Lakamp: CC 'Enthusiastic' About CarPlay

Brian Lakamp, president of Digital for Clear Channel Media and Entertainment, oversees iHeartRadio, and agreed to speak with Michael Grothaus at Fast Company about his early experience integrating with CarPlay.

“Apple is pretty selective about how they disclose information,” says Lakamp. “Apple made us aware of the opportunity. We were enthusiastic to participate and then worked closely with them to build the demo that they just demoed in Geneva.”

Brian Lakamp

Lakamp says that once iHeartRadio signed on, developing a CarPlay-compatible iHeartRadio app wasn’t a major coding challenge--mainly because Apple did a good job with the API allowing developers to add CarPlay support to their existing apps instead of having to make new, dedicated versions.

“The way that Apple constructed this is a relatively thin layer that we need to build to copy existing apps that move some of the control and command structure to the console,” Lakamp says. “Then the console simply acts as a remote control to your app. It was a relatively light integration.”

Lakamp says  Clear Channel is not worried about that Apple has its sights set on cars. Despite the “old fashioned” nature of AM/FM’s technology, and those who crow about its impending demise at the hands of digital streaming, Lakamp says radio isn’t going anywhere.

“I can tell you from my perspective that that idea is somewhat crazy,” he says. “Technology has evolved every step of the way: AM to FM to satellite to Internet. None of those have removed the need for the preceding technology. We're in the fourth, fifth generation of things right now. If anything, they've been additive, and they've extended the opportunity. Every car on the planet has AM/FM radio. It's an easy, reliable way to get at content and get at the personalities that you love. Every car has it, unless the radio has been stolen.”

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