Car Makes & Models with No AM Band.

[TheBigA]

They shouldn’t. The answer isn’t go deeper into meddling, it’s back the heck out.

The FCC should be a traffic cop of sorts, no more.

'Should, should, should.' None of that is factual. You're talking about a theory. You want to repeal laws? Fine. Go ahead. But right now, the laws exist, and no one is talking about repealing anything. Radio stations still have to follow the laws.

Don’t prop up failing dinosaur business models just because you have some antiquated regulatory scheme from decades ago at your disposal.

This has nothing to do with a business model. Once again, if the regulations are antiquated, repeal them. But if the government is still enforcing them, then the government that oversees the spectrum and the radio industry has to carry out its part of the deal.

Will this proposal become law? Probably not. There are lots of people in congress that dislike the media, and see this as you do. It's a proposal. That's all it is. There's a long process before it becomes a law.

 

[kfbkfb]

Ford decides to keep AM radio on 2024 models, will restore AM on two electric vehicles from 2023

Owners of new Ford vehicles will be able to tune in to AM radio in their cars, trucks and SUVs after all. CEO Jim Farley wrote in social media postings Tuesday that the company is reversing a decision to scrub the band after speaking with government policy leaders. They are concerned about...

apnews.com

^^^
Owners of new Ford vehicles will be able to tune in to AM radio in their cars, trucks and SUVs after all.


Interesting comment about a software update to add AM reception.


Kirk Bayne

 

[michael hagerty]

Cash only, or would you take cocaine off the Schedule 1 list, too?

What about hookers (asking for a friend who’s still a PD)?

 

[michael hagerty]

Ford decides to keep AM radio on 2024 models, will restore AM on two electric vehicles from 2023

Owners of new Ford vehicles will be able to tune in to AM radio in their cars, trucks and SUVs after all. CEO Jim Farley wrote in social media postings Tuesday that the company is reversing a decision to scrub the band after speaking with government policy leaders. They are concerned about...

apnews.com

^^^
Owners of new Ford vehicles will be able to tune in to AM radio in their cars, trucks and SUVs after all.


Interesting comment about a software update to add AM reception.


Kirk Bayne

I’m surprised. I wonder what legislation is on deck beyond the “Save AM” bill that Ford decided it didn’t want to jeopardize?

 

[TheBigA]

I’m surprised. I wonder what legislation is on deck beyond the “Save AM” bill that Ford decided it didn’t want to jeopardize?

Sometimes all it takes is the threat of a new regulation to get a company to reverse a decision:

Radio Industry News, New Music, Music Promotion, Radio Station Song Charts

All Access offers the latest radio industry news and music news, music promotions for record companies new music, radio station song charts, and much more. AllAccess.com has been serving the radio and music industry since 1995, always bringing you the highest quality content with...

www.allaccess.com

 

[Greg Goodfellow]

👍

But Les knew when the lizzards were coming

 

[mightynine]

Very interesting that a "software update" will enable AM Radio on those already sold without it. What else could those lil' chips disable, hmmmmm?

 

[Ryan Williams]

So the hardware that enables AM reception was was present all along and they were just disabling it in software?

I wonder if the software update was a mispeak.

 

[davideduardo]

What about hookers (asking for a friend who’s still a PD)?

Ah, you gave me a big flashback...

In the height of the disco era, one of the big trade publications had a radio programming convention at a swank hotel on the west side of LA. And a label which we can call "Whitehouse" had an invitation-only evening "affair" in the royal penthouse, right after their showcase in the ballroom, headlined by an artist named after a season of the year.

Having worked in radio for the same company as the label's head of promotion nearly a decade before, I got an "invite" and took the golden elevator up to the party. After getting my glass of champagne, I explored the palatial venue. In one of several big, big bedrooms, a bunch of PDs found that their answer was more than blowing in the wind. In the other immense bedroom, silver trays were in serious need of a call to housekeeping, being, as they were, covered in little piles of white dust.

A bit later, several now-happy PDs tried to throw the balcony furniture all the way down into the pool, but by then I had decided that my tiny room many floors below had a lower risk of arrest and infamy and I'd already left the scene.

