Organizers expect approximately 6,000 visitors this year, following last year’s attendance of roughly 5,800 people representing 52 countries. The show’s core mission is to serve as a relationship-building hub for Christian media professionals.
Some of the most successful movies, TV shows and other Christian media projects have debuted at the convention, organizers told Radio World.
“If you have a program or product for the faith audience, the NRB Convention is the place to start,” organizers said.
Radio World readers will recognize both session presenters and exhibitors, and we asked the organization to give us a feel of what attendees with radio-related interests might expect next week in the Music City.
Regulatory and behind the mic
Exhibitors at the 2025 NRB International Media Convention, which took place last year in Grapevine, Texas.
There will be approximately 230 exhibits across the 55,000-square foot space at the Gaylord Opryland. The convention will feature several sessions focused on the radio industry, from getting the most out of your station’s faith-based programming, to understanding the current tenor of the FCC’s regulatory shifts.
On Wednesday, Juan Galdamez, senior director of broadcast strategy at Xperi, will discuss radio’s position in connected cars in “Current Technology Trends for Broadcasters.”
Attorneys David Oxenford and Joseph Chautin will lead a session regarding the FCC’s recent regulatory changes and their implications for broadcasters in “FCC Regulatory Reset.”
In a session titled “Why Listen,” Chuck Finney of Finney Media will present findings from a study his company conducted last year on what makes Christian radio listeners tune in and out of programming.
Other sessions include a Thursday workshop by Fred Jacobs of Jacobs Media on the role and importance of local radio, and a presentation by Matt Harper of Connecticut’s 104.9 WIHS(FM) on community outreach through working with local houses of worship.
The NRB radio advisory council will hold a standing committee meeting on Thursday that is open to radio professionals.
Suppliers and networks
Exhibitors at the 2025 NRB International Media Convention.
Among exhibitors that will be familiar to Radio World readers are names such as Aiir, American Amplifier Technologies, Avid, B&H, Broadcasters General Store, BSW, Christian FM Media Group, Encompass Digital Media, LinkUp Communications, Live365, RCS, Rohde & Schwarz and SCMS. (Here’s the full list.)
Broadcast networks such as iHeartMedia, American Family Association, CSN Radio, Faith Radio and K-Love/Air1 will also have booths inside the Gaylord Opryland.
The opening session features music from Michael W. Smith and Nicole C. Mullen, with remarks by H.B. Charles Jr., pastor-teacher at the Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church of Jacksonville, Fla.
On Thursday evening, Feb. 19, NRB will host an event with the White House to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the United States, featuring speakers from the White House’s Task Force 250.
AM radio and local ownership
NRB President Troy A. Miller at the 2025 NRB International Media Convention opening session.
NRB included its legislative and regulatory priorities on protecting local and faith-based broadcasters as one of its core NRB Show messages. That includes through the organization’s advocation of the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act.
“NRB is pursuing multiple legislative pathways to move the AM bill forward, including surface transportation reauthorization, the FY 2027 appropriations process and potential end-of-year legislative packages,” the organization said.
The organization is also opposed to “harmful ownership consolidation,” saying that it opposes changes to local and national television ownership rules. NRB believes further consolidation would reduce faith-based programming and viewpoint diversity.
It also continues to oppose new music performance royalties, fees or taxes on local radio and supports the Local Radio Freedom Act in both chambers.
Discussion topics include AI, legal/regulatory, programming, sales, time management, video streaming and the evolving media landscape.
An opening reception on the evening of March 31 features a special guest, sportscaster Marty Brennaman. Conference sessions the next day run until 4 p.m.
Sponsors include Quu, the Radio Advertising Bureau, the Radio Vendor Alliance and Marketron. A dozen exhibitors also are listed.
KBA CEO/President Chris Winkle said in the announcement, “With the ever-evolving media landscape, it’s crucial that radio broadcasters gain knowledge and practical information that they can apply to their stations.”
Registration is free for active IBA, KBA and OAB member stations. Others pay $199.
Xperi signage emphasizes the DTS AutoStage Video Service
Veteran radio consultant Fred Jacobs has had a month to reflect on what he saw at CES in Las Vegas.
The fact is, Jacobs says broadcast radio was again nearly absent from the tech fest. Xperi’s DTS AutoStage with HD Radio was displayed in a shiny new Mercedes-Benz CLA, but beyond that there wasn’t much for radio broadcasters to celebrate; and even that display was showcasing the platform’s video capabilities.
You can watch Jacobs Media’s CES debriefing webinar at the bottom of this story. It includes his choices for “Worst of Show” products such as audio “lollipops” and an AI robot companion for children, as well as a sampling of exhibits directly relevant to radio such as SoundHound’s agentic AI ecosystem and will.i.am’s Raidio.FYI platform.
Fred Jacobs visits the SoundHound booth. The exhibitor highlighted its agentic AI offerings.
Jacobs says he remains interested in making connections between new technology he sees at CES and how it could be applied to the broadcast radio industry.
Along with his brother Paul, Fred Jacobs searched the floor at the Las Vegas Convention Center for every bit of technology that involved radio or could affect the broadcast ecosystem.
As he describes the show in a blog post: “CES is unorthodox, challenging and mind-bending all at the same time.”
The race for AI innovation continues and the uses are stunning, Jacobs told Radio World. AI is far beyond just a buzzword; it’s foundational to most new technologies.
“It’s accelerating content creation and spreading across broadcast applications,” he said. “The omnipresence of AI again this year overshadowed everything else. That speaks volumes about where it’s all headed.”
The car remains the main focus for radio broadcasters, he said. “But this was a more cerebral CES. Less gadgetry and more AI. The tsunami or avalanche of AI is how I see it. And really, advanced applications of AI.
“It required a lot more thought of what all of this means for radio. AI is infiltrating every product.”
AI affects every square inch of new vehicle space, Jacobs says.
“Autonomous, heads-up displays, voice controls, infotainment delivery, safety and the passenger economy. Automobiles will soon be AI platforms.”
Yet carmakers were hardly represented, outside of a few autonomous vehicles. There were lots of cars, but these were used to show how AI is tying together gadgets and platforms for the convenience of the consumer.
“We’ve seen the pullback from the days car companies filled North Hall, and later the new West Hall, often with massive displays. This year, the big OEMs were missing in action. BMW was the exception, but their display was off in the Silver Lot. On top of that, perhaps surprisingly, infotainment was only a small part of their showcase.” Chinese carmaker GWM also had a display.
Jacobs learned how quickly AI is changing the way people interface with technology.
