Car Makes & Models with No AM Band.

[michael hagerty]

And the busier the screen, the longer a driver needs to take their eyes off the road.

I didn’t phrase that right. I was referring to a screen covering the air vents, not the touchscreen.

As for the touchscreen, yeah the presets are a bit of a jumble. I usually set the radio for the station where I work and the screen to CarPlay, which is cleaner and more intuitive.

 

[Theater of My Mind]

I always used to replace my factory car radio with an aftermarket head unit which was far superior to the OEM. It's hard to do that anymore, now that the factory HU is so tightly integrated into most vehicles' ecosystems. As a result we now get stuck with some pretty sub-par in-dash entertainment gear that's difficult if not impossible to upgrade.

 

[radiofan2023]

And the busier the screen, the longer a driver needs to take their eyes off the road.

You can use voice commands

 

[Kelly A]

You can use voice commands

Not always. Unless you get into serious premium brands, many simple tasks like adjusting the temperature within a zone, switching to recirculated air due to being stuck behind a polluting diesel bus, or even changing radio stations, still require touching a page/tab/function on the screen. In the case of my wife's car, I navigate to the proper page/tab via a roller thingy on the steering wheel, then click the roller thingy once I get to the proper tab. It still takes too much attention away from what should be the priority, driving.

 

[wadio]

The auto manufacturers aren't dropping AM because of the marketplace. So making it a marketplace issue avoids the reason.

Again, where's the hypocrisy? What's wrong with petitioning congress with grievances? It's in the constitution.

If there's a market for AM radio it will survive. Petitioning congress due to a special interest is not a conservative value.

 

[TheBigA]

If there's a market for AM radio it will survive. Petitioning congress due to a special interest is not a conservative value.

And yet conservatives do it every day. As I said, the decision has nothing to do with if there's a market.

 

[JJSPC]

There will be some hoopla surrounding this for a little while, however the carmakers will go ahead with their plans and it will all be forgotten about. It's just a knee jerk reaction by people and politicians who are probably already not using the AM service in their current vehicle.

 

[davideduardo]

There will be some hoopla surrounding this for a little while, however the carmakers will go ahead with their plans and it will all be forgotten about. It's just a knee jerk reaction by people and politicians who are probably already not using the AM service in their current vehicle.

There will be a considerable push to keep AM in cars with NAB participating at the lobbying level. And I see this being converted to pressure on the Commission to change next adjacent protection requirements to allow both permanence of translators and the move of AMs to FM.

Just as AM is a very old technology, so are FCC technical rules on both AM skywave interference and on FM allocations.

The AM rules reflected the need for skywave back when most radio listening was at night and there were vastly fewer stations, particularly in smaller cities and rural areas in the late 1920's when the FRC began establishing station power levels and classifications.

The FM rues reflected the instability of early FM radios and their poor selectivity back in the late 40's and 50's.

In most of the world, AM is gone or "going" and FM allocations respond to today's receiver capabilities.

I think the NAB should give up trying to protect AMs and work on new technical standards to allow a migration of remaining stations to FM. In particular, they should push for permanence for translators that are connected to AMs, allowing possible power increases and allowing for the AM to go silent.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

There will be a considerable push to keep AM in cars with NAB participating at the lobbying level. And I see this being converted to pressure on the Commission to change next adjacent protection requirements to allow both permanence of translators and the move of AMs to FM.

The MusicFirst people should jump on this. Propose a performance royalty in exchange for an AM tuner mandate.

I just want to watch lobbyists' heads spin

 

[davideduardo]

The MusicFirst people should jump on this. Propose a performance royalty in exchange for an AM tuner mandate.

Yeah, let's bring to free radio a royalty system that makes profitability almost... and maybe utterly... impossible.

I just want to watch lobbyists' heads spin

You did!

 

[Theater of My Mind]

The anti-education book-banning party needs rightwing radio to spread its replacement propaganda, so don't be surprised to see Kevin McCarthy push some pro-AM Radio bill through the House. It won't get any farther than that, at least not for now.

 

[radiofan2023]

I don't think there will be a bill, I think they'll just do a resolution saying how important AM radio is, etc.

 

[Kelly A]

I don't think there will be a bill, I think they'll just do a resolution saying how important AM radio is, etc.

I agree. There might be a little bit of bluster, but unless there is serious lobbying (aka money) being thrown at the House and Senate, this whole thought that the government will force the hand of automakers to keep stupid AM, is delusional. The NAB doesn't have those sort of lobbying resources to throw at this, nor does the NAB have enough skin in the game to put everything on the line to save such a legacy medium.

