This is one in a series of posts by Radio World contributor Paul “Sarge” Kaminski about how radio shows up on the dashboard of various new car models.
Kia’s 2025 Sorento — a PHEV, a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle — will get you moving quickly from a stoplight.
But if you or your passenger is inclined to change channels or sources on the infotainment system, it might take you a big longer, as we found out during a recent road test.
The vehicle does have AM and FM reception, and HD Radio. It displays music graphics, album art and RDS.
But there is no radio button; radio is among the menu choices, and there are multiple menus for each of its audio sources. It is a process to enter the desired frequency or channel; it takes patience.
There are no knobs for volume control or tuning; these controls have been moved to the steering wheel. If you want to make a choice between sources, you do it through a touchscreen that shares a 12.3-inch display with the navigation and other telematics. Once you find a choice on the menu and program it, it becomes easy to get to.
The audio plays through a Bose Premium audio system. Safety would dictate that your menu choices be made while parked, not at a stoplight, where a hesitation may raise the ire of drivers behind (much less while the car is moving, where distraction could cause a crash).
As Radio World has reported, Quu’s second annual “In-Vehicle Visuals Report” has just been published. It finds that the digital dashboard is packed with more and more choices, and in that context radio is getting harder to find.
It leads us to a familiar refrain: Is your station providing content compelling enough for a person of normal patience to seek it out among so many choices? Is your station taking full advantage of RDS and metadata protocols to put its best image forward? If you are streaming, is the product optimized for streaming?
We’re also learning to ask new questions too, such as: “Given that the infotainment systems in cars like the Kia default on startup to whatever the driver was listening to last, what is your station’s strategy to keep listeners tuned to your station until they turn the car off at the end of their day or work shift?”
For more on this topic check out the new Radio World ebook “Discovering the Dashboard 2025.”
