The AM/FM radio from a 1993 Mercedes-Benz 500SL Coupe/Roadster
Auto Industry Wants AM Radio Out of Car Radios. Congress Has Other Plans.
By Jonathan Spira on 5 May 2024
AM radio, which is celebrating its 102nd birthday as an option for new autos this year, sure has staying power. The amplitude modulation transmissions, known both as “AM band” as well as “MW” for medium band, is widely used for spoken-word broadcasts including news, weather, sports, traffic, and emergency broadcasts.
Many people, myself included, grew up listening to our parents’ choice of radio stations while we were bouncing around in the back seat or shooting at incoming attackers, aka the cars behind us, through the open rear window of the station wagon. Ahhh, to be young and invincible. The fumes we inhaled… the risks we took without seat restraints…
In addition, in times of crises, be it Three Mile Island, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, and the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, not to mention numerous hurricanes, blizzards, and other natural disasters.
An AM-FM radio in a 1969 Oldsmobile 442
“[AM radio stations] are the very outlets that Americans turn to in time of crisis and breaking local news,” said Pierre Bouvard, the chief insights officer at Cumulus Media/Westwood One, an audio broadcasting company.
A bill introduced in Congress last May with a stated goal of mandating the presence of AM radio in automobiles at no charge is finally gaining traction.
This past week, Senator Edward Markey and Senator Ted Cruz, the sponsors of the bipartisan bill, said that it now has the support of 60 U.S. Senators as well as 246 congressmen who are co-sponsors.
Republicans say that the removal of AM radio from new automobiles would limit the reach of conservative radio talk shows. Democrats, on the other hand, say that it’s the only lifeline for some people in the event of severe weather, although this ignores the fact that the National Weather Service operates an emergency alert system that requires a specialized yet inexpensive radio set, in some cases powered by a cranked generator.
While the bill is almost certain to pass, if you – the reader – feel strongly on this matter, it can’t hurt to call or e-mail your congressman or senator and make your position known.
If you’re listening to your iPhone in your car right now via Apple CarPlay or Bluetooth streaming, you probably didn’t know that AM radio had been in danger, but one-third of Americans – 82.3 million, to be exact, and a mostly older demographic, according to the National Association of Broadcasters – still tune in at least monthly.
There are at least 140 markets in the United States where 20% of radio listenership is over 20% and some where it is over 50%, according to Nielsen, which tracks such data. In the Buffalo and Niagara Falls area, 56% of the radio audience listens to AM radio. Buffalo itself is home to two AM stations that are among the market’s top 10 most listened to outlets, WBEN, 930 on the AM band, a news and talk station, and sister station WGR, 550 on the AM band, a sports-oriented station. Neither has an FM simulcast.
A car radio shop in Brighton Beach in Brooklyn in the 1930s. Pictured are 3 members of the Frankston family including Benjamin Frankenstein, the father of Bob Frankston, the co-inventor of VisiCalc
Meanwhile, the situation is similar in Chicagoland, where 48% of Windy City radio listeners tune into stations on the AM band. The market is home to WGN, 720 on the AM band, a talk radio station; WSCR, known as “670 The Score”; and WLS, 890 on the band, a talk radio station. The listenership situation in Milwaukee is similar where WISN, 1130 on the AM band, a news and talk radio station, is ranked first in listeners above the age of 6.
AM radio has been present in autos for over 100 years. After Chevrolet introduced a model with AM radio in 1922, people freaked out. One state – Massachusetts – proposed legislation to ban listening to radio while the vehicle was in motion.
Opponents of car radios argued that they would distract drivers and cause accidents, that tuning them took a driver’s attention away from the road, and that music could lull a driver to sleep, arguments we hear today against texting while driving, which is far more dangerous.
An AM/FM/Bluetooth radio in a 2017 Nissan Rogue Sport, also tuned to WCBS Newsradio 880
In addition, AM radio has been steadfast in its presence while seeing almost every other in-vehicle entertainment option – phonograph records, eight-track tape players, cassettes, and CDs – come and go. Some vehicles – in particular those from BMW and Mercedes-Benz – even came with weather-radio bands in the United States.
In 2023, Ford announced – and then reversed – plans to do away with AM radio in all vehicles, not just electric, while at least even other automakers – BMW, Mazda, Polestar, Rivian, Tesla, Volkswagen, and Volvo among them – are removing AM radio from their electric vehicles due to static interference caused by the cars’ electric motors. Some of those brands no longer include AM radio in their petrol-powered vehicles as well.
“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 & Lincoln vehicles,” Ford CEO Jim Farley said in a prepared statement in social media at the time. “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. Thanks to our product development and manufacturing teams for their quick response to make this change for our customers.”
(Photo: Accura Media Group)
