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Why is the car radio changing?

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James Cridland at OzPod 2017
Why is the car radio changing?

When you buy a new car there are lots of things you might take into account?

You might consider the make and the model, the fuel efficiency, the indoors, and maybe the colour outside too.

But how many people do you think look at the radio?

Gone are the days of the cassette, the CD player and even the 8-track.

To better understand what's going on, and why it's changing, I spoke with radio futurologist, James Cridland.

HOW MANY PEOPLE STILL LISTEN TO RADIOS IN THE CAR?

"90% of people say that they want a radio in the car. Radio is the most popular thing inside the car. 8 out of 10 Australians use a radio in the car. Less than 4 out of 10 use things like podcasts or streaming audio or indeed their own CD players.

WHAT'S INFLUENCING THE CHANGE OCCURRING?

"In this country, we typically take the same car entertainment options as Europe, where AM radio is basically being turned off. It's of course a very different world here. But we have to you know, take our car radios and most of the stuff that we see inside our cars from Europe because of the side of the road that we drive on and that's causing problems.

IS THERE A CITY/COUNTRY DIVIDE?

"I think there is a big divide. DAB+ plus is great if you live in a capital city. Most new cars come with it now. If you listen to a lot of AM radio, you'll find that DAB+ sounds better and if you're a fan of the ABC, you'll get some great additional stations as well. It works in the cap cities but not anywhere else. So for a third of Australians, it's no good at all."

WHAT SHOULD YOU LOOK FOR IN A NEW CAR RADIO?

"You typically don't normally get much of a choice when you buy a car. It's whatever is in that particular car but obviously make sure that it has AM if that's important to you. I think also being able to plug your mobile phone in, being able to listen to audio from your mobile phone is also an important thing. There is so much more choice now available on different audio apps."

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