AM Radio is an ‘Insurance Policy’ in Emergency Evacuations

As the automotive industry seeks to eliminate AM radio from new vehicles, emergency managers across the country are sounding the alarm. Among them is Mary Jo Flynn-Nevins, Chief of Emergency Services for Sacramento County and Chair of the Government Affairs Committee for the International Association of Emergency Managers.

With a career rooted in both boots-on-the-ground response and federal-level policy work, Flynn-Nevins is uniquely positioned to explain why AM radio remains a non-negotiable tool in the emergency communication toolkit.

In her role with Sacramento County, she oversees preparation, response, and recovery efforts for a region that regularly faces wildfires, floods, and extreme heat. Nationally, through IAEM, she works to ensure that emergency management professionals have a voice in legislation that affects how the public is warned and protected during disasters. That includes vocal support for the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act, a bipartisan bill that would require automakers to keep AM radio in the dashboard.

Flynn-Nevins spoke with Radio Ink about the ongoing policy push, the real-world consequences of removing AM from vehicles, and what broadcasters can do to keep this issue top of mind for lawmakers and the communities they serve.

Radio Ink: What motivated IAEM to support the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act?

Mary Jo Flynn-Nevins: Our members are highly concerned about making sure that the public understands what those disasters could be in terms of preparedness. In the moment, radio is a tried and true way of communicating detailed information so that people can react to those disasters appropriately and take the actions necessary to get through that disaster.

The legislation is pretty foolproof in terms of a technology that’s been proven to help people understand the disasters impacting them in the moment and ways to seek or get to safety when those disasters are happening.

Radio Ink: What is the immediate risk if AM radio is removed from vehicles?

Mary Jo Flynn-Nevins: It’s all well and good to have a smartphone or cellular technology as a means of communicating, but the surefire way of making sure people can receive information is through radio. AM is a proven, effective tool.

Because it’s on a lower frequency, AM radio travels much further than FM and cellular signals. This also gives it much better coverage in rural and mountainous regions.

It’s also highly mobile. People are not supposed to be utilizing their phones while driving, especially in a dangerous situation. Once people get into their vehicles to leave an area or evacuate, having AM radio right there in your dash gives you hands-free, detailed information about actions to take and directions on how to get to safety.

Radio Ink: Has there been a situation from your career – whether in Sacramento, nationally, or internationally – where you’ve seen AM radio play a crucial role in public safety?

Mary Jo Flynn-Nevins: In California, we get beaten up on both sides of the disaster spectrum. We get extreme heat and wildfires, and potential for extreme flooding situations.

As a safety agency, anytime we ask people to leave their home, to flee a dangerous area and get to an area of refuge, most of the time we’re asking them to get in a private vehicle and to leave that area in that private vehicle. They need access to information along the way, and local broadcasters become that conduit of information.

Broadcasters will take information from Public Information Officers and first responders, and get that to the people who need it most. It helps shape the story of what’s going on. Research has shown that people need to understand how a disaster may impact them to help decide on what steps to take next for their safety, as well as their family’s.

That’s where AM radio’s broadcast information can be most helpful, especially if people are encouraged to tune to a particular channel to get additional details.

Radio Ink: Automakers argue that AM radio is outdated and technically incompatible with newer vehicles, especially EVs. Is there a misunderstanding among automakers about how and why emergency managers rely on AM?

Mary Jo Flynn-Nevins: I grew up in a decade when my grandparents’ car had a dial radio. There was a little red triangle marking a particular frequency that was the civil defense frequency. It was considered to be the channel you could tune to in an emergency. That was a visual reminder of radio’s protective role. I think we’ve lost touch with how important having access to that kind of communication can be from a national incident perspective.

Heading into an intense storm or hurricane or similar situation, I can’t imagine people surviving that without access to information through AM radio, but it’s something that maybe has been lost in the different generations. And auto manufacturers have fallen victim to that as well.

They see a technological problem with frequencies or space considerations or draw on batteries or whatever their technology change or need to change may be. I see a loss of that true touchpoint with the community that can deliver accurate information effectively, rapidly, and hopefully with a calm, caring voice.

Radio Ink: In your work with the IAEM Government Affairs Committee, what conversations are you having with lawmakers about the removal of AM radio from vehicles?

Mary Jo Flynn-Nevins: We’ve talked about the recent catastrophic wildfires in California and the hurricanes that impacted the East Coast, Helene and Milton. Any example of when a large number of people need to be informed at the same time. Again, we’re asking people to get into their vehicles and get to an area of safety. They need to stay informed.

It’s our duty to keep them informed as emergency managers. The IAEM, we want to maintain as many systems as possible to be able to communicate with the public.

Yes, AM radio is one of many systems and tools we utilize for alert and warning, but it has been proven to be one of the lowest-cost, most effective systems that we’ve seen at a national level. When we’re talking about alerting potentially millions of people – LA County, for example – all at once, radio is an insurance policy that somebody is going to get that information.

Radio Ink: And what feedback are you hearing in these conversations?

Mary Jo Flynn-Nevins: So far, we have seen a great deal of support. Lawmakers understand that we need several different methodologies to reach people in a disaster, and AM radio is one tool that we want to retain. I think they understand that removing that tool, that system, hampers our future ability to broadcast emergency information.

Radio Ink: How can the broadcasters reading this work at a local level to keep radio’s importance at the forefront of people’s minds?

Mary Jo Flynn-Nevins: Help educate your local emergency managers. Not everyone is a participant in professional organizations like IAEM, and they may not be aware at the local level about this legislation. Educate them about the current danger of losing this technology in vehicles, then make sure that those concerns get elevated to local elected officials.