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Ford decides to keep AM radio on 2024 models, will restore AM on two electric vehicles from 2023
AP ^ | May 23, 2023 GMT 1 of 2 | TOM KRISHER and WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS

Posted on 05/23/2023 9:13:50 AM PDT by conservative98

DETROIT (AP) — Owners of new Ford vehicles will be able to tune in to AM radio in their cars, trucks and SUVs after all.

CEO Jim Farley wrote in social media postings Tuesday that the company is reversing a decision to scrub the band after speaking with government policy leaders who are concerned about keeping emergency alerts that often are sounded on AM stations.

“We’ve decided to include it on all 2024 Ford and Lincoln vehicles,” Farley wrote on Twitter. “For any owners of Ford’s EVs without AM broadcast capability, we’ll offer a software update” to restore it, Farley wrote.

The move comes after a bipartisan group of federal lawmakers introduced a bill Wednesday calling on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to require AM in new vehicles at no additional cost.

Sponsors of the “AM for Every Vehicle Act” cited public safety concerns, noting AM’s historic role in transmitting vital information during emergencies, such as natural disasters, especially to rural areas.

(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: am; amradio; commonsense; evs; f150; ford; freespeech; jimfarley; radio; safety; talkradio; trucks
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To: Leaning Right
I had a wonderful AM/FM/8-track in my car in 1978. Unfortunately, I went to work for a company where IBEW membership was "necessary" so we could work in the shipyards. The company paid the "dues". Nobody really gave a damn about the union. IBEW decided that I needed to pay them a $60 "initiation" fee and appear at the union hall. I blew them off. They removed my AM/FM/8-track with a Sawz-All from my dashboard. The other guy in my office who didn't want to join union lost all of his windows to a baseball bat and his camera was stolen. Suffice to say, I do everything I can to disadvantage IBEW in any way that they interact with anything I'm doing.

I can still play my 8-tracks on the Panasonic recorder.

21 posted on 05/23/2023 9:40:58 AM PDT by Myrddin
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To: fretzer
I love SDR. A cheap $35 dongle attached to my Linux box is very versatile. I can listen to any broadcast that has appropriate software support. AM/FM radio...dirt simple. The Accurite weather instruments on 433 MHz...dirt simple. ADSB on aircraft....dirt simple. Most of the SDR software is written in Python.
22 posted on 05/23/2023 9:44:26 AM PDT by Myrddin
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To: Myrddin

Yes my 2015 Hyundai has a remote start option.

If I pay Hyundai so much a month… all this means to me is my car can be hacked.

I am not paying a subscription fee to use a product I own, ever.

Part of me wants to make my next car a complete restoration of an old vehicle. Upgrade the safety features and components but 100% analog/mechanical.

I drove a brand new Mazda cx5 last few days while my car was in the shop. Nice enough vehicle but so much stupid and unneccessary tech. Adaptive cruise control stinks. Etc etc. I am sure you can turn most if not all of it off but was only a loaner for a few days so not point investing mental energy into how to turn all that annoying crap off.

I really can’t see a new car appealing to me any longer… just so much extra nonsense, and I do mean nonsense. I don’t need or want a bud, annoying giant screen in my field of vision constantly changing distracting me from driving? No thanks.. car yelling at me every time I’m not dead center of the lane or vibrating the steering wheel every time I cross a line going up or down a 2 lane winding road with no one else on it…

I already have a wife an ex and 2 daughters. I don’t need my car nagging me roo.


23 posted on 05/23/2023 9:50:07 AM PDT by HamiltonJay
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To: Leaning Right
AM radio? Meh. I’m still waiting for them to put 8-track players back in their vehicles. My road trip collection is worthless without one.

Do you have a source for adhesive foil strips to repair the broken, dried out tapes that comprise your collection?
24 posted on 05/23/2023 9:54:10 AM PDT by Dr. Sivana ("If you can’t say something nice . . . say the Rosary." [Red Badger])
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To: conservative98
“For any owners of Ford’s EVs without AM broadcast capability, we’ll offer a software update” to restore it

In other words there was no reason not to include it because the vehicles already had the hardware

25 posted on 05/23/2023 9:59:14 AM PDT by newzjunkey (We need a better Trump than Trump in 2024)
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To: conservative98

“For any owners of Ford’s EVs without AM broadcast capability, we’ll offer a software update” to restore it...”

If it can be restored with a software update, then there weren’t any cost savings to be had removing it from the vehicles in the first place. It was definitely done purely out of spite for their customers.


26 posted on 05/23/2023 9:59:56 AM PDT by Boogieman
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To: conservative98

Gosh! I always thought that once woke always woke.


