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mahatmakanejeeves

(56,899 posts)
Sat May 13, 2023, 10:02 AM May 2023

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

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

Ford, BMW, Volkswagen, Tesla and other automakers are eliminating AM radio from some new vehicles, stirring protests against the loss of a medium that has shaped American life for a century

By Marc Fisher
May 13, 2023 at 9:00 a.m. EDT



Scott DeLucia discusses traffic, sports and what’s good to watch on TV during his WTAW morning show “The Infomaniacs,” in College Station, Tex. (Danielle Villasana for The Washington Post)

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.

Some station owners and advertisers contend that losing access to the car dashboard will indeed be a death blow to many of the nation’s 4,185 AM stations — the possible demise of a core element of the nation’s delivery system for news, political talk (especially on the right), coverage of weather emergencies and foreign language programming. ... “This is a tone-deaf display of complete ignorance about what AM radio means to Americans,” said Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers, a trade journal covering the talk radio industry. “It’s not the end of the world for radio, but it is the loss of an iconic piece of American culture.”

For the first hundred years of mass media, AM radio shaped American life: It was where Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his fireside chats; where a young Ronald Reagan announced Chicago Cubs baseball games; where DJs such as Wolfman Jack along the U.S.-Mexico border, Larry Lujack in Chicago, Alan Freed in Cleveland, “Cousin Brucie” Morrow in New York City and Don Imus in California, Texas, Ohio and New York howled, growled and shouted out the latest pop hits.

Through the snap and crackle of distant lightning and the hum of overhead power lines, AM radio’s sometimes-staticky signal dominated the country’s soundscape. From the 1950s into the 1970s, Top 40 hit music stations in many big cities maintained astonishing shares of the audience, with 50 percent and more of listeners tuned to a single station, meaning that people could walk along a city sidewalk and hear one station continuously blasting out of transistor radios, boomboxes and, above all, car radios. ... But technology moved on, and the silky smooth sound of FM radio and then the crystal digital clarity of streaming stations and podcasts narrowed AM’s hold on the American imagination.

{snip}

The removal of AM radio from cars — where about half of AM listening takes place — has sparked bipartisan protests. Some Democrats are fighting to save stations that often are the only live source of local information during extreme weather, as well as outlets that target immigrant audiences. Some Republicans, meanwhile, claim the elimination of AM radio is aimed at diminishing the reach of conservative talk radio, an AM mainstay from Sean Hannity to Glenn Beck to dozens of acolytes of the late Rush Limbaugh. Eight of the country’s 10 most popular radio talk shows are conservative. ... “The automobile is essential to liberty,” right-wing talk show host Mark Levin told his listeners last month. “It’s freedom. So the control of the automobile is about the control of your freedom. They finally figured out how to attack conservative talk radio.”

