Of course if your phone has FM radio, you can tune in, but then you can't be on the phone and using your GPS at the same time. In my car I can scan for local stations while the GPS is running on my phone.
5. Tracking. If I'm using FM radio, I'm listening anonymously. If I listen via digital network, that info can be sold to many different countries.
6. Quality of experience. On FM, the transition between stations is nearly instantaneous. On digital wireless networks, there's always buffering, making it longer to find something good.
7. Convenience of calling in to the DJ. I often like to call DJs on local stations and ask them about the music they're playing. This is more complicated when I have to turn off the station and turn it back on when i'm done. It often takes a few minutes for them to respond. I wouldn't want to have to turn off the radio while I'm waiting for them to answer. Of course, this might not work as good on a cell phone - like #4 above, it might depend on the implementation.
Isn't it a lot easier to start broadcasting over the internet than over the air ? Operating an FM station is a huge investment. First you have to take part in the FM spectrum auction, which only occurs every couple of years, and then you'd have to bid and win a piece of the spectrum. That alone will cost you millions (last auction in my tiny country an FM frequency set you back 20 million euro for 6 years). Then you need the broadcast equipment, etc. etc.
Broadcasting on the internet, you could do that on a €25 Raspberry Pi if you wanted.
> Discovery. If you don't know what stations are available in your area, there is no simpler way to find out than simply spinning a dial along one axis.
Sure, but you have a handful of stations and they are only available in a small area. With streaming radio you have a choice of thousands of channels available worldwide. It's much easier to discover a station you like and you are not limited to the few stations in range.
> Relevance of local culture. I like to hear banter, jokes, news, weather and concert listings from around my area.
That's personal. Most people I know can't stand the DJ's on the radio who only love to hear themselves talk. It's the #1 complaint you hear about radio. One of the most popular FM stations here is the one that just broadcasts music 24/7.
> In my car I can scan for local stations while the GPS is running on my phone.
In my car I can listen to streaming music on my phone while the GPS is running on my dedicated SatNav.
> Quality of experience. On FM, the transition between stations is nearly instantaneous. On digital wireless networks, there's always buffering, making it longer to find something good.
You don't need to 'tune in' to find something, with streaming you can easily browse through a huge list of different stations and click the one you like. My phone certainly switches streams faster than my car stereo changes stations. With 100+Mbit 4G networks being common, buffering a few kB is pretty much instantaneous.
Not having WIFI or 4G available is also a good reason.
Because WIFI and 4G being down at the same time is a thing that happens ?
There actually was a bit of outrage over that last 0.5% a while back due to emergency services not being reachable in those areas and the mobile operators had to make promises to cover those areas as well. So yeah, coverage is pretty much total.
Also, big difference between emergency service and 3/4G suitable for audio streaming.