27 posted on 05/23/2023 10:01:46 AM PDT by albie
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To: HamiltonJay
Fortunately that assistance tech can be turned off. It really requires thinking differently about driving. It can be useful on road trips but seeing millennials trust it while broadcasting on their phones or doing other very distracting things is disturbing.

The CX-5 is among the more analog of modern vehicles and it's quite appreciated. Even the techie in me can't tolerate the everything's a screen trend because I know it's terrible ergonomics.

I enjoy long distance driving and hate stop-and-go traffic. I'm not looking forward to a day where there's only self-driving cars if I'm still capable of driving myself. It'll never fit the feel of how I drive or make the same choices.

28 posted on 05/23/2023 10:11:27 AM PDT by newzjunkey (We need a better Trump than Trump in 2024)
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To: conservative98

“we’ll offer a software update” to restore it”

Hmm. That means the AM capability does not add to the cost of the radio. Why did they take it out? I have a couple of AM stations on my presets.

Maybe it added a sentence or two to the owner’s manual. Now that costs money!


29 posted on 05/23/2023 10:21:05 AM PDT by cymbeline
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To: conservative98
Are they gonna stick it in the "Oh So Gay Ford Raptor"?


30 posted on 05/23/2023 10:27:21 AM PDT by moovova ("The NEXT election is the most important election of our lifetimes!“ LOL...)
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To: Leaning Right

I have a pile of those 8-tracks and no way to play them


31 posted on 05/23/2023 10:29:18 AM PDT by butlerweave
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To: conservative98

Love AM radio 📻 ❤


32 posted on 05/23/2023 10:30:24 AM PDT by TianaHighrider (God moved David to STAND UP to Goliath ❣)
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To: HamiltonJay
The funny thing is having AM is literally a software setting the cars were always physically capable of having AM they just were not going to let you access it

AM receivers need a ferrite antenna for good reception, which is why they are heavy. Cars today have a dorsal blade antenna, which works okay for FM, GPS, and cell phone reception, though not great at any of them. The issue, as I understood it, was interference from the switching power supplies used for EV motors. Self interference. Making an antenna and power supply that can filter out that noise and receive AM well is a challenge. All the software can do is mess with tuning range of the receiver, but you will most likely only be able to get nearby AM stations. Don't count on getting WSB late at night in Miami.

33 posted on 05/23/2023 10:48:49 AM PDT by NoiseLtd
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To: conservative98
IMG-0958
34 posted on 05/23/2023 10:58:37 AM PDT by dznutz
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To: William of Barsoom
Whattya bet the “new” ones are somehow range-limited.

It wasn't the radio, it was the transmitter. AM radio has decent range during the day and magnificent rage at night. That's because of atmospheric conditions and the frequency range. Some stations will power their transmitters down at night to avoid interfering with other transmitters in the U.S. or our neighbors to the north or south. Look up shortwave radio. You can hear things from all around the world in the right conditions.

35 posted on 05/23/2023 11:11:53 AM PDT by IYAS9YAS (There are two kinds of people: Those who can extrapolate from incomplete data.)
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To: conservative98

I guess they figured out how easy it is to go to a parts store and get an old AM radio.


36 posted on 05/23/2023 12:09:13 PM PDT by TBP (Decent people cannot fathom the amoral cruelty of the Biden regime.)
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To: conservative98

While it’s good that Ford restored it, as there are still a lot of older people that use it, the fact in that matter is all terrestrial radio is going to go away eventually, as it becomes more and more irrelevant in the days of internet and smartphones. Seriously, I’ve owned three vehicles since 2015 and never as much as turned on the AM or FM radio, I listen to Podcasts and music through the cars USB connection to my cell phone. Who wants to listen to 10 minutes of commercials then some garbage song you don’t even like, when you can just use your own music playlist or put on a podcast on a topic that interests you?


37 posted on 05/23/2023 12:20:36 PM PDT by apillar
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To: Leaning Right

My first two used cars in the 70s didn’t have any radio at all. I had to go to a junkyard and buy an AM radio and figure out how to mount it and wire it.

Oh, yeah, I bought an after-market cassette player and had to figure out how to mount it, also.

My next car had an 8-track built in.


38 posted on 05/23/2023 12:39:06 PM PDT by Larry Lucido (Donate! Don't just post clickbait!)
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To: conservative98

They will be able to get plenty of AM radios out of their stock of unsold EVs.


39 posted on 05/23/2023 1:13:09 PM PDT by jmaroneps37 (Freedom is never free. It must be won rewon and jealously guarded.)
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To: Myrddin

Check out SDRPlay and the Hermes Lite 2. Both are targeted at hams with the Hermes being an HF transceiver. They are a bit more than $35 though :)


40 posted on 05/23/2023 2:02:21 PM PDT by fretzer
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