Minnesota Broadcasters Association President Wendy Paulson returned to her AM roots this week to push for the band’s future. Paulson made an appearance on WCCO, where she previously served as Program Director, to promote the AM Radio For Every Vehicle Act.
Paulson spent eleven years with CBS Radio Minneapolis overseeing programming and operations for the cluster. During that time she served as PD for WCCO, flipping it from Smooth Jazz to Talk before the station was sold off in 2004. She also had previous AM experience at Midwest Communications Green Bay’s WNFL-AM and KFGO-AM in Fargo, ND.
The AM Act would mandate that AM radio be included for free in the dashboard of every car made or sold in the US as a safety feature.
In her appearance on The Morning News with Vineeta Sawkar during a live broadcast at the Minnesota State Fair, Paulson emphasized the need for immediate action to ensure the continuation of AM radios in cars as automakers seek to remove AM reception in future models, particularly electric vehicles. She promoted the importance of AM radio as Primary Entry Points for the Emergency Alert System. Paulson discussed how WCCO is Minnesota’s PEP, and how other stations rely on AM in times of crisis – from severe weather to civil unrest.
Discussing the bipartisan support for the Act, Paulson said, “The reach of AM radio, there’s nothing else like it, right? So it’s really critical that AM radio remains in cars. When our representatives had learned that AM radio was going to be taken out of some models, they’re like, this is not good. We’re going to fight this, and we’re gonna make sure that our auto manufacturers understand this is not a good move.”
Paulson closed by calling on Minnesota residents and others nationwide to support this initiative by contacting their representatives, stressing the importance of AM radio for public safety and community preparedness.
This comes amidst a renewed push to get the Act through Congress before the end of the legislative session, which would serve as a hard reset for the bill. Last week, Lt. Gen. Russel L. Honoré, commander of Joint Task Force Katrina, sent a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise co-signed by Louisiana officials and first responders in support of the AM for Every Vehicle Act.
Nixon Peabody LLP infrastructure finance attorney Rudy Salo also contributed an op-ed to Forbes in support of the Act.
The NAB has released new PSAs asking radio listeners to contact their members of Congress by texting AM to 52886, urging them to support legislation that ensures AM radio remains in cars. Get them for your station here.
Grounding neutrals to 1 ohm would clear the AM interference problem. Entergy in Mississippi does this..
Sadly, radio has been ignored by everyone, including the FCC. Having “AM” in your car does no good, if you don’t even remember how to turn it on.
Driving around, “AM” radio is becoming more unlistenable every day. At every intersection, the RFI from traffic signals overrides all but the strongest station.
Driving in a parking lot, the harmonics from poorly built and incorrectly installed Variable Frequency Drives, interrupts reception, as the noise couples in to all the nearby buried power lines.
Lets not forget LED lights, with their switch-mode power supplies, and the ever present damaged power lines everywhere.
Audacy clearly doesn’t care about AM. Ask the former employees of WCBS.
AM is sadly a vast wasteland of syndicated right wing talk shows, and commercial “Send money to Jesus” Christian commercial infomercials (Salem Radio being the poster company for this) that prey on the elderly.
Why is any of the above worth “saving.” ?? If the car manufacturers are going to be forced to keep AM in their cars, then AM broadcasters should be required to broadcast live at least 12 hours a day.
These are after all, PUBLIC licenses. Broadcasting is SUPPOSED to be in the public interest.
Right wing whack jobs and “Send Money” Christian infomercials, and even voice tracking, are not in the public interest.
And all of this happened under the Biden-Harris administration. What a shame.
Completely inaccurate statement on your part. The Reagan Administration deregulated radio, which allowed the growth of the Frankenstein corporations that bought hundreds of radio stations. And Republican/Democrat has absolutely nothing to do with this. Greed and incompetence knows no political party. Actually they know all parties, lol.