"AM for Every Vehicle Act" is flawed - we need a "Future of Radio Act"

[Mikey Radio]

I'm still convinced that

Perhaps AM radios don't need to be mandated by the government because the publicity alone of the outcry of people resenting the possibility of AM radios being removed from new cars was enough to let car makers know that AM radios are still important and relevant, if only barely
c

I doubt the publicity was the reason Ford or any manufacturer decided to include AM radio in their new vehicles. There's a better chance they thought those in the house and senate were truly on track to potentially pass this legislation, so they just figured they'd get ahead of it just in case and include AM.

As has been mentioned in other talk threads about this same issue, just like radio stations with music formats poll and test with listeners in their key demographic when determining which music selections to air, car manufacturers and others most definitely also research those most likely to purchase their vehicles to find out what they want and expect. As others have stated, the desire and requests for AM radio probably don't even represent a blip. They likely get many more requests for FM and newer technologies like SiriusXM, CarPlay and Android Auto. As has been discussed at length, the quality of AM radio is inferior, far too prone to ever increasing interference and noise and in general, the content on AM radio is poor, relegated mostly to right-wing talk, foreign language, ethnic, religious and brokered programming...All of which can be found elsewhere (apps, streaming and the like) for those interested in those formats.

 

[cc333]

I doubt the publicity was the reason Ford or any manufacturer decided to include AM radio in their new vehicles.

Fair enough.

c

 

[ZebraRadio]

Rand Paul attempts to explain his reason for not supporting the AM for Every Vehicle Act and equates AM with the 8-track and cassette which also disappeared from cars. Paul's solution for the noise issue with AM and EV's? Just don't buy EV's and get rid of the government subsidy and they'll eventually go away. Amazing logic!

Rand Paul Defends AM Bill Move, Says Targeting Electric Car Tax Breaks A Better Way To Help.

Senator Rand Paul may have scuttled an attempt Tuesday to quickly get a pending bill through the Senate that would help ensure AM is in vehicle dashboards, but the Kentucky

www.insideradio.com

 

[kfbkfb]

I still think that adding an AM (and FM) radio reception requirement to all vehicles sold in the USA could be justified as a baseline safety requirement (perhaps also a requirement to make the radio section as low a power need as possible so that the radio could operate from a vehicle battery only for a long time).


Kirk Bayne

 

[Theater of My Mind]

Maybe we should also have a Rotary Dial Phone in Every Home Act so people can call the Operator in an emergency. Seems about as relevant as what's being discussed.

 

[kfbkfb]

The USA currently has (and will have in the foreseeable future) a gigantic national AM radio broadcasting system +EAS.

All that's needed is to educate first responders and local government people about what EAS is, what it does and when to use it and to educate the public to try vehicle AM radios when the cell network is down, landline phone is out and the power is off.

It's really just that simple.


Kirk Bayne

 

[Mark Roberts]

Earth calling Kirk!

He does have Lost in Space in his avatar. Just pointing that out....

 

[Mark Roberts]

Maybe we should also have a Rotary Dial Phone in Every Home Act so people can call the Operator in an emergency. Seems about as relevant as what's being discussed.

I don't know; are there any central offices that can read dial pulses any more?

 

[davideduardo]

The USA currently has (and will have in the foreseeable future) a gigantic national AM radio broadcasting system +EAS.

FMs also must be equipped to operate the EAS system.

There is no "AM Exclusive" system. In fact, because so many AMs are now doing niche programming (religion, foreign language, Spanish language, and brokered) there are very very few people who still use AM and many many who would not even know how to find an AM station in an emergency

All that's needed is to educate first responders and local government people about what EAS is, what it does and when to use it

Every local, county, state and federal agency is supposedly trained to initiate EAS emergency broadcasts. Local stations can not do that; it must be initiated by a designated official agency. Training is their responsibility and each agency supposedly educates managers and above on how to initiate an EAS broadcast.

and to educate the public to try vehicle AM radios when the cell network is down, landline phone is out and the power is off.

FM works just as well, maybe better.

 

[davideduardo]

He does have Lost in Space in his avatar. Just pointing that out....

Yes, it's a toy avatar or whatever that is called. Keyword: Toy.

 

[radiofan2023]

Yes, it's a toy avatar or whatever that is called. Keyword: Toy.

