No real AM or FM radio in the R2

[JasonK]

I want to add my name to the list of people who are very disappointed there is no FM radio. FM is not out dated tech. It is still everywhere. Much more coverage than data coverage. Sad that I will have to rely on an aftermarket radio or pay to carry music on my phone for areas than have no data coverage. I was so excited about the R2 till I found out that they left out this cheap option. I still can't believe they did this. I have started shopping around to see what other options might meet my needs in an EV. The R2 still fits my needs almost perfectly besides this one thing. I may have to live with an incomplete vehicle.

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[Thebandit]

FM is trash.

If you really want radio in am adventure vehicle, XM makes more sense than FM.

 

[Alan in Tempe]

FM is trash.

Ignorance is bliss. Do you enjoy dissing the very many posters in this thread who have clearly stated why FM radio is important to them?

 

[SwampNut]

XM makes more sense than FM.

And that is definitely also a dead tech. Not opinion, it's being dropped from cars like crazy and XM themselves says their future is being a media streaming company, not a sat tech company.

 

[chono]

Is the included iHeartRadio the ad supported version?
Will I need to pay for iHeartRadio subscription to listen to basic FM without ads?

Internet says that iHeart plays ads at the beginning of every stream as pre-roll and when you switch stations.

I guess I can download and try it out on my phone to see how it works.

FWIW It looks like iHeartRadio is between $6 (android) and $7 (ios) per month to listen to FM without ads.

 

[SwampNut]

No matter what, you're still getting the ads from the FM station itself, which is one of the many reasons why FM is trash. Also everyone seems to be ignoring the fact that there's another radio streamer in the Rivian, and in fact, is the only one I've ever used.

 

[chono]

No matter what, you're still getting the ads from the FM station itself, which is one of the many reasons why FM is trash. Also everyone seems to be ignoring the fact that there's another radio streamer in the Rivian, and in fact, is the only one I've ever used.

1) The radio stations I listen to don't have any ads
2) My question is about iHeart adding additional ads before it starts the stream; how long are these? and how much do I need to pay to skip these?

 

[SwampNut]

AI answers for both of the streaming apps in the Rivian...


Iheart:
Short answer: on the free tier you’ll usually hear 1–2 short pre‑roll ads (often 15–30 seconds each, sometimes up to ~60s), and going paid is around 6–7 dollars a month to avoid iHeart‑inserted ads on participating live stations.

How long are the pre‑roll ads?
iHeart’s free tier is ad‑supported and uses pre‑roll video/audio ads before starting a stream.

Advertising guides and user reports describe these as “one or two pre‑load” ads, with typical digital audio pre‑roll inventory ranging roughly 5–60 seconds per ad depending on campaign.

In practice, that means you’ll often sit through about 15–30 seconds, occasionally up to roughly a minute, and you may hear another short pre‑roll when switching stations.

So you’re usually looking at roughly half a minute to a minute of iHeart‑inserted ads when you first start or change a stream on the free plan.

What does it cost to skip them?
iHeart doesn’t sell an “ad‑skip” button per se; you get rid of iHeart‑inserted ads by moving to a paid subscription:

iHeartRadio Plus is listed at about 5.99 USD/month when you subscribe via web/Google Play/Amazon and about 6.99 USD/month via the iOS App Store.

This tier gives commercial‑free listening on hundreds of participating live iHeart stations plus ad‑free playlists and artist stations; some third‑party stations and podcast content may still carry their own baked‑in ads.

iHeartRadio All Access (around 9.99 USD on web/Google Play, 12.99 USD on iOS) adds full on‑demand features but is overkill if your only goal is to avoid pre‑roll on live streams.

So to minimize or eliminate those extra pre‑rolls on compatible FM streams, you’re in the roughly 6–7 USD/month range depending on where you subscribe.



TuneIn:
What kinds of ads does TuneIn add?

