Virtually all of the mobile phones have an FM radio chip which would allow you to listen to local radio stations through your device for free. However the smart phone manufacturers do not have that chip activated, and make you to pay your telco for using the wireless data if you want to listen to your favorite FM radio station.
Apart from this unnecessary charge, your battery will drain faster and you may not be able to access important information broadcasted by the over-the-air radio during crisis situations.
Mexico is trying to change this situation, and last week the Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT, the regulator of telecommunications and broadcasting services) unveiled a technical disposition, which forces manufacturers to enable the FM radio chip. This measure will help “to preserve the right to information access”. Additionally, IFT echoes the suspicions over telcos, which would receive “important amounts of money of the streaming data consumption”