For example, electronics company LG wants to create a home hub of artificial intelligence that will control all of the connection points in the household, from appliances, maybe a robot and even to the dashboard of a car. The electronics manufacturer had the largest booth at CES.
A key takeaway is that AI is becoming more of a companion, “like an agent or assistant.” As Ford says about its own offering: “The Ford AI Assistant isn’t just another piece of software you talk to occasionally; it’s an intelligent thread woven seamlessly through every aspect of your life with Ford.”
Radio should take note, Jacobs said, because “It’s companionship, something that most media outlets do not have, but radio always has.”
He was disappointed not to see more of radio.
“We even opted not to sponsor our broadcasters’ tours this year because we just didn’t sense a lot of interest following a difficult 2025, so that didn’t help radio attendance. But in the main, the broadcaster turnout was disappointing especially when you consider who wasthere,” he said.
Over at the crowded C Space event in the Aria, iHeartMedia did have a presence.
SiriusXM staged a huge display at C Space, which caught Jacobs by surprise. On a Jacobs Media webinar recapping the convention, Chris Brunt of Jacobs Media said SiriusXM welcomed guests in a significant display space.
“Their CEO was there, and he revealed half of their new cars now have a return path for data, which means they can show listener data to advertisers and their DJs and listeners can interact through the technology. Just more in-car developments that will have an impact on terrestrial radio,” Brunt said.
Back in the LVCC West Hall, Xperi made the U.S. debut of its advanced DTS AutoStage platform. It now offers in-car video streaming based on its TiVo platform. Xperi said that five OEMs have adopted the video platform.
Xperi, Jacobs said, is “clearly going headlong into the video space. That should tell you something because these are radio people, but they see the importance of video streaming in the car.”
Still, the presence of DTS AutoStage and HD Radio was encouraging.
“With other dashboard ecosystems, broadcast radio has been mostly an afterthought, if that. With AutoStage, radio is still primary, and it shows.
“In addition, there’s the data. Xperi’s heat maps are impressive, providing radio broadcasters with actual in-car usage from the expanding AutoStage platform.”
Mercedes showed the latest version of its GLC model. Its AI-based MB.OS platform featured an optional MBUX Hyperscreen almost 40 inches wide.
Personalization and customization continue to be key elements for music delivery systems, Jacobs says. After what he saw at CES, it’s even more clear that AI will play an important role in anticipating our moods and tastes.
“Radio delivering its content on other platforms — apps, YouTube, newsletters, podcasts — can provide consumers with the types of programming and listening options they’ve come to expect from new technologies,” he said.
“The difference is that radio, when it’s doing its job, features favorite personalities who know and can reflect the local vibe.
“And then there’s the liveelement, something that digital media typically lack but radio can still deliver. A show like CES is a reminder to radio it must strategically be a different kind of information and entertainment medium in a rapidly evolving digital environment.”
Radio industry professionals Paul Jacobs, Chris Brunt, Steve Newberry, Fred Jacobs and Tony Garcia compare notes at CES.
While CES may have underwhelmed on the radio front, Jacobs says it isn’t that technology is leaving radio behind.
“While it’s true you can wander around CES and never bump into a radio, the beauty of this show is you can easily experience technology that can make radio more efficient, scalable and even better, depending on how it’s applied. That’s the reality of the AI megatrend, a technology that is showing up everywhere,across all media and industries,” he said.
“I think radio companies are quietly using AI technology more and more, but they aren’t talking about it much. It is the kind of thing where anyone in the organization can participate and make a difference, so the democratization of content and ingenuity is exciting.
“But they must dive in and learn. Social media had a similar growth pattern. Often broadcasters talked about it but many didn’t personally participate in it. That’s the case with a phenomenon like TikTok now. You can’t just talk about it — you’re got to walk the talk.”
You can watch Jacobs Media’s CES debriefing webinar below.
It’s billed as the premier conference and trade show for the communications and media infrastructure industry.
NATE Unite 2026 is hosted by NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association, and it takes place Feb. 23–26 at Caesars Forum in Las Vegas.
The organization expects approximately 3,000 attendees from all 50 states, along with international visitors. This year, the show includes several live tower safety demonstrations.
Radio World asked organizers which NATE Unite sessions attendees who maintain broadcast tower sites might want to block out on their conference schedule.
Up close and personal
The show offers both business and technical educational tracks. NATE launched a mobile app for attendees to map out their schedules, and the association recommends the app to navigate the more than 25 sessions available across the two tracks.
The conference exhibit hall is open on Tuesday and Wednesday. On a designated tower stage, there will be three different hands-on demonstrations using a real section of a tower, allowing showgoers to observe equipment, techniques and safety practices.
The National Wireless Association hosts a 30 minute session on the tower stage Tuesday, designed for anyone interested in pursuing an NWSA certification.
John Martinez and Michael Flynn of Verità Telecommunications Corporation. Credit: Tough Tower
On Wednesday on the tower stage, “Rumble on the Tower” features John Martinez and Michael Flynn of Verità Telecommunications Corporation, where they promise to “climb their way to victory.”
Communications offerings
For attendees with radio-related interests, there are several educational sessions featuring companies that our readers might recognize.
On the first day of the conference, Monday, Feb. 23, “Tower Guy Evaluation — Inspection, Maintenance and Retirement” is hosted by Timothy Klein of WireCo and will focus on guy wire design, inspection and maintenance procedures.
Kathy Stieler is director of safety, health and compliance at NATE
“Observation to Innovation: Advancing Safety with NATE STAR and Beyond” will include Kathy Stieler from NATE and Gabriel Dahl, director of software engineering with Renexus Technologies, discussing how technology is helping to simplify compliance and safety for tower crews, contractors and companies.
On Tuesday, “Building Careers, Not Just Compliance” includes speakers Ben Bowman from Safety LMS/Comtrain, Reagan Holley from American Tower, Jonathan Lark at SBA Communications and Danielle Pineault at Crown Castle. They will discuss implementing practical training programs that align with both NATE’s and regulatory standards.
The Safety Equipment Manufacturers committee will also present insights from its rope grab testing event on Tuesday, with a focus on the proper selection and use of rope grabs on antenna supporting structures.
James Lawrence
NATE Unite’s keynote speaker on Tuesday is James Lawrence, known as the “Iron Cowboy.” Originally a high school wrestler and later a mortgage professional, he gained attention in 2015 for setting the former world record for the most ironman-distance triathlons completed within a single calendar year. Lawrence topped that record in 2021 by completing 101 in 101 consecutive days.