The difference is, the robot would understand relying on AM radio in an emergency is a bad idea.

 

[kfbkfb]

Avatar represents my favorite TV show (and this was the 1st toy I got related to the show [not my original toy box])


I guess the only thing I'd make sure to do was to educate the general public to use a vehicle radio (AM or FM) for info when cell phones don't work and the power is off.


Kirk Bayne

 

[cc333]

I won't continue beating a dead subject, but it's been pointed out that AM's range, for better or worse, is quite superior to FM, at least at night when the skywaves are active.

Whether this matters anymore is somewhat debatable, but what isn't debatable is that for any merit AM still has as an emergency fallback for emergency information, is that when push comes to shove and there's a big disaster, no emergency info network is going to work, whether because of human error, equipment failure, destryed infrastructure, or simply citizens' inability to access it because they're running for their lives and the only thing they're thinking about is getting out of the danger zone.

That said, if one were to be brutally realistic, none of the current means of broadcasting emergency info (AM, FM, cellular, Internet, EAS, etc.) ultimately matter, and all it comes down to is that one must be aware of their surroundings, recognize when there's something dangerous happening, and take any appropriate actions to ensure their safety, with the understanding that they're probably on their own and unlikely to get timely help, especially in any worst case scenarios (for example, during the 2017 Tubbs Fire in Santa Rosa, CA, where the flames were blown by hurricane force winds at night; In that situation, the people in affected areas had virtually no warning – one minute, things are calm, then the next, the flames are right on top of them – primarily because things were happening so fast that any emergency alert wouldn't have mattered. A similar problem occurred during the Camp fire a year later).

c

 

[Kelly A]

I won't continue beating a dead subject, but it's been pointed out that AM's range, for better or worse, is quite superior to FM, at least at night when the skywaves are active.

And that's caused by propagation, which varies depending on atmospheric conditions. Anymore one must also account for noise too. Signals easily received forty years ago, aren't now due to increased noise floor on the MW bands.

Whether this matters anymore is somewhat debatable, but what isn't debatable is that for any merit AM still has as an emergency fallback for emergency information, is that when push comes to shove and there's a big disaster, no emergency info network is going to work, whether because of human error, equipment failure, destryed infrastructure, or simply citizens' inability to access it because they're running for their lives and the only thing they're thinking about is getting out of the danger zone.

And as I and others have stated, the practical reality trumps any theoretical ones here; it takes people and resources to provide emergency news and information to broadcast via AM or any form of broadcast. Just because AM radio could potentially provide news and information to distant listeners, doesn't mean it will. Also, if there are fewer and fewer adults listening to AM, do you think it makes any sense to focus resources on something that the majority of the public can't, or won't hear?

That said, if one were to be brutally realistic, none of the current means of broadcasting emergency info (AM, FM, cellular, Internet, EAS, etc.) ultimately matter, and all it comes down to is that one must be aware of their surroundings, recognize when there's something dangerous happening, and take any appropriate actions to ensure their safety, with the understanding that they're probably on their own and unlikely to get timely help, especially in any worst case scenarios (for example, during the 2017 Tubbs Fire in Santa Rosa, CA, where the flames were blown by hurricane force winds at night; In that situation, the people in affected areas had virtually no warning – one minute, things are calm, then the next, the flames are right on top of them – primarily because things were happening so fast that any emergency alert wouldn't have mattered. A similar problem occurred during the Camp fire a year later).

And more recently in Hawaii, where a similar unexpected situation occurred. In both examples, emergency services were completely caught off guard with no useful information to have radio stations forward along via EAS, phone call, or E-mail to the local radio stations. That's assuming there is someone at the radio station, potentially after hours, to relay anything. As I stated; most EAS systems in local and state municipalities are gathering dust. Dispatchers aren't trained on how to use the equipment, and even if they were, someone would need to give them accurate instructions on what to say. Many times in natural or man-made disasters, emergency services are trying to mobilize crews, and come up with a plan. To most, the LAST thing they're thinking about is activating EAS to tell the public who might be listening to the radio, what?

c

 

[Mark Roberts]

Avatar represents my favorite TV show (and this was the 1st toy I got related to the show [not my original toy box])


I guess the only thing I'd make sure to do was to educate the general public to use a vehicle radio (AM or FM) for info when cell phones don't work and the power is off.


