In the midst of turmoil in the Middle East, President Donald Trump acknowledged that the push to keep AM radio in vehicles had slipped off his radar, but recommitted to acting on the bipartisan AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act during an interview last week.
The comments came during a call-in to Red Apple Media’s 77WABC in New York City, where host Sid Rosenberg raised the dashboard fight near the end of an extended conversation.
“I got to stop that,” President Trump said when Rosenberg mentioned how automakers are moving to pull AM from new vehicles. “Why are they doing that? Why do they want to take AM radio? It’s so ridiculous. Why?” Trump then offered that he personally intervened to prevent AM removal during his first term.
Rosenberg cited House Majority Leader Steve Scalise’s message to WABC owner John Catsimatidis that Trump is the key to the legislation’s passage.
“This is the way it happens, you know, because that’s not on my radar. And all of a sudden it gets done, and you don’t even know about it. But I wish people would have called me. Indirectly, you called me by calling me to be on your show…I’ll work on that,” pledged Trump.
The comments land as the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act sits in congressional limbo despite commanding more than 375 co-sponsors across both chambers. The bill, which would require the Department of Transportation to mandate AM radio as standard safety equipment in all new passenger vehicles, has been awaiting a floor vote in both houses.
Tuesday’s call was not Trump’s first public endorsement of the issue. At the 2024 National Religious Broadcasters Convention in Nashville, Trump pledged to protect AM radio access in vehicles at the NRB’s request, telling attendees he would act to safeguard the medium and defend “pro-God content.” In January, speaking with Salem Media Group syndicated host Hugh Hewitt, Trump described the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act as “a very big subject” and said his administration would “be doing something on that.”
The industry has not been passive in the interim, with the NAB, state broadcast associations, the National Association of Farm Broadcasters, the NRB, iHeartMedia, and Salem Media continuing to lobby the Hill, as more than one million Americans reach out to their representatives.
The NAB has released PSAs in English and Spanish asking radio listeners to contact their members of Congress by texting AM to 39179, urging them to support legislation that ensures AM radio remains in cars. Get them for your station here.