• The standard TuneIn app is explicitly described as a free, ad‑supported product, with TuneIn‑provided advertising.
• On free accounts you will typically see banner ads in the UI and hear short TuneIn audio spots (pre‑rolls) before a station connects, sometimes also mid‑rolls inserted into streams.
• Many users report a brief “TuneIn” jingle followed by one or more audio ads at the start of a stream, clearly sold and inserted by TuneIn rather than the station.

You will also still hear the radio station’s own commercials, because those are part of the original broadcast; TuneIn can’t remove those by default.

How do you get rid of TuneIn’s own ads?
TuneIn offers two separate paid layers that change the ad behavior:

• TuneIn Pro (one‑time purchase, ~9.99 USD on app stores): Removes TuneIn‑provided banner ads and pre‑roll audio commercials in the app; you still hear the station’s own on‑air ads.
• TuneIn Premium (subscription, roughly 7.99 USD/month range depending on region): Focuses on extra content (live pro sports, commercial‑free news feeds, some commercial‑free music stations, audiobooks) and also removes TuneIn’s own in‑app display ads; however, it does not remove every local ad a station itself broadcasts.

 

[chono]

For anyone concerned about the pre-roll ads (like i was..)

I did a little trying of the phone app and the free iHeartRadio account.

The pre-roll is pretty seamless with my community supported radio stations. On both of the stations I tried it was the station itself that generated the pre-roll. ("Our stream is supported by ..." and "Please support community supported radio by ..." kind of thing)

Still a regression from normal terrestrial FM where a pre-roll doesn't exist. But at least its not some garbage second tier repetitive advertisement sourced by iHeartRadio!

My "testing" was about 5 min of playing with the android app.. I assume it will be the same in the R2's media player.

Side note: the free level iHeartRadio seems to be capped at 128kbps; so doesn't sound a good as terrestrial FM (and definitely not as clear as terrestrial HDradio broadcast) I'm not usually listening to music on FM so I probably won't notice. But if you are, then you may hear AAC compression artifacts.

 

[LevelHeaded]

There you have it. Suburban American moms are never outside of cell service, so no need for FM!

 

[SwampNut]

Side note: the free level iHeartRadio seems to be capped at 128kbps; so doesn't sound a good as terrestrial FM (and definitely not as clear as terrestrial HDradio broadcast)

HD radio has a lower bitrate than that. While the newest standards could allow for 148k, I don't think anyone is using it. Most stations are under 100 and the "high end" stations are 120k. Given a similar player, even that should always sound better than FM, which is heavily compressed either digitally or analogly.

 

[Dasoss]

Maybe some portable radio can be connected via bluetooth? Maybe Rivian should make one available as an accessory?

How about installing a Srarlink Mini?

 

[godfodder0901]

Connet+ can tether any app on your phone (iPhone 15 so it requires USB-C, no idea about Android). So what you need to do is put music on your phone and then use your music app on the phone to play to your sound system via a USB cable.

I use Audio Hijack on my Mac to record NPR shows to my hard drive. So you could let that be like a DVR for listening in your vehicle when you don't have a connection to the Internet. Not ideal, but it doesn't take long to build up quite a library that could cover any trip where you're off the grid.

That's not how that works. You can play music from your phone over Bluetooth for free without Connect+ but, even with Connect+, you cannot play music over USB at all.

Also, you cannot 'tether' ANY app, you can only cast via supported apps. And you can only do that with Connect+ and only while parked.

 

[Zathras]

That's not how that works. You can play music from your phone over Bluetooth for free without Connect+ but, even with Connect+, you cannot play music over USB at all.

Also, you cannot 'tether' ANY app, you can only cast via supported apps. And you can only do that with Connect+ and only while parked.

Saw this info yesterday somewhere and can't remember where. But it was a credible source. You can't do CarPlay or AndroidPlay, but tethering is a feature of Connect+. You don't need Connect+ to use Bluetooth. And as we all know, Bluetooth sucks.

 

[Mos Eisley]

Saw this info yesterday somewhere and can't remember where. But it was a credible source. You can't do CarPlay or AndroidPlay, but tethering is a feature of Connect+. You don't need Connect+ to use Bluetooth. And as we all know, Bluetooth sucks.

You can WiFi hotspot.

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