Day three of the conference, Wednesday, will include a session on “Navigating the ANSI/ASSP Z359 Fall Protection Standards,” featuring Thomas Kramer, senior fall protection consultant at LJB Inc. It promises to provide actionable ideas to strengthen safety, compliance and productivity at height.
The Audio Engineering Society will have a presence at the NAB Show New York this October.
It also is working to raise the profile of its own annual U.S. convention, having announced last month that this year’s show would be “reenergized” and held in Nashville, Tenn.
“AES is dedicated to finding more ways for members and attendees to benefit in key markets,” said Graham Kirk, AES associate executive director, in a press release.
“This October, we are delivering a highly requested AES Show in Nashville while partnering with NAB to provide a forum for broadcast audio professionals in New York.”
In Nashville, the show will be at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center. AES is promising “a tightly curated three-day technical program” that runs Oct. 30 to Nov. 1, a Friday to Sunday, with exhibits on Saturday and Sunday.
The exhibit floor will include an AES Main Stage and a Technology Showcase. Registration will open in April.
The week before, the society will participate in the 2026 NAB Show New York, Oct. 21–22. Its press release included a welcoming quote from Karen Chupka, executive vice president of NAB Show.
AES@NAB NY will include a free exhibit floor stage open to NAB attendees, with a day of broadcast audio and streaming sessions on Thursday, Oct. 22.
“For organizations seeking a New York presence within a broadcast audio-focused environment, AES will also offer exhibition space adjacent to the AES@NAB New York stage, providing exhibitors with direct engagement opportunities alongside curated educational programming,” it said.
Up until 2024 the fall AES Show had been held in New York side by side with NAB NY, but last year AES moved it to the West Coast.
The 2026 TAB Show will be held Aug. 5–6 in Round Rock, Texas, at the Kalahari Resorts and Conventions.
Beginning next year, however, the show will head back down Interstate 35 to Austin, where TAB has secured an agreement with the JW Marriott in Downtown Austin through 2030.
In 2024, TAB had moved the show to Round Rock, and the cost of parking downtown was cited by some attendees. But a spokesperson told us that TAB has contracted a discounted self-parking rate for the 2027 show.
The TAB Show has been held in the greater Austin area since 1998.
Registration and hotel bookings for this summer’s show open May 1. Attendance is open to anyone in the U.S., not just TAB members.
Exhibitors and sponsors from prior years receive first preference for participation, and new content proposals are welcome.
John Lackness of Radio Gearheads receives the 2025 TAB Show Associate of the Year honor, pictured with TAB President Oscar Rodriguez and CBS News’ Natalie Morales. Credit: Texas Association of Broadcasters/Diana M. Lott Photography
The show includes a track for hands-on engineers that focuses on real-world examples rather than academic papers, organizers said.
Sessions will also focus on revenue growth at the local station level, including multimedia sales and content delivery via on-air, streaming and digital platforms.
Additionally, TAB is expanding its program for students looking for an entry into the business.
Approximately 24 radio and TV leaders and engineers work to develop the day-and-a-half agenda.
The show’s planning committees are led by Audacy Regional VP Brian Purdy and Nexstar Amarillo VP/GM Brandy Sanchez, while Sinclair Regional Engineering Director David Ostmo leads the technology session planning committee.
Hosted by the Association of Public Radio Engineers (APRE), the event will take place April 16–17 at the Tuscany Suites and Casino in Las Vegas — the Thursday and Friday prior to the NAB Show.
The conference is an annual gathering for engineers at all experience levels. APRE noted in a release that presentations are relevant to all radio engineers, with a special emphasis on public broadcasting.
The PREC session schedule will be announced in mid-February. The association said last year’s sessions covered the basics of radio transmission, non-traditional STLs, broadcast telephony SIP and more, including the challenges facing public radio and public media.
“We encourage a collegial setting where you can speak directly with industry-leading engineers and vendors,” APRE said in the release.
Early-bird registration — and its pricing benefits — is open through March 1.
A virtual attendance option is also available, and APRE is offering scholarships to help cover the cost of attendance for deserving applicants.
Conference registration includes all presentations, meals and the Night Owl session on Thursday. Tickets for the APRE Awards dinner at Lawry’s The Prime Rib on Friday evening, which APRE said perennially sells out, are available upon registration.
APRE’s mission is to advance the art, science and performance of public radio engineers and public radio engineering for the public good.
The author attended the CES show in pursuit of future tech that will enhance our radio industry. (Read his previous posts.)
As I traveled back to D.C. from CES 2026 and reflected on ways that AI will impact the radio industry, I continued to picture in my mind the dashboard of the BMW X3 M50 at the Xperi booth.
The photo above shows a “Radio” icon on the BMW dash with a dozen or so others. We may be living through the final model years of many automobiles in which an icon plainly labeled “Radio” is on the dashboard screen.
In another significant impact to radio, the content side of AI was illustrated at CES in an optimistic way.
CES showed a culmination of multiple technologies coming together somewhat serendipitously.
AI has been with us for some time. Think back to the times when making airline reservations we resorted to yelling “agent … agent … agent” at the phone, as the airline foisted upon us its early attempt at AI prowess.
Multiple discrete technologies and our robust democratic social order have matured and combined to enable AI as we know it today, including computers, fiber, networking, software, TCP/IP, wireless, integrated circuits, data storage devices, screen technologies and our First Amendment. Posit the lack of any of those, and it is doubtful that AI in its current form would exist.
What is radio?
We now need to ask the existential question of “what is radio” while on the AI highway to the singularity.
Radio is certainly no longer simply AM, FM, the transmitter and an FCC license to spew RF on a specific portion of spectrum.
Radio is also not everything electronically audio. “Everything audio” envelopes too much and implies that amateur radio hams and Spotify are radio broadcasters, which they plainly are not.
I suggest that radio’s definition flows from that pesky, never clearly defined Communications Act term, “the public interest.” Therein lies radio’s uniqueness to drive forward.
Sadly, there are many radio stations that clearly do not serve the public interest. Eighteen-minute commercial blocks and jukebox programming are antithetical to the public interest.
Radio stations that defile the public interest deserve to die a horrible death at the hands of AI. Those stations that observe good business practices and have as their mantra “service to the public” will, I predict, prosper with AI.
AI will force each broadcaster to choose whether its stations will be suffocated in AI’s chaos of unlimited choice, or whether its stations will use AI in a positive way to rise to the top.