 

[davideduardo]

Very interesting that a "software update" will enable AM Radio on those already sold without it. What else could those lil' chips disable, hmmmmm?

Or, more interestingly, what could they capture?

 

[Ryan Williams]

So the hardware that enables AM reception was was present all along and they were just disabling it in software?

I wonder if the software update was a mispeak.

Just saw this theory....

https://twitter.com/x/status/1661042324003241984

But how would that work without a phone? If it is through the built in LTE system, does Ford pay for that?

 

[Rusty Muck]

Just saw this theory....

https://twitter.com/x/status/1661042324003241984

But how would that work without a phone? If it is through the built in LTE system, does Ford pay for that?

Wait… so it’s more enabling the ability to stream the stations? That’s not AM, that’s internet radio.

I don’t know of ANY mobile device with a built-in ferrite antenna. They’d be as big as a suitcase.

 

[Ryan Williams]

Wait… so it’s more enabling the ability to stream the stations? That’s not AM, that’s internet radio.

It's just a theory I came across of how a software update could enable "AM".

There are a bunch of stations that don't stream. Those that do, sometimes have blackouts for sporting events.

And if this is in fact the method, you are correct it isn't really AM and doesn't solve the EAS distribution if the cell networks go down, but maybe for Ford EVs that have already shipped, it's the best option.

 

[kfbkfb]

I think Ford would be called out if they tried to claim that streaming the audio from AM stations constituted having AM radio reception.

There's still the issue of cell towers damaged in storms - distant AM signals could be the only thing receivable.


Kirk Bayne

 

[TheBigA]

And if this is in fact the method, you are correct it isn't really AM and doesn't solve the EAS distribution if the cell networks go down, but maybe for Ford EVs that have already shipped, it's the best option.

However, if you read the proposed law, such a thing would fulfill the requirements:

(3) allowing a manufacturer to comply with that rule by installing devices that can receive signals and play content transmitted by digital audio AM broadcast stations as standard equipment in motor vehicles manufactured in the United States, imported into the United States, or shipped in interstate commerce after the effective date of the rule.

So that includes HD radio or digital streaming.

 

[michael hagerty]

Sometimes all it takes is the threat of a new regulation to get a company to reverse a decision:

Radio Industry News, New Music, Music Promotion, Radio Station Song Charts

All Access offers the latest radio industry news and music news, music promotions for record companies new music, radio station song charts, and much more. AllAccess.com has been serving the radio and music industry since 1995, always bringing you the highest quality content with...

www.allaccess.com

Yes, but as you pointed out, there wasn't much bite to this regulation. This was the threat of having to inform people their cars didn't have AM.

 

[davideduardo]

Ford decides to keep AM radio on 2024 models, will restore AM on two electric vehicles from 2023

Owners of new Ford vehicles will be able to tune in to AM radio in their cars, trucks and SUVs after all. CEO Jim Farley wrote in social media postings Tuesday that the company is reversing a decision to scrub the band after speaking with government policy leaders. They are concerned about...

apnews.com

^^^
Owners of new Ford vehicles will be able to tune in to AM radio in their cars, trucks and SUVs after all.


Interesting comment about a software update to add AM reception.


Kirk Bayne

RAMP - Radio and Music Pros and click Ford Reconsiders, Now Keeping AM Radio

 

[Rusty Muck]

Yes, but as you pointed out, there wasn't much bite to this regulation. This was the threat of having to inform people their cars didn't have AM.

Ford effectively killed that proposed law and, depending on how this tech is actually implemented, didn’t have to do much of anything.

The “frog in a boiling pot” fable comes to mind.

 

[TheBigA]

Ford effectively killed that proposed law and, depending on how this tech is actually implemented, didn’t have to do much of anything.

Plus the commitment is only for 2024. Brilliant PR move.

 

[davideduardo]

Ford effectively killed that proposed law and, depending on how this tech is actually implemented, didn’t have to do much of anything.

The “frog in a boiling pot” fable comes to mind.

And what they did was kick the can farther down the road. When this dies down, they can try again.