I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that mobile phones in the U.S. and Canada do not play FM Radio stations. If you want to listen to a station, you must stream it online. Though I do see the business sense in this flawed arrangement for mobile service carriers who will sell more mobile data to the users. It almost seems like there is a collusion to create a cartel-like operation between the OEM, the mobile service carriers, and the music streaming services.
Well, there is some good news for users in U.S. and Canada who have the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+. And it began in January when Samsung announced that the Galaxy S9s in the said region will have an active FM chip to enable users to listen to the radio. However, the unlocked models did not have the needed software to support this feature, until recently when Samsung issued an update to that effect.
If you own the said smartphone and living in the U.S. or Canada, you need to check if you have updated the phone and launch the inbuilt radio app. Check to ensure that you are not connected to the Wi-Fi, or your mobile data is on. Then try out scanning for local FM radio stations. You should be able to listen to your favorite FM radio station without paying the extra expense of internet connection required to stream.