{snip}

Gift Article
https://wapo.st/3pG00Li

By Marc Fisher
Marc Fisher, a senior editor, writes about most anything. He has been The Washington Post’s enterprise editor, local columnist and Berlin bureau chief, and he has covered politics, education, pop culture and much else in three decades on the Metro, Style, National and Foreign desks. Twitter https://twitter.com/mffisher
33 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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End of a love affair: AM radio is being removed from many cars (Original Post) mahatmakanejeeves May 2023 OP
If you really have to have your Daily Hate, go buy a cheap transistor radio. Ocelot II May 2023 #1
Democratic supporters are against it for emergency warning of weather and other jimfields33 May 2023 #3
That is a big issue. mahatmakanejeeves May 2023 #6
Hopefully they will solve it. Too big for us on here. jimfields33 May 2023 #7
And the "free market" pukes whine about another conspiracy. LOL mobeau69 May 2023 #2
Read 3 according to the article not everyone is thrilled. jimfields33 May 2023 #4
Those are legitimate concerns, not whining about a conspiracy. mobeau69 May 2023 #5
True. Have a good one!!! jimfields33 May 2023 #8
No more AM hate radio? Paladin May 2023 #9
Ten years ago on AM radio if you pushed scan Chipper Chat May 2023 #10
God, I'm glad his gone! mobeau69 May 2023 #11
AM radio can get through in emergencies wherein other means might fail. FM range is too RKP5637 May 2023 #12
I haven't turned my radio to FM in literally decades. PoindexterOglethorpe May 2023 #13
Think you meant "AM". machoneman May 2023 #24
Yes, I did mean AM. PoindexterOglethorpe May 2023 #30
Good riddance to AM. Meadowoak May 2023 #14
My adult children, nephews, and nieces don't listen to radio and wouldn't miss it at all. hunter May 2023 #15
Things change and then they change again. Stay tuned. twodogsbarking May 2023 #16
I listen to AM Maninacan May 2023 #17
Welcome to DU! KS Toronado May 2023 #21
Type of can Maninacan May 2023 #32
welcome to DU gopiscrap May 2023 #33
I understand both sides MurrayDelph May 2023 #18
There was a time when AM radio was all you could get in a car. Aristus May 2023 #19
but they don't make stripped bare bones cars anymore, everything has least power windows and AC pstokely May 2023 #22
I'm just pissed off that I can't play all my great CDs in my late model Nissan Sentra. CTyankee May 2023 #20
you don't have time to rip your CDs to a USB drive? pstokely May 2023 #23
Sony Discmans and similar portable CD players show up at yard sales from time to time. mahatmakanejeeves May 2023 #26
OK, I got part of that. Plus I have a "translator" someone who can understand your fine directions. CTyankee May 2023 #27
Go to a yard sale. mahatmakanejeeves May 2023 #28
A hard choice but if it dumps RW hate mongers, I'm for it. A good trade that has workarounds. machoneman May 2023 #25
All I use is FM on my older vehicles. roamer65 May 2023 #29
The end of another era. Thanks for this. Joinfortmill May 2023 #31

Ocelot II

(115,280 posts)
1. If you really have to have your Daily Hate, go buy a cheap transistor radio.
Sat May 13, 2023, 10:04 AM
May 2023

If there's money to be had, some FM stations might fill the gap anyhow.

jimfields33

(15,474 posts)
3. Democratic supporters are against it for emergency warning of weather and other
Sat May 13, 2023, 10:17 AM
May 2023

Info that won’t be released now. Minority language supporters are unhappy due to no longer having ability to hear the stations. It’s not all right wing complaining.

mahatmakanejeeves

(56,899 posts)
6. That is a big issue.
Sat May 13, 2023, 10:25 AM
May 2023

DC's "traffic and weather on the eights" station is now FM; it has been for years. That is generally not the case, as one who has driven across the country well knows.

There are a lot of Latino-oriented AM stations in the DC area.

Chipper Chat

(9,637 posts)
10. Ten years ago on AM radio if you pushed scan
Sat May 13, 2023, 10:33 AM
May 2023

At every stop you heard the snarling voice of Rush limbaugh at every stop every stop.

RKP5637

(67,032 posts)
12. AM radio can get through in emergencies wherein other means might fail. FM range is too
Sat May 13, 2023, 10:44 AM
May 2023

short. Areal communications and cell phone type could be lost. Shortwave can get through sometimes a few thousand miles depending on the skips. Like someone else said, just get a small cheap portable AM radio.

hunter

(38,264 posts)
15. My adult children, nephews, and nieces don't listen to radio and wouldn't miss it at all.
Sat May 13, 2023, 11:37 AM
May 2023

The speakers in their cars are connected to their cell phones via Bluetooth. Their phones are where their music, podcasts, and anything else they care to listen to are.

My mom used to work in radio back in the days when it was very much like WKRP in Cincinnati everywhere, even in larger markets. Those days are mostly gone. I used to enjoy driving across the country tuning into quirky smaller radio stations along the way.

Now it seems like it's all been drowned out in fascist political and religious crap; the usual idiots celebrating their cruel and capricious gods, many of them nationally syndicated. Any god that endorses the likes of Trump should be flushed down the toilet.




