“Automakers are far better attuned to the wishes of car buyers than Congress will ever be.” Or so says an opinion piece in the Boston Globe from Tuesday. The piece took aim at the bipartisan AM For Every Vehicle Act, introduced to make AM radio a mandatory safety feature in all vehicles. Following the Act’s introduction, Ford reversed its decision to pull AM from future models, which would seem to counter that first statement.
The columnist, Jeff Jacoby, tries to downplay the importance of AM radio saying it has lost its appeal and no longer justifies the design complexities involved to keep it in EVs. This overlooks the many other car manufacturers that have decided to retain AM radio by implementing preventive design measures and technical fixes.
The Globe piece says, “Cellphones aside, there are numerous channels besides AM radio for emergency information. Warnings reach the public through cable and broadcast TV, through the Internet, and through FM and satellite radio. Even in vehicles that don’t include AM radio as a dashboard feature, motorists can readily tune in to AM stations through streaming radio apps like iHeartRadio and TuneIn. For that matter, a Tesla or Mazda buyer who wants to be sure of having AM radio access can buy a cheap AM/FM transistor radio and keep it in the glove compartment.”
Of course, this doesn’t take into account AM’s rural listenership or the fact that AM service is far less finicky in an emergency than cellular data.
Jacoby concludes, saying that the AM Act’s co-sponsors Senator Ted Cruz and Senator Ed Markey’s claims that AM radio saves lives and is a matter of security are “preposterous” and that, “Grandstanding legislators have nothing useful to contribute to the process. The best thing they can do is back off.”
As more opponents to AM radio’s place in the dashboard come forward, the House Energy and Commerce Committee is preparing to discuss AM in a hearing while the NAB keeps pushing broadcasters to unite around the band.
Oh Please!
This is the best rational for keeping AM radio?
Tin can, leaking batteries, VDC whatever…
The elimination of AM radio in cars has been going on for over eight years. It will take more than a year to institute a change at Ford. And all the other car manufactures will continue to sell their cars without AM.
The elimination of AM radio has little to do with EV RFI issues. The entire product line, including internal combustion engines, have also eliminated AM radio.
Where was the RAB and the NAB eight years ago…seven years ago. Asleep?
It has been almost a decade since this began and now you want to change the way automotive makers build and sell their product, by having the government force it down the consumers throat.
What’s next? Government enforced listening to AM radio.
Too late, too little and stupid.
The Globe columnist’s comment about keeping a portable AM radio in their glove box is amazingly stupid! First of all, reception in a metal can without an external antenna will be very poor. Second, chances are the radio would be non-functional due to dead or leaking batteries. Third, availability of decent battery portable radios is poor. Fourth, they are not designed to operate on vehicle power, 12-14 VDC nor equipped with power cords for cig lighter sockets.
In dash AM capability provides a radio that will power up in an emergency thanks to the car battery. And solving EV RFI issues needs to happen to protect other radio services besides AM.