Content creation AI
I believe that the next seminal stage for radio will be through many of the AI content creation technologies.
I circled back to Lee Perryman, owner of Sylacauga’s Radio Alabama, who in the first post in this series spoke of seeking “any appliance that a listener, reader or viewer might use” to reach audiences. I asked about his use of AI technologies.
Lee comments that at his oldies station, he has taken airchecks of heritage local air personalities from the 1960s and ’70s and, with permission, uses ElevenLabs AI along with OpenAI and Voitrai to create voice tracking content that hosts current shows, even to the extent of taking requests from listeners.
Big John Small, owner of Sioux Falls, S.D.’s Sunny Radio and, with his wife, co-host of “ on more than 300 radio stations, says, “I may be Gen-X, but I lean boomer on many things, so I was not a fan of ‘anything AI’ when it first came out.”
Lately, however, John has warmed to a few AI tools including ElevenLabs. “As a small team it has allowed us to have additional voices for our commercials. I pay for a bigger ElevenLabs plan, not for more volume as I’ll never need this many credits, but I wanted more voice choices.
“I use the ‘voice changer’ feature, so I record the ad with the proper inflection and the proper pronunciation, then I convert the file to a new voice. I’m quite impressed with the results. It sounds amazing and is an affordable solution for a small team like ours.”
Sandra Lange’s The Original Company Inc. in Vincennes, Ind., uses ChatGPT in sales and proposal help. In production they use ElevenLabs. Sandra notes that “with dwindling staff resources, it helps us make the most of the time and hands that we have.”
AI in the dashboard
As important as AI’s content creation abilities are, radio will also be affected by the technological AI controlling automobile dashboards much as it now controls many smart speakers and TVs.
On the floor of CES, Quu’s Steve Newberry suggested that I was living in the past for advocating for the “AM for Every Vehicle Act” and for my optimistic belief that radio can be kept predominant in the automobile dashboard.
Steve feels that radio has been fighting the wrong battles for a number of years. Steve believes that our industry should focus on persuading auto manufacturers and third-party dash software designers to ensure that radio programming is continued to be delivered by whatever AI is embedded in the dash.
He encourages radio trade associations to advocate on behalf of radio for mutually beneficial arrangements with auto manufacturers to boost radio in the AI environment, similar to SiriusXM purchasing its dashboard position in many vehicles.
For radio to survive, he says, it must newly fight for its place in the soon-to-be AI curated dashboard audio choices.
Evolution, not failure
Fletcher Ford is owner of an Iowa group of stations and CEO of RadioWorkFlow, which is billed as an AI-powered workflow for the modern radio station.
“Radio keeps saying it’s about appealing to a new generation,” Ford said, “yet we keep framing the dashboard debate around what was easy for the last one.”
What felt intuitive to one generation often feels outdated to the next, he feels. “That’s not a technology failure, that’s evolution. Every generation learns the tools placed in front of them, not the ones we’re nostalgic for.”
Fletcher says, “This isn’t just about kids … The same broadcasters arguing that radio needs to be easy to find are using smartphones every single day. We learned how to navigate iPhones and Androids. We learned how apps work. We learned how to scroll, search, swipe and customize. We figured out Apple CarPlay and Android Auto without instruction manuals, training videos or panic buttons. No knobs. No presets. No problem.”
Anyone with children can validate that even “very young kids today can find Disney+ on a screen in seconds. They can scroll YouTube, jump between platforms, search content and customize their experience faster than most adults can unlock their phones. … Screens don’t intimidate them, they expect them.”
So why, in radio, Fletcher asks, do we keep acting like listeners are fragile?
“We argue that radio must be one button away … that if it isn’t immediately obvious in the dash, people will abandon it. Meanwhile, those same listeners, young and old, have no trouble finding navigation, streaming apps, podcasts or social media buried multiple taps deep.”
Radio’s problem isn’t discoverability, Fletcher says. It’s familiarity.
“Nothing in the modern dashboard is easy the first time. Drivers are trained, consciously or not, on how to access what they value. They learned Bluetooth. They learned CarPlay. They learned Apple Music. They learned podcasts. Repetition creates access.”
Looking back, Fletcher observes that “radio, for decades, relied on habit instead of education. Presets did the heavy lifting for us. Now that the dashboard has evolved, we’re blaming technology instead of adjusting our mindset.”
He said radio doesn’t need to be the simplest thing in the dash. It needs to be the most trained. It isn’t a technology problem, it’s a mindset problem.
“The listener didn’t suddenly get dumber. Our generation didn’t suddenly forget how screens work. The dashboard didn’t get unfair. The rules simply changed,” he said.
“The broadcasters who win won’t be the ones trying to slow down technology or force it backward. They’ll be the ones who embrace evolution, teach access, reinforce behavior and remind listeners, across every generation, why radio is worth finding in the first place.”
Fletcher closed by beseeching our industry to “stop resisting change. Start training the audience we actually have — not the one we remember.”
New analytics
I wrote last week about DTS AutoStage. Lee Perryman says the platform “has changed my life, because I’m able to show prospective advertisers where and when people are listening, which I can’t do otherwise.”
Because he is in an unrated market, there are no metrics.
“I can’t prove anything, so we produce coverage maps that show our proposed coverage areas which we layer into DTS AutoStage Maps showing where people are listening, and pair that with data from our streaming services to show the demographics of those people are as representative samples.”
After leaving CES, I caught up with Mike Hulvey, president and CEO of the Radio Advertising Bureau. He spoke about DTS AutoStage on two fronts, one globally, and one from the radio industry’s perspective.
Mike observes that DTS AutoStage “is a tool that is now available to every broadcaster regardless of market, from the smallest of markets to the largest of markets. By establishing a communications link with the automobile dashboards in your market, you’re able to access near real-time consumption data, regardless of where you’re at.”
Mike continued: “One of the things I hear a lot at RAB from marketers is, ‘We know digital, we know that digital is consumed and things occur. But how do we know that from radio?’ DTS AutoStage is a tool that allows a radio station to have that kind of engagement from the audience, regardless of market size, so that’s exciting.”
Mike is former CEO of Neuhoff Media. “We were one of the first adopters of the DTS AutoStage technology in our markets. We would take DTS AutoStage heat maps out to local advertisers who questioned the viability of our radio station to show them who’s driving in front of their store real time which was our listeners.”
He noted that DTS AutoStage is available at no cost to stations and helps the industry to tell its story. It works whether or not a radio station is utilizing HD Radio.