 

[AbrahamJSimpson]

The auto manufacturers aren't dropping AM because of the marketplace. So making it a marketplace issue avoids the reason.

Again, where's the hypocrisy? What's wrong with petitioning congress with grievances? It's in the constitution.

The hypocrisy is hearing “make the government save us” from the same outlets that air non-stop “keep the darn gubment outta our freedums” - I mean, maybe not when it comes to reproductive choice, sure. Or letting people who aren’t straight get married. So basically keep the gubment away except when it benefits us and not those other people.

Of course it’s legal; it’s still laughably hypocritical.

 

[Miss Tuned]

Not always. Unless you get into serious premium brands, many simple tasks like adjusting the temperature within a zone, switching to recirculated air due to being stuck behind a polluting diesel bus, or even changing radio stations, still require touching a page/tab/function on the screen. In the case of my wife's car, I navigate to the proper page/tab via a roller thingy on the steering wheel, then click the roller thingy once I get to the proper tab. It still takes too much attention away from what should be the priority, driving.

Fully agree. In-car touchscreens are dangerous - because it's a big flat surface with no physical clues, you have to look away from the road to interact with it. With an old-fashioned radio with buttons and dials and a display, you can turn the volume up or down and change between preset stations without really looking away from the road. I occasionally drive my parents' 2019 Toyota to places, and it has a touch-screen and multiple tabs on the radio, and lots of lag between pressing an option and getting a reaction, and I end up just not listening to it because I literally don't feel safe using it without pulling over.

My own car has an Amazon Echo Auto (which I think is discontinued) and I can just bark "Alexa! Play In Demand Radio!" and it'll do my bidding. It's far safer, I don't have to take my eyes off the road at all.

 

[Hyrum]

I was listening to WOR (on the web feed because the signal is unlistenable in Orange County NY) and was amused hearing Len Berman read I Heart's script begging the government to step in on the issue of AM in cars. At one time the information was true, but the entire premise was laughable in today's market. The emergency need for AM radio in the event of power outages or emergencies assumes that no one owns an FM radio which will operate on batteries. I'm guessing most do. It suggest that the government needs a way to contact us in the event of a national emergency. I guess they forgot about all the government mandated stuff in cell phones. I am an old guy. I loved AM radio back when you could actually hear it. Today with all the noise from all the modern electronics drowns out AM signals, I have to suggest that asking the government to include AM in cars is much like asking the same auto manufacturers to have included a buggy whip with every new car manufactured in 1920. AM radio is over and out unless have the stations die and the other half go digital with a power increase to make the signals listenable. We also should consider how much more government we need dictating our lives. We don't need more and in fact need a lot less. Let's keep government out of this and if you feel so strongly about the argument, don't buy a car from a manufacturer which doesn't offer AM. If more than 12 AM listeners do that maybe the auto guys will take notice. Or maybe we can realize that AM radio was great. We love it. It was the biggest entertainment device of it's time. And now it's over. Maybe those still riding their horse and carriage to work disagree with me but I don't see government intervention as a way to save something that just doesn't work in today's electronic environment.

 

[Miss Tuned]

AM radio is ever likely to be one of the first things to go in a severe weather situation. What's going to go down first in an hurricane - the little FM stick on a tall building, every cell tower in the region or the complicated array of 200' guyed towers?

Now, you could beam in emergency information on a distant AM station from outside the impacted area, but who's going to be listening? The priority in those situations has to be to keep the cell networks running - those are what people actually use.

 

[CTListener]

The emergency need for AM radio in the event of power outages or emergencies assumes that no one owns an FM radio which will operate on batteries. I'm guessing most do.

Wrong guess. The only FM radios most people under 50 own now is in their cars or trucks. Technically, I suppose you're right -- they do operate on batteries, the big ones under the hood.

 

[kevtronics]

AM radio is ever likely to be one of the first things to go in a severe weather situation. What's going to go down first in an hurricane - the little FM stick on a tall building, every cell tower in the region or the complicated array of 200' guyed towers?

People who grew up during the Cold War still have the fear that a nuke would hit a major city, thus wiping out the communications infrastructure located within it, including FM and TV stations, but most AM transmitter sites are located away from dense urban areas (historically to avoid causing receiver overload) and thus would be more likely to remain intact.

 

[boombox4]

What's going to go down first in an hurricane - the little FM stick on a tall building, every cell tower in the region or the complicated array of 200' guyed towers?

What will probably go first? the Electricity.