Car Makes & Models with No AM Band.

[davideduardo]

We've had an extensive recent discussion of the decision to drop AM from the next Mustang model as well as some other Ford products. And we know some EVs have no AM option.

Let's post, as we hear about them, information on makes and models that will not have AM as well as discussion of how this will affect radio over time.

And links to news about industry leaders, politicians and the NAB trying to stop this trend belong here, too.

 

[Daryl Lynn L.A.]

This article by the NAB president touches on many of the issues we were discussing here. I didn't realize that 47 million Americans listened to AM radio. That's a bigger number of listeners than I would have thought possible, especially with all the entertainment offerings on the FM band.

Preserving AM radio in cars

 

[davideduardo]

This article by the NAB president touches on many of the issues we were discussing here. I didn't realize that 47 million Americans listened to AM radio. That's a bigger number of listeners than I would have thought possible, especially with all the entertainment offerings on the FM band.

Preserving AM radio in cars

I think that the car manufacturers will respond (if they say anything at all) by stating that AM stations can all offer streams and their vehicles can handle that easily.

Of course, that is a simple response to a more complex issue. In particular, stations on AM playing music can't easily just move to streams due to the near impossibility to make money due to music licensing costs... and there are a lot of ethnic, religious and specialty formats that play music on AM.

I'll start with one example: WDIA in Memphis.

 

[Kelly A]

This article by the NAB president touches on many of the issues we were discussing here. I didn't realize that 47 million Americans listened to AM radio. That's a bigger number of listeners than I would have thought possible, especially with all the entertainment offerings on the FM band.

When you think about it, there's probably easily that number which is mostly made up of male, white, Boomer's.

 

[davideduardo]

When you think about it, there's probably easily that number which is mostly made up of male, white, Boomer's.

I think you are forgetting the large number of smaller foreign language station listeners. In some markets with smaller percentages of Spanish speakers, the only options are AM. And nearly everywhere else, whether it be Russian speakers around New York City or various Asian and Asian subcontinent folks ranging from the major West Coast state markets to Arabic speakers in places like Detroit and Chicago, there are stations on AM serving them.

We are now closing in on 50 million first-generation immigrants living in the US. Most first generation people don't every become English dominant and generally bring with them their tastes for music and entertainment in their first language. And nearly all are only served by AM stations.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

I just rented a Polestar 2 EV (from Volvo), it had no AM tuner that I could find. The Hertz branch at the Orlando airport had a bunch of these to rent out.

 

[Kelly A]

I think you are forgetting the large number of smaller foreign language station listeners. In some markets with smaller percentages of Spanish speakers, the only options are AM. And nearly everywhere else, whether it be Russian speakers around New York City or various Asian and Asian subcontinent folks ranging from the major West Coast state markets to Arabic speakers in places like Detroit and Chicago, there are stations on AM serving them.

Being pretty familiar with media consumption of Arabic language programming in the U.S., most are listening to programming from streaming, mainly sources from their home countries. As with a lot of foreign language programming carried on radio, much is block/paid by an individual, or group in that community trying to reach, successfully or no, that audience. This is especially true, considering 99% of people in the U.S. who are from MENA, own and use smartphones for not just consumption of media and entertainment, but communication back to their countries of origin.

We are now closing in on 50 million first-generation immigrants living in the US. Most first generation people don't every become English dominant and generally bring with them their tastes for music and entertainment in their first language. And nearly all are only served by AM stations.

But the fact is, just because it's on an AM station, doesn't mean any majority know it's even there, let alone listen.

 

[davideduardo]

Being pretty familiar with media consumption of Arabic language programming in the U.S., most are listening to programming from streaming, mainly sources from their home countries. As with a lot of foreign language programming carried on radio, much is block/paid by an individual, or group in that community trying to reach, successfully or no, that audience. This is especially true, considering 99% of people in the U.S. who are from MENA, own and use smartphones for not just consumption of media and entertainment, but communication back to their countries of origin.

A large number of immigrants do not want news and information about the home country. Using my experience with Hispanic groups, I can say that the only ones that follow such news are refugees who had to leave nations like Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela due to social conditions. The rest are often just the opposite: they want nothing to do with the economies and politics of the nation that could not provide them with jobs and security.

In such cases, those immigrants want entertainment in their own language, perhaps a fun morning show and some news and information that helps them deal with "new" customs, laws and the like.

Again, with most of these immigrants, the only sources for what they want are often local radio stations and in smaller markets, those tend to be AM operations.

The same, based on my experience in LA, San Francisco, NY and other larger markets, applies to a significant portion of those from Asia. They are likely to depend more than any other group on AM stations.

But the fact is, just because it's on an AM station, doesn't mean any majority know it's even there, let alone listen.

Since Nielsen does not attempt to get samples of any other language group than Hispanics, I can only address that one segment: in smaller markets the population knows about "their" station or stations and they listen a lot... in much higher numbers of weekly hours than non-Hispanic whites or Blacks.

 

[Don CT]

This article by the NAB president touches on many of the issues we were discussing here. I didn't realize that 47 million Americans listened to AM radio. That's a bigger number of listeners than I would have thought possible, especially with all the entertainment offerings on the FM band.

Preserving AM radio in cars

More than 47 million Americans tune into nearly 4,500 local AM radio stations across the country.

Where are they getting that number. Is that active listeners or yearly.

 

[davideduardo]

More than 47 million Americans tune into nearly 4,500 local AM radio stations across the country.