DTS AutoStage is only available where carmakers have enabled the technology. But his perspective is that “it captures consumption, allows stations to share important information directly from the automobile, advertisers are excited about the capabilities the technology provides.”
Reaching into the future and touching upon RAB’s expertise, Mike observes that “the ‘Holy Grail’ in advertising is attribution. How can we prove that some action occurred because a commercial ran on the radio? Measuring consumption is important, but expanding attribution will always be the goal.”
An RAB webinar last month explored DTS AutoStage further.
Lessons for radio
We see how new tech and AI shown at CES will scramble things. Broadcasters of today destined to succeed tomorrow will no longer be substantially assisted by FCC or government regulatory welfare. There are scant things the FCC could change that would have a significant impact on our radio industry’s prospects.
Soon, stations will be selected on the automobile dashboard based upon what AI thinks the listener likes. Revenue realization for stations will be based upon real-time metrics of who, where and why a listener is listening, and subsequent listener choices. With AI, radio ads increasingly will become targeted personal invitations to consumers that will reliably hit targets.
Tech shown at CES will enhance operations for the station that has moved beyond relying only upon its multi-kilowatt transmitter by using AI and branching into streaming, podcasts, video and whatever form of content is welcomed by the listener community.
Irrespective of where or whether the Radio icon sits on the display, still-nascent AI radio content will lead to radio as an equal or better among the stars in the media galaxy.
There are multiple articles, blogs, podcasts, posts and videos on the cool consumer tech at CES 2026. This Radio World series is not one of those. My focus was to approach the show in pursuit of future tech that will enhance our radio industry.
Content AI and dashboard screens are not anything that will show on a CES top-10 new tech list with cuddly AI-enabled stuffed animals and recipe-assisting refrigerators. Content AI and the all-media-inclusive automobile dashboard, however, are the predominate radio tech emanating from the show. So here’s hoping that content AI and new automotive dashboard tech will assist radio in continuing to prevail in our 21st century plethora of media sources.
Comment on this or any story. Email radioworld@futurenet.com with “Letter to the Editor” in the subject field.
LG introduced its Wallpaper TV, described as the world’s thinnest (9 mm), true wireless, OLED TV. This brought to mind my reading long ago of the classic dystopian Ray Bradbury novel “Fahrenheit 451” in which home walls were all covered with video screens. This possibly is not the image LG wanted to convey with its branding.
LG OLED evo W6, “True Wireless Wallpaper TV”
As smart TVs populate homes and offices, LG points out that radio is now included through such apps as LG’s myTuner Radio, pitched as “all you need to listen to more than 50,000 free radio stations and podcasts from more than 200 countries and territories … including the local AM and FM radio stations you can’t live without.”
While actual radio receivers were far and few at CES 2026, a Blaupunkt-branded “jobsite” radio was on display at the Star Glory Limited booth (LVCC, Central Hall — 15813). Star Glory Limited is a licensed developer of products for global brands such as Westinghouse, Kodak, Polaroid, Head, Blaupunkt and Daewoo. There are a number of radios on the market like this intended for use outdoors and in workshops, garages and the like, typically equipped with Bluetooth, an LED light and other nifty features.
Found tucked away in the South Hall was a true domestic radio company. Fuse, headquartered in the City of Industry, Calif., offered retro radio receivers along with vertical turntables that incorporate AM/FM receivers and Bluetooth.
Fuse Vint Radio
Multimedia in the car
I spent a good part of the day thinking about Xperi, given that it is the CES exhibitor most actively talking about anything to do with radio.
Joe D’Angelo of Xperi (LVCC West Hall — 4041) spent time with me discussing DTS AutoStage and HD Radio. Joe has been with Xperi for many years and was one of the founders of its predecessor iBiquity Digital Corp., the company behind HD Radio technology.
Joe and I had a long conversation about radio’s future with the DTS AutoStage dashboard now a reality, and with HD Radio offered by most auto manufacturers. He pointed out that Xperi was promoting radio to the Las Vegas skyline with an LED billboard on the entire side of the new Resorts World hotel.
Courtesy Xperi
DTS AutoStage is an Xperi product aims to unify the connected car in-dash experience, bringing together radio, audio, video and gaming content. DTS AutoStage is global, now with 14 car companies supporting the platform and DTS AutoStage now in 14 million active cars around the world. Nine million of those are in the United States.
In November 2025, DTS AutoStage expanded the capabilities of the analytics Xperi makes available to stations based on approximately 1.5 billion radio measurement events a day.
Asked if DTS AutoStage will be a competitor to Nielsen, Joe demurs, saying “No, we are not. We are a compliment to Nielsen. We are another view into the audience.”
Nielsen, he said, does statistical sampling it extrapolates to represent an entire market. “DTS AutoStage rather gives a very specific actual data set, but for only the car and only the cars that have our technology.”
Joe’s explanation raises the question of whether Xperi would consider selling that data for audience measurement purposes to a third party, say to a competitor to Nielsen, or to Nielsen itself.
Here Joe was less reticent. He pointed out that Xperi has TV viewership data that it gets from its own platforms as well as third parties, and it has a whole business in selling TV viewership data to companies. So with respect to DTS AutoStage data, Joe says “Absolutely, we will. We will enable other aggregators to take advantage of our radio data.”
Video is playing a growing role in the car, and at this show, Xperi is highlighting that Mercedes-Benz is a new DTS AutoStage client and has adopted the nascent DTS AutoStage Video, an in-car video extension of Xperi’s in-home TiVo video service.
DTS AutoStage Video aggregates a number of streaming providers and provides a discovery layer on top, using the metadata surrounding video programming, in a way similar to what a Roku or smart TV does, but for automobiles. For Xperi, TiVo is their aggregator product. In the auto manufacturer realm, BMW adopted DTS AutoStage Video three years ago.
Xperi signage emphasizes the DTS AutoStage Video Service
Does this approach leave radio behind? Joe said that in Xperi’s view, the foundation of DTS AutoStage is broadcast radio. “We support 50, 000 radio stations around the world … OEMs are adopting DTS AutoStage for a better radio experience.”
As I mentioned yesterday, more broadcasters are integrating local video streams into their operations. The incoming Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters President Will Payne stated that he “sees a time where there will be no difference between live video streaming and live radio.”
DTS AutoStage is an integrated platform that supports audio, including broadcast radio, video and gaming. A mom or dad waiting in the carpool line at their local school in Will’s radio markets may be able to view a video replay of their son’s weekend football game.
