AM radio for everyone?

I agree with Paul, but I would never buy a car without AM radio.
I listen sports radio over half of the time I am driving and that is almost exclusively on AM.

Am is useful when you get to more rural areas.

It can’t really cost that much to have the AM band in a car radio. In severe weather conditions or a national emergency
the AM band travels pretty far. WLS and WGN in Chicago can be heard hundreds of miles away at night.

I remember when car radios were an option, and then only AM. It was a big deal when cars were offered with AM-FM radios.

The point of about emergency broadcasts is valid and the AM signals travel much further than FM. While I understand Paul’s position, and seldom listen to AM when driving, I don’t understand the auto makers decision to get rid of AM. Savings have to be minimal. I wonder if removing AM is a prelude to eliminating radios in cars.

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I agree with this, IMO, it would be a detriment to sales by eliminating AM (although my wifes opinion would differ).

It’s not about savings.

https://thehill.com/homenews/nexstar_media_wire/4004678-say-goodbye-to-am-radio-why-carmakers-are-removing-it-from-new-models/#:~:text=Car%20manufacturers%20typically%20cite%20electromagnetic,sound%20staticky%20over%20the%20airwaves.

We went to see Xmas lights in Bakersfield the other night and they gave us the name of the AM station to listen to the Xmas music. We didn’t switch, but then I started to wonder if my car has radio at all. It probably does, but I’ve never tested.

There is house in the country a few miles from me that has lights synced to Christmas music that is pretty cool, you have to tune in to an AM station to listen.

In 2023 you think they could figure that out.
But, if they don’t, then so be it.
It means I will never buy a Tesla for myself.

Get off my lawn!

My wife is mad that new cars don’t come with CD players.

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Get her an 8-track

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Ok KC. :smiley:

At home I listen to the radio on Audacy, an app that has live radio stations, another app is iHeart radio. I’ve also used both to listen to radio stations from around the country. They may or may not have your AM sports chat station.

Here are the Kansas City station on Audacy.

https://www.audacy.com/stations/location/kansas-city-mo

Doesn’t have my favorite sports station live.
Has some of the podcasts, but not the live station.

I have tried to talk my wife into getting one, but she never listens to AM.

I’ve read that elsewhere. I n=know that’s what the autos say, but I simply don’t think interference is the main issue.

Use of mobile streaming is more likely a reason and so is cost savings. What so many people, including auto makers, forget is that 18-20% of Americans don’t have a smart phone. So they can’t stream. Another 5-7% are like us. We have two smart phones but live in an area where there is no cell signal and likely not to be one in the near future. We often travel to areas with no cell signals. So, we’re not likely to use a streaming service.

Couple that with autos not offering a CD player, or even a USB port, and we’ll be even more out of touch than we are.

To add on to what Bears has said. A lot, maybe most[?] radio stations steam their stations.

Go to the station on the phone and use bluetooth to connect the phone to the radio player in the car.

The cost to add AM cant be more than $1. It would be insane to cut it out over such a tiny cost. I still listen to AM sometimes. I live in the sticks and many people still listen on AM.

I recently replaced the head unit in my 08 F350. No thanks to a CD player. I haven’t used one of those in 20 years. I really wanted the backup camera and android auto. On screen navigation is great when travailing to unknown areas.

The younger folks stream everything on their phones so they could care less about AM or FM. Does the emergency broadcast interrupt streaming services like spotify, pandora, or streamed podcasts?

I don’t think so. Those are typically not presented live and people often listen offline.

Being an old time radio person, I understand that AM band has its benefits that FM (VHF) does not. That is long distance coverage at NIGHT. But while that is true, it is also true that a Yuge number of AM stations are licensed for daytime only broadcasting, because they would stomp all over each other at night, and certain licences allow night time broadcasting. Another yuge chunk of them must either use directional antenna systems and/or cut power at night.

Death of AM has been predicted for decades. Then stalwarts like Rush Limbaugh and Art Bell came along and it got a shot in the arm. Very possibly though, all broadcast radio could be replaced by an onboard internet terminal providing any streaming station you can find. We may see them but I doubt they will be the “only” way in autos during out life time. If you gotta radio, including AM is no big deal, and no significant savings to kill it.

I am a big AM radio listener and don’t have a cell phone to stream. I would miss AM. I miss car CD players now.

In my youth I had an old Zenith Trans-Oceanic shortwave radio from Korean War days and loved to listen to Pravda and various foreign stations for kicks. Bought a small Jap SW radio a couple of years ago and there is not much on SW anymore. Seems like it has succumbed to internet radio.

I started to download I-Hart to my Mac but found it demanded all sorts of access to data and browsing, so I would not take the risk. Don’t know if the same is true for Audacity. Some days it is hard to pick up Glenn Beck at the house.