NAB President Curtis LeGeyt appeared on Texas Public Radio for an in-depth discussion on the state of the AM for Every Vehicle Act and the future of AM radio. Furthermore, LeGeyt was blunt on one stance that shouldn’t be the reason to save AM radio.

“I don’t think nostalgia should be enough to save AM,” LeGeyt said on KSTX San Antonio’s The Source.

The standout moment from the discussion with LeGeyt was regarding the decision to cut AM, which was coming from a place of removing in-car free entertainment. He noted the automakers’ reasons for possibly making this decision, “Don’t pass the smell test.”

“These auto manufacturers want to make sure they can monetize anything happening in an automobile,” LeGeyt added. “AM is not good business for automakers.”

Congress is actively supporting the AM for Every Vehicle Act. The interview on Texas Public Raider ended with the NAB president addressing the future of radio without dashboard access. LeGeyt warned that if radio were not accessible in cars, it would jeopardize its viability.

After the debut of its SpotOn and Futuri AudioAI features, Futuri has announced a new partnership with leading broadcast software company RCS to integrate its software and resell it outside the United States.

The announcement of the new partnership comes after the company has already agreed to deals with new partners in both Germany and France.

RCS will resell Futuri AudioAI, which was previously known as RadioGPT, and the company’s new spec spot, commercial, and promo software SpotOn for the Cleveland-based broadcast technology firm.

“Futuri has driven the conversation about the adoption of AI in the broadcast industry, and the response we’ve had from companies worldwide that want strategic AI solutions has been vast,” said Futuri Founder and CEO Daniel Anstandig. “We’re proud to partner with Philippe Generali and the fantastic team at RCS to help bring our solutions to the global markets that need them.” 

“Expanding upon our collaboration with Futuri, we leverage our respective strengths to propel new technology on a global scale,” said RCS President and CEO Philippe Generali. “This partnership represents a noteworthy milestone in the evolution of audio creation and consumption. We are excited to reshape the media landscape, a tradition we have upheld for decades.”

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) presented a recap webinar on Tuesday, with the importance of audio and its commanding attention being the lead topic.

Dentsu collaborated with Lumen Research to conduct three studies on audio formats, including podcasts, radio, and music streaming. The studies revealed that audio outperforms video to grab people’s attention and generate brand recall.

“Audio is the one medium that is surpassing Dentsu norms,” Audacy Senior VP of Research and Insights Idil Cakim told Podcast News Daily. “It’s a wonderful cross-media platform snapshot talking about the importance of audio and the attention that it commands.”

Dentsu conducted a study to analyze how audience attention affects brand recall. The study found that audio ads outperformed other advertising campaigns analyzed by Dentsu, achieving a brand recall accuracy of 41%, which exceeds the average of 38%.

Additionally, the brand choice uplift for audio ads was 10%, nearly double the norm of 6%. Researchers largely ignored audio when studying attentiveness for video until Dentsu and Lumen Research’s Attention Economy project in July.

During Tuesday’s IAB Zoom discussion, PwC’s ad forecast was revisited. The estimates project that podcast revenues will increase by 25% year on year, reaching $2.3 billion by 2023 and $4 billion by 2025.