“Tthere’s no one doing what we are doing for broadcast radio anywhere in the world,” Joe said. Xperi is “taking a broadcast radio signal, creating a live program guide around all that content in the local market and enriching it in a real-time basis with meaningful and accurate metadata.”
Video is a bleeding edge for car companies. For now it is intended for use when the car is parked or for the use of passengers. But Joe observes, “We are getting ready for the day of autonomy,” meaning driverless cars.
Looking at the future data collection capabilities of DTS AutoStage, Xperi has defined over 950 radio markets based upon listening patterns and signal coverage. In its current version offered now to radio broadcasters, Xperi has only published data for the first 250 markets. Its launch metric goal was to get at least 1,000 equipped cars in each of the first markets.
At first, DTS AutoStage only released a broadcaster’s own data to the broadcaster, and did not give comparative data, because broadcasters themselves told Xperi that they did not want anyone else to see the data.
But Joe says that in response to broadcaster requests, Xperi has now started to loosen that limitation. Now DTS AutoStage has a ranker so a broadcaster can see competitive market information.
There are still limitations to the released DTS AutoStage data, however, such as detail for dayparts and audience flow, which currently cannot be seen by competitors.
But broadcasters using the portal will see share, cume, rankers and even TSL, for all the stations in the market. Further, he said, “That could change … at the direction of the radio industry.”
Joe closed on the subject of DTS AutoStage with an admittedly self-serving comment of imagining if there was no DTS AutoStage — which gives car owners graphic and meta-data even for non-HD stations — and HD Radio.
Xperi believes it is making radio competitive with the experience of other platforms. Without DTS Auto and HD Radio, stations would display only with frequency and RDS, which is no competition with the data and images on the Spotify and Sirius/XM screens among others.
This led to a discussion about making some of the HD Radio attributes, such as radio-with-pictures graphics and metadata, available for smaller stations such as FM translators and LPFMs.
Joe pointed out that FM translators and LPFMs can now sign up for DTS AutoStage and have both graphic and metadata displayed irrespective of whether the station has signed up for HD Radio.
He acknowledged that in automobiles that have yet to implement DTS AutoStage, that solution does not yet yield benefits.
Joe pointed out that transmitter manufacturer Nautel has instituted an HD Radio Digital Test Drive that utilizes Nautel’s software-based air chain, resulting in a far lower equipment cost for HD Radio implementation.
I remarked that the software-based air chain only appears to be available on high-power GV2 line of transmitters, which are far outside the power range used by FM translators and LPFMs (and likely not FCC-compliant for low-wattage operations). Joe promised to see what could be done in Xperi’s role as the developer of HD Radio.
“We’re doing everything that we can with the supply chain to make it affordable. We’ve taken our royalties down almost zero. We’ve done software implementations; we’ve done hardware implementations with Nautel,” he said.
Joe said that if lower-power stations, FM translators and LPFMs speak as an industry voice on HD Radio to manufacturers and tell them what the needs are, “we would absolutely support that.”
After my conversation with Joe, Xperi VP of Automotive Engineering Jason Carlock showed me the video implementation of DTS AutoStage in the Xperi BMW X3 M50.
Jason stressed that, to the extent that he and Xperi can influence auto manufacturers in their implementation of DTS AutoStage, there will always be a “radio” icon on the main menu.
Heading out
CES 2026 is now over for me, with a flight back to Washington Thursday morning. But the exhibits remain open through late Friday afternoon.
At CES 2026, artificial intelligence is claimed to be incorporated into almost every new product. Whether the consumer will see AI integration as a selling point or as a personal intrusion is yet to be seen.
As we know, AI at its most robust implementation sucks up personal data in such wide swaths that it makes previous privacy concerns about browsers and credit card use at grocery stores almost laughable.
Data upon which AI functions will live forever. Even Xperi’s DTS AutoStage is collecting dashboard that buses data to function, a collection that Xperi says is anonymously collected.
CES is an industry show in which entities show off their latest to other entities, but the entire exercise is designed to get new products into consumer hands.
In the future, if the consumer wants radio, either as the current linear audio experience or in a product with an expanded definition of audio content, then manufacturers will continue to provide radios.
If the consumer determines that everything currently offered by radio is otherwise available through a more convenient, more exciting or more expansive device, the paucity of actual radios at future CES shows may continue.
For myself, I am far from convinced that any other medium can replicate or supplant the friend that radio stations have been for over 100 years.
For years it has seemed to me that roughly a third of our nation’s radio stations are stars that print money. A third are in a mediocre middle where each day is a business struggle. And a third of radio stations are miserable failures.
Through the years, the radio call signs and radio band in each category have changed dramatically, but I am not at all sure that the basic ratio today is significantly altered.
There are still many stations for which programming, and associated audio and video content, is a success story. It may be up to those radio station stars comprising the top third to continually remind the public, our government, manufacturers, merchants, automobile companies and advertisers, that radio remains vibrant in our expansive CES 2026 multimedia world.
Find more CES coverage of consumer electronics products at the website of our sister brand Twice.
The author is attending the CES show in pursuit of future tech that will enhance our radio industry. (Read his previous post.)
The first hour of CES 2026 upon my arrival in Las Vegas unfolded in an encouraging way. The cab driver who ferried me from the airport to my hotel was listening to over-the-air radio!
Even better, the taxi radio was tuned to FM translator K272EE, rebroadcasting AM station KQLL, known in Las Vegas as KOOL102, thus immediately validating the AM-enhancing wisdom of the recent petition for rulemaking filed by Press Communications LLC and 19 others seeking a reinstitution of the previous FM translator move window for AM stations.
The cabby is listening to KOOL 102, an FM translator rebroadcasting KQLL(AM). (Photo by John Garziglia)
The next morning, on my trip from the hotel to the West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center via the underground Vegas Loop, the Tesla driver had Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock ’n’ Roll” playing. I asked him the source of the music. His response was Sirius/XM Channel 25 (Classic Rewind), noting how it even reaches into the tunnels Well, I thought, at least the content he is enjoying is still linear radio as we know it.
In the West Hall, the ubiquity of AI was overwhelming. The hall this year features the CES 2026 hub for vehicle tech and advanced mobility. Finding something other than AI was going to be a challenge.
I had been forewarned about the AI omnipresence in Fred Jacob’s newsletter post, which he humurously headlined “Observations From CES 2026: Day .5”. Steve Newberry, CEO of radio dashboard visual enhancer Quu, began the first seconds of Fred’s audio blog by warning that the days of preset and habitual listening to radio “are going to shrink, shrink, shrink” because, Steve said, AI will be able to “access audio anywhere.”
