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Saving AM Radio

How about this for a simple, cost effective solution:

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Car manufacturers could ship a carton of these to their dealers. Then in the unlikely event that a customer who is about to buy that shiny new BMW says, "OMG! No AM radio? My life is in danger!!" the dealer could pull one off the shelf and tuck in in the glovebox. Problem solved. :)

(BTW, the negative reviews were because some of the radios shipped were not orange as pictured. No complaints about reception.)
 
radiofan2023 said:
All this arguing over a dead bill…holy guacamole!
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The topic is Saving AM Radio, and you can't begin to save it if people can't receive it. That lies with car makers and electronics manufacturers. Radio companies have already moved on to the internet. You can't say that radio is a public utility, force owners to follow government rules, serve the public interest, and then abdicate government responsibility when it comes to the devices people use to receive it. They're all part of the same thing. If people can't receive it, then the rest of the process doesn't matter. If government has no role here, then simply abolish the FCC and allow radio owners to actually own their frequencies. Then you'll see actual changes in AM radio. It'll save the government a half a billion dollars.
 
TheBigA said:
The topic is Saving AM Radio, and you can't begin to save it if people can't receive it. That lies with car makers and electronics manufacturers. Radio companies have already moved on to the internet. You can't say that radio is a public utility, force owners to follow government rules, serve the public interest, and then abdicate government responsibility when it comes to the devices people use to receive it. They're all part of the same thing. If people can't receive it, then the rest of the process doesn't matter. If government has no role here, then simply abolish the FCC and allow radio owners to actually own their frequencies. Then you'll see actual changes in AM radio. It'll save the government a half a billion dollars.
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It seems to me the FCC doesn't "force owners to follow government rules" as much as they used to, with the cuts in field agents.
 
radiofan2023 said:
It seems to me the FCC doesn't "force owners to follow government rules" as much as they used to, with the cuts in field agents.
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Have you been reading what the new FCC Chairman has been saying? Read the thread about Brendan Carr. He's all about using the power of the federal government to control the media. That goes back to the contradiction of not wanting the government to require AM in cars, but they're in favor of the government breaking up radio companies or big tech.
 
TheBigA said:
Have you been reading what the new FCC Chairman has been saying? Read the thread about Brendan Carr. He's all about using the power of the federal government to control the media. That goes back to the contradiction of not wanting the government to require AM in cars, but they're in favor of the government breaking up radio companies or big tech.
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BigA: I'm certain you know that there are limits to what the FCC can do without congressional approval.So what Carr may want to do and what he can do could be two separate things.
 
BruceB said:
BigA: I'm certain you know that there are limits to what the FCC can do without congressional approval.So what Carr may want to do and what he can do could be two separate things.
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He's basing his comments on existing rules. Did you read his letter to Bob Iger? Did you read what he said about "public interest?" Those things are in his authority. He can block the Audacy bankruptcy if he & two other commissioners say it's not in the public interest. That's a very subjective thing. The next congress will be a lot less combative with things the president wants. If he supports Carr, there won't be many voicing opposition.
 
radiofan2023 said:
It seems to me the FCC doesn't "force owners to follow government rules" as much as they used to, with the cuts in field agents.
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The FCC is a "captured agency," meaning it pretty much does what the big players in the industry want. The "public interest" or listeners aren't really the agency's priority so much, outside of speeches.
 
vchimpanzee said:
Don't know how any of that works.
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I'm not saying this to be insulting, and please don't take it this way, but you seem to be very much an outlier in the way you interact with technology.

There's nothing wrong with that - everyone's entitled to interact or not interact in whatever way is comfortable to them. But if you're an outlier, and lots of people on this site are outliers, it's also important to understand that the larger world has different ways of navigating their interactions.

My mom is about to turn 80, and she's not especially technologically adept, but with a little help from the family she is very happily using SiriusXM in her car (and not listening to radio at all because it has nothing to offer her), watching YouTube TV at home after cutting the cord on cable, using her Bluetooth-enabled hearing aids to connect to her smartphone, and so on. It took a little while to get her to not be scared of all of it, but once she got the hang of it, she loves it.

And from what I see of her friends, I would wager that she's more typical than not of a 79-year-old suburban widow these days.

It's not hard to learn how all these things work, IF you're motivated to do so. There are plenty of how-to guides all over YouTube, and once you start getting the hang of it, it opens the way to lots of entertainment and information options that many of us find more useful than the traditional terrestrial options.
 
fybush said:
I'm not saying this to be insulting, and please don't take it this way, but you seem to be very much an outlier in the way you interact with technology.

There's nothing wrong with that - everyone's entitled to interact or not interact in whatever way is comfortable to them. But if you're an outlier, and lots of people on this site are outliers, it's also important to understand that the larger world has different ways of navigating their interactions.