Kirk Bayne

I'll say it again: the literal-mindedness that prevails around here can be suffocating at times.

 

[kevtronics]

I don't know; are there any central offices that can read dial pulses any more?

Many VOIP-to-landline boxes support rotary/pulse dialing. For example, Verizon FiOS does. And it has enough ring current to drive a mechanical bell ringer, too.

In fact, I didn't have Touch-Tone dialing until I was basically forced to switch to FiOS in 2018, because on a regular copper landline, Verizon still made you pay extra for Touch-Tone dialing, and I never did. Once you completed dialing, you could switch the phone to TT mode to navigate a menu tree, so other than making dialing a number take longer, it was no big deal.

 

[kevtronics]

The USA currently has (and will have in the foreseeable future) a gigantic national AM radio broadcasting system +EAS.

Plus, FEMA spent money to harden 50 kW AM stations against natural and man-made disasters and acts of terrorism, including raising the transmitter above flood level, building an emergency studio on-site, and adding back-up generators, so you'd think they'd want their investment to be usable for some time to come.

FEMA and Audacy’s WWL Radio Unveil New Emergency Broadcast Studio

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), in partnership with Audacy, today announced it has completed an important emergency radio broadcast facility modernization project at Audacy’s WWL AM/FM in New Orleans to improve critical alert and warning capabilities when disasters threaten...

www.fema.gov

 

[Kelly A]

Plus, FEMA spent money to harden 50 kW AM stations against natural and man-made disasters and acts of terrorism, including raising the transmitter above flood level, building an emergency studio on-site, and adding back-up generators, so you'd think they'd want their investment to be usable for some time to come.

That's great. Who in emergency management services will be providing information for broadcast? Is that consistent across the board in most communities? In the case of recent fires that burned down entire communities, what if emergency services don't have information to broadcast? What about, as in Hawaii, when emergency services don't have any news or advice to pass along promptly even assumed to be relayed via EAS? All they could tell 911 callers was to evacuate into the ocean if needed.
The point stands: You can have the most robust transmission facilities the government can pay for, but if you don't have information to broadcast, staffing to do it at the radio station, or emergency services are too overwhelmed to prepare such information for broadcast, what good does any hardened transmission facilities do?

 

[davideduardo]

Plus, FEMA spent money to harden 50 kW AM stations against natural and man-made disasters and acts of terrorism, including raising the transmitter above flood level, building an emergency studio on-site, and adding back-up generators, so you'd think they'd want their investment to be usable for some time to come.

Where there were no adequate AM facilities, they reinforced FM stations. For example, in Tallahassee, FL, WTNT had its transmitter site "reinforced" with an underground studio, dual generators, a week's worth of fuel and all kind of state of the art gear that was highly redundant. And that was done in the 80's.

There is no reason why emergency broadcasting has to be on AM.

 

[davideduardo]

That's great. Who in emergency management services will be providing information for broadcast? Is that consistent across the board in most communities? In the case of recent fires that burned down entire communities, what if emergency services don't have information to broadcast?
The point stands: You can have the most robust transmission facilities the government can pay for, but if you don't have information to broadcast, staffing to do it at the radio station, or emergency services are too overwhelmed to prepare such information for broadcast, what good does any hardened transmission facilities do?

This is the classic case of the late-night train derailment at Minot in the Dakotas. Nobody was trained to activate the emergency system. Even though a cluster of stations was on the air and equipped to run notifications, nobody in local government and emergency services ever thought to activate the system.

Minot train derailment - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

"Emergency response to the disaster was disorganized. Local emergency managers did not activate the city's radio-based Emergency Alert System.[4] The public siren system failed during the event and the 911 telephone system became overloaded. Because it was the middle of the night, there were few people at local radio stations, all operated by Clear Channel with mostly automated programming. No formal emergency warnings were issued for several hours while Minot officials located station managers at home. North Dakota's public radio network, Prairie Public Broadcasting, was notified and did broadcast warnings to citizens.

And here, even Wikipedia gets it wrong (surprise, I'm sure). The Clear Channel stations had everything ready for an EAS activation. It was not necessary or feasible for those stations to have a live news operation at 2 AM as EAS would automatically "take over" any and all local stations and provide "at the source" official notifications and alerts.