On the prowl
On the exhibit hall floor are numerous automobiles, almost none being promoted by their manufacturers but instead being shown for the discrete AI technology integrated into the vehicle by the exhibiting entity.
I had the urge to get into each car and ask “where’s the radio,” but I restrained myself, deciding that being an irritant was not the way I wanted to start my day nor theirs.
Still, determined to find some new tech that had applicability to radio in cars as we know it, I began by prowling the perimeter of the floor to try to find peripheral products that would point in the right direction to radio’s continuing presence in the automobile dashboard.
As automobile dashboards morphed in the past 10 years to universally include screens capable of showing video from a back-up camera, we have seen the knobs, controls and sliders previously associated with radio gain and tuning, as well as other significant vehicle functions, become visual icons in ever larger and larger dashboard screens.
It is my theory that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration mandate of a rear-view system for every vehicle as a child safety measure kick-started the rapid automobile dashboard transition to the arguably driver-distracting chaos of visual image controls that must be viewed to be operated.
Cars are doing away with mechanical controls easily found by touch, replaced by visual icons on a screen and tiny buttons on a steering wheel. From a driver perspective, this is an enormous safety deficiency and an unintended consequence of trying to protect children playing behind a parked vehicle.
Getting a feel
On this subject of the elimination of mechanical controls including radio knobs, I came across the exhibit booth of Gruner, attracted to it solely by the presence of the word “haptic” with reference to the sensory feel of buttons on a steering wheel and a mock dashboard.
Gruner’s haptic technology for the automobile dash and steering wheel is halfway there: The user can feel the utilization of the buttons, but all buttons “feel” the same. To get all the way there, the Gruner haptic buttons each need to each have a different feel prior to being pressed, so that the driver can control automobile functions including radio without taking their eyes off the road.
But the haptic feel of Gruner’s dash icons is at least a start in improving the distracting visual-only screen controls now prevalent in today’s vehicles.
Marco Kauschwitz demonstrating that he does not need to look at the screen to use Gruner’s touch-feedback haptic dash (he should have been looking at the road instead of at the camera if he was driving!). Photo by John Garziglia
Next, I came across a massive booth where P3 is promoting SPARQ as their own turnkey infotainment solution based on Android Automative OS. I lost my reticence and popped the question: “Where’s the radio?”
Daniel Glaenzer and Paul Stanescu from the SPARQ team assured me that radio as an over-the-air device is included in their infotainment solution. Paul said his wife listens to the radio, and more broadly, their research shows that 81% of people are still using radio.
Paul noted that SPARQ OS / Android Automotive OS serves as the vehicle’s central infotainment system, independent of the driver’s smartphone, with support for unlimited aftermarket apps.
The wrong battle?
In the almost-pure radio vein, Xperi has a significant presence in the West Hall. I stopped by the booth and noted that there is no longer that familiar wall of automobile radios displayed at previous shows.
Xperi shows off three automobiles, the Genesis GV80 luxury SUV, the BMW X3 M50 xDrive and the Mercedes-Benz CLA luxury sedan. Strangely, in the Mercedes CLA, there are no video screens in back for passenger viewing, something I would have expected given that the inclusion of DTS Autostage Video is an announced part of this vehicle.
The massive Mercedes-Benz CLA DTS Autostage dashboard on display at Xperi. (Photo by John Garziglia)
I then met up with Steve Newberry. He is CEO of Quu as well as the founder of a radio group and a former joint board chair and executive VP at the NAB. He has been vocal for years about the issues surrounding radio’s visibility and role in cars.
Our conversation started badly when I used the word “demeaning” with reference to Steve’s comment that radio listening is going to “shrink, shrink, shrink.”
“We fought so hard to protect the old model [of radio] that we are missing the opportunities for the future,” he told me. Steve warns that “radio is fighting the wrong battle” and asks, “What have we won in the past 10 years?”
He continued: “The entitlement that [radio] worked hard to earn is now irrelevant in the dashboard. AI is going to change the way that consumers interface with their technology, not just in the car and their home and their work and their social life. Everything. Radio is going to have to earn its way.”
Steve forecasts that AI will enable his Quu products to make radio stations more relatable and engaging. But he states that radio is losing the vehicle dashboard.
Quu researches and publishes studies each year that survey the 100 best-selling vehicles. The most concerning negative trend is a deep drop in “one-touch” access to even get to the radio.
Two years ago in 2024, 36% of the surveyed vehicles had one-touch access to the radio. In 2025, only 26% feature a dedicated, one-touch radio button.
I asked him what he would do if he ruled the world. Steve would encourage broadcasters to “really earn the legacy that they have … and build it for the future with meaningful programming content that is an indispensable part of their communities, for 10 years from now, not just for now.”
And Steve touches on a third rail for much of the radio industry, seeking a potential business relationship between our radio industry and vehicle manufacturers. He says such a synergy that would make sense for both.
On Tuesday, in addition to revisiting Xperi, I will learn more about Xperi and its plans, and how it has weaved AI into their product lineup. I hope to visit the North Hall for robots and the Internet of Things, the Central Hall for audio tech and the South Hall for tech accessories.
Through the century since the Roaring ’20s, radio has survived an onslaught of new tech. Some say linear programming of media is dead. I disagree. While the internet appeared for a while to emphasize “pull” content (i.e. what-you-want-when-you-want-it), that favoring of choice over linear “push” content (with radio and TV the prime examples) is largely being erased by AI.
AI for media content promises not “what-you-want-when-you-want-it.” It offers “what-you-did-not-know-you-want-anytime-you-want-it.” Reduced to its essence, for audio this sounds a lot like targeted radio programming.
The AI evolution may not be easy for jukebox stations annoying their audiences with multiple 18-unit commercial blocks. But stations that have always excelled in community service and delivery of quality audio products may significantly benefit from an AI that delivers new listeners, and advertisers, who did not know that they wanted it.
I am in pursuit of future tech at CES 2026 that will enhance our radio industry. While CES usually focuses on consumer goods, even robotic vacuums and programmed lawn mowers keep broadcast facilities in good shape with commensurate personnel savings. And as I describe below, media companies are increasingly finding radio and TV station use for consumer tech.
AI will undoubtedly be the overall theme of CES 2026. For radio stations, the question will be, how does AI fit into the medium’s future?
I keep watching for the announcement of an AI radio salesperson, possibly in the mold of the Star Wars R2D2 droid, that robotically attracts new advertisers while reducing the cost of sales. That robo-consultant, just like the Jetsons’ flying car, has unfortunately yet to materialize.
