As TheDetroitBureau.com reported in May, automakers are moving to eliminate AM radio from their vehicles. EV manufacturers especially report that electrical systems that power the vehicles create interference with AM signals.
However, an effort in the U.S. Senate has seeking to mandate that all automakers must include AM radio on every vehicle sold in the United States. The bill has been reported out of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee with a favorable rating, and may or may not be taken up by the full Senate.
That choice will largely fall on the Senate Majority Leader, Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York. He’s not a co-sponsor of the bill personally, but there are 27 co-sponsors in the Senate, including well-known names from both parties. So it seems likely that the Senate will take up the measure.
“Broadcast AM radio is an essential part of our emergency alert infrastructure, but the responses to my letter show that far too many automakers are ignoring the critical safety benefits of AM radio,” said Senator Ed Markey, D-MA, the main sponsor of the bill.
“Although many automakers suggested that other communication tools — such as internet radio — could replace broadcast AM radio, in an emergency, drivers might not have access to the internet and could miss critical safety information. The truth is that broadcast AM radio is irreplaceable. As the auto industry rightfully replaces the internal combustion engine with electric batteries, I will continue to work to ensure that automakers maintain access to broadcast AM radio in all their vehicles.”
Markey’s position is echoed by seven past FEMA administrators, who wrote a letter to Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg stating, “AM radio serves as a linchpin of the infrastructure behind the federal National Public Warning System, which provides emergency-alert and warning information from FEMA to the public during natural disasters and extreme weather events. Should EV makers continue removing AM radios from their vehicles, this vital public safety system will no longer function as intended.”
If the measure passes the Senate, it must still be taken up by the House and presented to President Biden for signature.
The problem with AM
AM radio has poor sound quality and lots of static. Further, drivers have experienced buzzing and crackling on the radio due to vehicle electrical systems for decades. The aftermarket provides a variety of remedies usually involving resistors or capacitors in the ignition system.
More to the point, people are no longer listening to AM radio in large numbers. According to an FCC review in 2009, “The story of AM radio over the last 50 years has been a transition from being the dominant form of audio entertainment for all age groups to being almost non-existent to the youngest demographic groups. Among persons aged 12-24, AM accounts for only 4% of listening, while FM accounts for 96%. Among persons aged 25-34, AM accounts for only 9% of listening, while FM accounts for 91%. The median age of listeners to the AM band is 57 years old, a full generation older than the median age of FM listeners.”
Automakers pay close attention to their customers, who prefer Internet-based wireless streaming services, satellite radio, and the ability to play music stored on their personal devices. AM radio’s lack of sound quality is why little music is broadcast on that band. When it comes to news and talk radio, most of the popular shows are now on satellite radio or available via streaming.
When it comes to emergency communications in the modern world, the vast majority of people receive official notifications on their phones, rather than through their car radios. The Emergency Alert System, which replaced the old Emergency Broadcast System in 1997, and the Integrated Public Alert & Warning System Open Platform for Emergency Networks (IPAWS-OPEN), can interrupt programming on cable, satellite and broadcast television, as well as on AM, FM, and satellite radio systems, and over cellular networks.
It can even take over electronic billboards and the Internet. The Reverse 911 system is used to generate mass phone calls on land lines and cellular networks to alert populations of local and regional threats. Most people have received Amber and Silver alerts on their phones from time to time through these systems.
Automakers vs. the government
To date, eight automakers including BMW, Ford, Mazda, Polestar, Rivian, Tesla, Volkswagen, and Volvo have eliminated AM radios as standard equipment on EVs. Tesla stopped including the band in 2018, and Ford had said it would stop including AM this year, but later backed away from that plan, perhaps bowing to political pressure. Ford CEO Jim Farley tweeted (or maybe, Xed?) the following statement:
After speaking with policy leaders about the importance of AM broadcast radio as a part of the emergency alert system, we’ve decided to include it on all 2024 @Ford & @LincolnMotorCo vehicles. For any owners of Ford EVs without AM broadcast capability, we’ll offer a software update.
Customers can currently listen to AM radio content in a variety of ways in our vehicles — including via streaming — and we will continue to innovate to deliver even better in-vehicle entertainment and emergency notification options in the future.
Ten more automakers, including Honda, Hyundai/Kia, Jaguar Land Rover, Lucid, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru, Toyota and the Stellantis brands have stated that they plan to continue offering AM radios in their vehicles.
A political angle
One group especially hard-hit by the move to eliminate AM radio is the talk radio industry. Predictably, those broadcasters and their listeners feel like they’re being frozen out of the communications spectrum.
“This would be a direct hit politically on conservative talk radio in particular, which is what most people go to AM radio to listen to,” said conservative pundit Sean Hannity. “People paid a lot of money for those signals, and they pay that money to, you know, the Federal government [that] gives out these licenses.
What’s the point if they’re going to take away a significant percentage of the population’s ability to even get the station they would listen to the most while they’re driving?”
Hannity is clearly confused between the Federal government, which is seeking to mandate AM radio in vehicles, and the automakers that are questioning its value in the free market. As for-profit corporations, automakers have a responsibility to their shareholders to maximize profits, not to subsidize political talk radio.