My mom is about to turn 80, and she's not especially technologically adept, but with a little help from the family she is very happily using SiriusXM in her car (and not listening to radio at all because it has nothing to offer her), watching YouTube TV at home after cutting the cord on cable, using her Bluetooth-enabled hearing aids to connect to her smartphone, and so on. It took a little while to get her to not be scared of all of it, but once she got the hang of it, she loves it.

And from what I see of her friends, I would wager that she's more typical than not of a 79-year-old suburban widow these days.

It's not hard to learn how all these things work, IF you're motivated to do so. There are plenty of how-to guides all over YouTube, and once you start getting the hang of it, it opens the way to lots of entertainment and information options that many of us find more useful than the traditional terrestrial options.
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Driving is complicated enough. I have old cars that don't have the technology, and the newer car was expensive enough.

Learning to do new things is a nightmare for me, so I'm very slow to figure out how.

Internet radio at home with selected web sites is reasonably simple on a desktop. Still, listening to stuff online sounded like listening under water and I was reluctant to do more for a long time. Yes, I know AM radio with buzzing is probably worse. It's what I'm used to.
 
fybush said:
I'm not saying this to be insulting, and please don't take it this way, but you seem to be very much an outlier in the way you interact with technology.

There's nothing wrong with that - everyone's entitled to interact or not interact in whatever way is comfortable to them. But if you're an outlier, and lots of people on this site are outliers, it's also important to understand that the larger world has different ways of navigating their interactions.

My mom is about to turn 80, and she's not especially technologically adept, but with a little help from the family she is very happily using SiriusXM in her car (and not listening to radio at all because it has nothing to offer her), watching YouTube TV at home after cutting the cord on cable, using her Bluetooth-enabled hearing aids to connect to her smartphone, and so on. It took a little while to get her to not be scared of all of it, but once she got the hang of it, she loves it.

And from what I see of her friends, I would wager that she's more typical than not of a 79-year-old suburban widow these days.

It's not hard to learn how all these things work, IF you're motivated to do so. There are plenty of how-to guides all over YouTube, and once you start getting the hang of it, it opens the way to lots of entertainment and information options that many of us find more useful than the traditional terrestrial options.
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It is so simple to plug your phone into your car and receive nearly every AM station in the WORLD in full fidelity. Everyone knows this, don't they?? What are we talking about here?? This thread is getting so stupid. Sure, the band must continue for emergency use, of course.
 
Robert Douglas said:
It is so simple to plug your phone into your car and receive nearly every AM station in the WORLD in full fidelity. Everyone knows this, don't they?? What are we talking about here?? This thread is getting so stupid. Sure, the band must continue for emergency use, of course.
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It depends on where you live. Here in Arizona, one cannot touch a cellphone while the vehicle is in motion, either to answer a phone call or for anything else. At a stoplight, it's OK if you have the time. Otherwise, one must pull off the road and stop to do anything with a cellphone, including changing stations on TuneIn or another streaming service. Given the amount of distracted driving in this state, I agree with it 100%.
 
KeithE4 said:
It depends on where you live. Here in Arizona, one cannot touch a cellphone while the vehicle is in motion, either to answer a phone call or for anything else. At a stoplight, it's OK if you have the time. Otherwise, one must pull off the road and stop to do anything with a cellphone, including changing stations on TuneIn or another streaming service. Given the amount of distracted driving in this state, I agree with it 100%.
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It's similar here in California.

I've seen people driving on the freeway with their heads cocked down, looking at their phones. It amazes me that more crashes don't happen with that kind of reckless behavior going on!

c
 
cc333 said:
It's similar here in California.

I've seen people driving on the freeway with their heads cocked down, looking at their phones. It amazes me that more crashes don't happen with that kind of reckless behavior going on!

c
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The other night, I was waiting at an intersection for the light to turn green, and a vehicle went speeding through while red. I saw the driver with her head down looking at her cell phone. And now with Car Play systems, it's just creating more distracted driving.

So, I don't mind not being able to plug my cell phone into whatever while driving.
 
wadio said:
How about this for a simple, cost effective solution:

View attachment 8317
Car manufacturers could ship a carton of these to their dealers. Then in the unlikely event that a customer who is about to buy that shiny new BMW says, "OMG! No AM radio? My life is in danger!!" the dealer could pull one off the shelf and tuck in in the glovebox. Problem solved. :)

(BTW, the negative reviews were because some of the radios shipped were not orange as pictured. No complaints about reception.)
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Or just follow Ford's lead, and offer the AM crowd a simple software update to add AM to the entertainment system at the dealership. It's giving your customer what they want!
 


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