Where are they getting that number. Is that active listeners or yearly.

Weekly Nielsen cume data. Apparently they combine the rated markets data with the annual national circulation survey to get a national number.

 

[Don CT]

Weekly Nielsen cume data. Apparently they combine the rated markets data with the annual national circulation survey to get a national number.

I doubt every AM stations gets that many listeners. They make it sound like everyone is listening to all 4500 am stations.

 

[davideduardo]

I doubt every AM stations gets that many listeners. They make it sound like everyone is listening to all 4500 am stations.

Of course there are stations with few listeners and some, like KFI, with huge numbers. All they are doing is creating a number of unduplicated cume AM users.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

Obviously 47 million people aren't listening to any single station, especially not the 1kW and 500 W Class C and D stations which mostly are assigned small cities with less than 50,000 population.

 

[Kelly A]

A large number of immigrants do not want news and information about the home country. Using my experience with Hispanic groups, I can say that the only ones that follow such news are refugees who had to leave nations like Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela due to social conditions. The rest are often just the opposite: they want nothing to do with the economies and politics of the nation that could not provide them with jobs and security.

And you can certainly speak with authority about Hispanic groups, but not all immigrant or other-languages think, or consume media the same way.

Again, with most of these immigrants, the only sources for what they want are often local radio stations and in smaller markets, those tend to be AM operations.

But you mentioned Arabic speakers, and I told you that isn't the same as Hispanic groups.

The same, based on my experience in LA, San Francisco, NY and other larger markets, applies to a significant portion of those from Asia. They are likely to depend more than any other group on AM stations.

Somehow I doubt that applies to Asian's under 65. Places like Japan and South Korea have been way ahead of the U.S. in use of smartphones for their media consumption and just everyday life activities. It would be very doubtful that they would be interested in listening to such an inferior-quality form of media as AM radio.

Getting back to my original statement; that it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume the majority of the remaining 40-some million listeners to AM would be white males over 50, primarily due to the evangelical or right wing political talk, here's a study from Pew Research: In Changing U.S. Electorate, Race and Education Remain Stark Dividing Lines
Certainly this study doesn't talk about numbers, but I think it's safe to assume that 78% of Republican Evangelicals would be the most likely to gravitate toward religion or political talk which is primarily the dominant programming on AM.

 

[michael hagerty]

This article by the NAB president touches on many of the issues we were discussing here. I didn't realize that 47 million Americans listened to AM radio. That's a bigger number of listeners than I would have thought possible, especially with all the entertainment offerings on the FM band.

Preserving AM radio in cars

That leaves 284.9 million Americans who don't listen to AM radio.

And therein lies the problem.

 

[michael hagerty]

We've had an extensive recent discussion of the decision to drop AM from the next Mustang model as well as some other Ford products. And we know some EVs have no AM option.

Let's post, as we hear about them, information on makes and models that will not have AM as well as discussion of how this will affect radio over time.

And links to news about industry leaders, politicians and the NAB trying to stop this trend belong here, too.

I'll start us off with the vehicles that we know as of this moment do not have AM radio:

All Tesla models

All Polestar models

All BMW electric models

All Mercedes-Benz electric models

All Porsche electric models

All Volkswagen electric models

All Audi electric models

All Volvos (gasoline and electric)

Ford F-150 Lightning (2023 model onward)

Ford Mustang (2024 model onward)

 

[anotherguyTN]

Another question: What aftermarket car stereos if any come without AM?

 

[michael hagerty]

Another question: What aftermarket car stereos if any come without AM?

Even I don't have the appetite to do that research. What I will offer is that Crutchfield compiled a list of the "best car stereos" for 2023----and while they all have radio, nowhere in their rundown did they feel the need to mention AM or FM, and even the word "radio" is used in the most generic fashion:

Best car stereos: updated November 2022


Given that Crutchfield is a retailer, I'm guessing they have a pretty good bead on what buyers are looking for---and this suggests to me that they don't think anyone's shopping for an aftermarket system with listening to OTA radio as a priority.

 

[Kelly A]

Given that Crutchfield is a retailer, I'm guessing they have a pretty good bead on what buyers are looking for---and this suggests to me that they don't think anyone's shopping for an aftermarket system with listening to OTA radio as a priority.

Absolutely correct. Also, most auto manufacturers have entertainment systems integrated into the dash in forms of screens, all run as part of the vehicle BCM, Body Control Module. Gone are the days of dash spaces that include single or double DIN slots for replacing OEM radios with aftermarket units. The aftermarket stereo business is drying up.

 

[CTListener]

That leaves 284.9 million Americans who don't listen to AM radio.

And therein lies the problem.

That comes out to 16.5 percent of all Americans listening to AM. Extrapolating that to my current location, the Hanover/Lebanon/White River Junction market, that means AM is used by just under 27,000 of the market's 160,000 people -- probably fewer, since the total population includes very young children and others who don't use any radio. That's not many, and the bald statistics give us no idea how much those people are using AM, which here is only three stations: a right-wing talker, an old-style full-service AC (albeit with long jockless stretches of generic music), and a classic country station. All have FM translators. AM could disappear from most vehicles here overnight and too few people to matter would care or even notice.

My take is that AM is doomed in cars, unless the FCC mandates its inclusion. Maybe a far-left FCC would listen to the voices of racial minorities, foreign-born and other disenfranchised-feeling folks whose only source for the radio programming they prefer is AM, but that's not what we have, even with a Democratic president, and it's hardly likely we'll get one in the future.