End of a love affair: AM radio is being removed from many cars

The Washington Post ^ | May 13, 2023 | Marc Fisher

[MinorityRepublican]

America’s love affair between the automobile and AM radio — a century-long romance that provided the soundtrack for lovers’ lanes, kept the lonely company with ballgames and chat shows, sparked family singalongs and defined road trips — is on the verge of collapse, a victim of galloping technological change and swiftly shifting consumer tastes.

The breakup is entirely one-sided, a move by major automakers to eliminate AM radios from new vehicles despite protests from station owners, listeners, first-responders and politicians from both major parties.

Automakers, such as BMW, Volkswagen, Mazda and Tesla, are removing AM radios from new electric vehicles because electric engines can interfere with the sound of AM stations. And Ford, one of the nation’s top-three auto sellers, is taking a bigger step, eliminating AM from all of its vehicles, electric or gas-operated.

[Gay State Conservative]

Mark Simone,a talk host on WOR in NYC,talks about this a lot. He says that a $65 part can resolve any problems seen in EVs

[airborne]

IHeart Radio allows me to listen to the same AM station while traveling from Hershey to Pittsburgh.

[Impala64ssa]

This could kill electric cars for the woke greenies. Riding in a vehicle that produces multiple and ever changing magnetic fields and prolly all kinds of immeasurable RF.
The same greenies who'd have a 💩 fit if they live within 10 miles of power lines love EVs. Gotta love that cognitive dissonance.

[Fightin Whitey]

On top of all that, your new Tesa will not be equipped with an 8-Track Tape Player.

Still it would be pleasant if you would include a full-sized, revealing photo shot of Tesa, in case she is of interest to those of us who enjoy visual as well as musical accompaniment entertainment.

Thanks!

[MtnClimber]

The electric motors interfere with AM receivers. In an EV it does not matter if you have an AM receiver or not, the static from the EV motor brush noise will make an AM radio unusable. And if the batteries catch on fire it will be unusable to drive as well.

[Hot Tabasco]

I prefer listening to a ball game on AM vs television.

I did too when the Tigers still had Ernie Harwell and George Kell.

They've been gone a long time and both their replacements on TV and radio are insufferable....

Baseball and its announcers are not my grandfather's baseball.

The fondest memory of my grandfather, other than the several times he took me fishing, was watching him sit on the porch of the house trailer we put on our property next to our house during the summer days, listening to Ernie Harwell broadcast the Tiger's games........

I don't know why, but he always called me "Firm Tartub"........LOL!

He died far too soon before I could really get to know him.

[noiseman]

While there might be legitimate technical issues (though how hard is it to shield motors from producing RF interference?), you just know that at least a part of this is the desire to silence conservative talk radio. The most concerning problem with this decision is that AM radio is the best way to disseminate information in an emergency, especially one, such as a major war or natural disaster, that would take out the infrastructure for other modes, such as the internet or television. FM radio is strictly line of sight because of its higher frequency, but AM signals can be received hundreds or even thousands of miles away by skipping off the ionosphere. That’s a critical difference when it comes to emergency communications. Here in Denver, KOA radio is a longtime 50,000 watt superstation. Years ago, I remember driving across the Sierras at night, between Reno and Sacramento, and listening to KOA as if it were a local station, even though it was about 1,000 miles away. A friend of mine, when he was attending college at Stanford, used to listen to Denver Nuggets games on KOA.

Even in a situation where the power grid was down, AM transmitters could still operate using generators, and many emergency receivers operate using hand-cranked built-in generators. You can even receive AM without any power source at all using a simple crystal radio circuit. This is a really foolish decision. We’re being forced to become even more dependent upon technology that will fail us in a SHTF scenario.

[Secret Agent Man]

Not a coincidence given AM is the home of talk radio, and libs don’t do very well there.

[bigdaddy45]

BMW is the deep state? Paranoid much?

[MtnClimber]

How about making EV’s comply with FCC Part 15 emissions standards? That would solve the problem, but I am sure there is an exemption for all communist green energy. But, we could demand that they comply and demand prison for noncompliance.

[Dalberg-Acton]

Cars used to have an “ACC” position on the ignition switch so you could listen to the radio with the engine off.
What happened, is this progress?

[JustaTech]

Eliminating AM is not on a par with eliminating 8-track, cassette or CD. The difference between AM and no AM is no more than one or two chips in the radio. A couple bucks per unit or close to that.

Meaning there must be a different reason than mere cost.

[Secret Agent Man]

Your last point isn’t a coincidence either. Deliberate.

[mabarker1]

interfere with the sound of AM stations.

I always thought that was part of the Broadcast and I just had to put up with it...

[tflabo]

From a technical perspective what would be the big deal of just keeping the AM option available?

[Openurmind]

Not mine... If I new car, which I never have, I will INSIST it has AM Radio. Anyone who would buy one without it is a communist.

[PghBaldy]

I don’t drive an electric car, but my car AM is mostly unlistenable due to interference from somewhere now.

[dagunk]

No brushes. The motors are three-phase, electronically switched.
Having said that, switching transients will still be a problem, one that can be fixed.

[Openurmind]

What the hell is wrong with this country???

There was a time when consumers had the balls to tell these A-holes to take their Lemon Edsel and shove it...

Softy mealy mouthed pushovers are costing us everything. QUIT BENDING OVER, QUIT BUYING THE CRAP!!!

[MtnClimber]

Thunderstorms can also cause noise bursts on AM radio. Even very distant storms. Electric motors create localized noise, especially if it is in the same car as your AM radio. Run a drill (AC or battery) next to an AM radio and see what happens.