As I preview CES 2026, held Jan. 6–9 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, I looked to go in search of answers to questions that a manager of a station might have.
Finding car radio knobs
In talking recently with radio companies, the two interrelated questions I have been told to ask are: “Where’s the radio?” And, with respect to automobile dashboards: “How do you find the radio?”
To me, it has been hugely distressing in the past several years to drive rental cars that make me feel utterly ignorant in finding the radio. On one overseas rental, a KIA Sorento had mutable knobs that toggled from controlling radio volume and tuning to setting HVAC.
So, you guessed it, when trying to tune the radio, I instead made my ride uncomfortably toasty.
In another rental, a Toyota Highlander obliterated the radio once Android Auto began functioning. The only way to get to AM/FM functionality was a benign button on the steering wheel marked “mode.”Who would have guessed?
So, in every new automobile I get into at CES 2026, I will be looking for the radio, and — hopefully — a dedicated volume knob, a dedicated tuning knob and at least five buttons for radio station presets.
Do I wish for too much?
Tech for efficiency
LG Electronics presents at CES 2025. Credit: Consumer Technology Association (CTA)
For radio managers and decision-makers that attend a show as vast as CES, what do they typically seek?
Lee Perryman, the president and owner of Sylacauga’s Radio Alabama, told me that if he were to attend CES, he would be searching for consumer tech that allows his team to “do what we do in a commercial world at a lower cost.”
He pointed to his stations’ use of the RØDECaster Pro II, a standalone audio production studio in the $700 USD range, that he has interconnected in all studios. Citing budgetary restraints, Perryman said what he is doing with multiple RØDECasters was not possible with professional technology.
The key for Perryman is that, for everything he produces, he wanted to be able to reach “any appliance that a listener, reader or viewer might use.” If his stations can make use of consumer tech — and save approximately $50,000 — it allows his group to be more nimble.
He advised me to check out the Hollyland booth (LVCC, Central Hall — 22227) for radio and livestreaming products, including the Lark M2S that he uses for audio in doing live broadcasts.
Payne sees a time where there will be no difference between live video streaming and live radio.
“They are interchangeable,” Payne explained. “It does not matter whether it is FM, AM, HD or live video, it is all content that we are pushing out to as many spaces as we can.”
Jeff Jury of Xperi is among those who have echoed Payne’s sentiments, noting that the evolution of the DTS Autostage dash with video isn’t necessarily bad news for radio.
In hot pursuit
The most remarkable CES broadcasting-relevant tech that sprang out at me last year was ElevenLabs‘ speech AI. Its speech-synthesis technology is already being used by a number of radio broadcasters for text-to-speech, voice cloning and language translation. In 2025, ElevenLabs occupied a minuscule booth at CES, which belied its potential future importance for radio content.
There was also the clear glass-pane LG television receiver, the 77-inch LG Signature OLED T. The LG Signature TV had an exhibit presentation befitting everything extravagant about Las Vegas, demonstrated in a cylindrical tower of multiple clear glass-pane TV screens opening and closing in a French casement window style as evidence of its transparent and picture modes. Its lavish display would make for a striking control- or studio-room window, but it comes with a $59,000 USD price tag.
Xperi, the HD radio folks, showed off at CES 2025 their emerging DTS Autostage technology, which among other aspects, has the potential to transform radio broadcasting ratings, metrics and data.
John Garziglia, center, with New Jersey radio broadcaster group owner Bob McAllan of Press Communications, left, reflected in the CardioMirror at CES 2025 taking a photo of his instantly-rendered health metrics.
Thinking back to CES 2025, I saw tech that, while not broadcaster oriented, can be utilized by radio broadcasters in their revenue-generating activities.
A crowd pleaser was the FaceHeart CardioMirror, an AI-powered smart-mirror that scans a user’s face and within 60 seconds provides measurements for heart rate, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation, blood pressure, heart rate variability and a stress index. Bob McAllan of New Jersey’s Press Communications perceptively noted how the CardioMirror could be a crowd-attracting prop at remote broadcasts for hospitals and medical practices.
There’s also SoundHound (LVCC, West Hall — 5867), an AI voice developer for, among other consumer products, automobiles with a goal of turning the dashboard into an ROI-positive platform.
And then…
Larry Fuss, left, owner of radio stations in American Samoa, Lihue, Hawaii, and Cleveland, Miss., along with John Garziglia, at the CES 2024 show.
The highlight of CES 2024 for radio station owner Larry Fuss of Delta Radio Network and South Seas Broadcasting, Inc. was a booth hawking sperm testing for male infertility, a booth he insisted that I pose in front of with him for a photo to satisfy his latent morning-jock sense of humor.
I, of course, obliged.
The challenge for the radio industry in the AI era is to use new tech to enhance radio broadcasting operations while keeping radio as a solid business proposition.
I hope to find at CES 2026 new technology that can make radio content more informative and compelling, enhance radio listening experiences with graphics and metadata, improve radio station operations by being more cost-effective, and dramatically increase ROI for advertisers with real-time listener data and metrics.
I also hope to be surprised at CES 2026 by new technology that surprises, enchants, inspires and amazes.
The dashboard of a Mercedes-Benz CLA 250+ model in a promotional image from the carmaker’s website.
In-car video streaming that uses Xperi technology will be highlighted in a new Mercedes-Benz electric hybrid car model at the CES show this week.
The CLA model will be in the Xperi booth, equipped with that company’s DTS AutoStage Video system, based on its TiVo platform.
Xperi says five OEMs have now adopted its video platform. “DTS AutoStage Video is rapidly emerging as a premier video solution for connected cars worldwide,” it said in a press release. Mercedes-Benz also supports Xperi’s HD Radio, DTS AutoStage Audio and DTS:X immersive audio offerings. Xperi says Mercedes-Benz was the first to support DTS AutoStage radio functionality.
The CLA car model will also offer RideVu by Sony Pictures Entertainment, which provides IMAX Enhanced content and DTS:X sound. The CLA uses the company’s MB.Drive technology, developed with Nvidia.
The Xperi booth will be in the West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Separately Mercedes‑Benz also will show the latest version of its GLC model; this will include the AI-based MB.OS platform and an optional MBUX Hyperscreen almost 40 inches wide.
The company said the version of the MBUX system in the GLC is the first to integrate AI from both Microsoft and Google. The car also has music streaming through native integrations and Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos in Apple CarPlay.
Connexion