Maninacan

(25 posts)
17. I listen to AM
Sat May 13, 2023, 01:01 PM
May 2023

The only way i can listen to Stephanie Miller is WCPT Chicago 820. Too bad it goes WBAP Dallas at night. AM reception used to be better or antennas were better.I am trying to put a real antenna on my van so i can get better reception.

MurrayDelph

(5,281 posts)
18. I understand both sides
Sat May 13, 2023, 01:16 PM
May 2023

55+ years ago, I discovered what the capacitor charging on my camera's strobe would do to my AM radio, so the shielding a radio would need in an electric car would be ridiculous.

And 35+ years ago, I was living in L.A. and being sent to teach in Phoenix and Seattle. Many a night I would be out in my car listening to clear channels KFI and KNX in Los Angeles (the latter of which used to play Olde Time Radio).

Once AM radio consolidation occurred and radio stations became nothing but sports, Limbaugh (and fellow travelers), and send-us-money and-we'll-make-sure-it-gets-to-J'Hesus, I reveled in the discovery my new car's CD player could play MP3s, so I burned my own CDs of audiobooks and Olde Time Radio.

Three years ago, I bought a newer brand-new car that has no CD option (but ironically still has AM), but has a flash drive port, so it's full of podcasts and audiobooks. And a portable SiriusXM receiver and low-end subscription give me MSNBC, Stephanie Miller, and 24-hour When Radio Was.

The next cars will probably have SiriusXM installed by default. Progress?

Aristus

(66,096 posts)
19. There was a time when AM radio was all you could get in a car.
Sun May 14, 2023, 10:20 AM
May 2023

After my parents got divorced, my mother’s parents bought her a basic, bare-bones Ford Escort so she could work and run errands.

Manual shift, no A/C, and no CD, cassette player, or FM radio. AM only.

It’s amazing what comes standard in cars nowadays.

pstokely

(10,511 posts)
22. but they don't make stripped bare bones cars anymore, everything has least power windows and AC
Mon May 15, 2023, 07:14 AM
May 2023

no $ in those

CTyankee

(63,771 posts)
20. I'm just pissed off that I can't play all my great CDs in my late model Nissan Sentra.
Sun May 14, 2023, 09:15 PM
May 2023

I like NPR classical music station.

mahatmakanejeeves

(56,899 posts)
26. Sony Discmans and similar portable CD players show up at yard sales from time to time.
Mon May 15, 2023, 08:10 AM
May 2023

They are powered through cigarette lighters. I hear that the discs skip a lot due to all the bouncing around of a car in motion, though.

The output is taken from the headphone jack. It can be sent to the car's radio by a cassette or through the FM radio. If you have a new enough radio, it has an AUX jack that can take the CD player's output signal directly.

CTyankee

(63,771 posts)
27. OK, I got part of that. Plus I have a "translator" someone who can understand your fine directions.
Mon May 15, 2023, 08:23 AM
May 2023

It's me, not you. I can't understand most anything techie.

mahatmakanejeeves

(56,899 posts)
28. Go to a yard sale.
Mon May 15, 2023, 08:37 AM
May 2023

Last edited Mon May 15, 2023, 09:21 AM - Edit history (2)

Feign disappointment at the lack of good stuff (which won't be too hard, if your local yard sales are anything like the ones around here).

Say, "do you have any old electronics?"

If the people running the sale say, "you know, we have this old portable CD player," you may be a winner.

Discman



Portable CD player

They can be carried around on your person. In that case, they are powered by two AA cells. You listen to them through headphones.

You can also take them along in a car. In that case, they get their power from a cigarette lighter adapter. You can't listen to them through headphones. You have to get the signal from the headphone jack to the car radio in your dashboard. There are three ways to do thi.

If your car radio has a cassette player built in, there are cassette adapters that are inserted into the cassette player part of your car radio. The other end of the cable is a 3.5-mm headphone plug.

Or, if your car radio does not have a cassette player built in, you can transmit the signal from your portable CD player via a short-range FM transmitter. The transmitter is powered via the car's cigarette lighter. Best Buy et al. sells these things. Maybe you can find one of these at a yard sale too.

If your car radio has an AUX IN jack, you can attach the CD player to the car radio directly via a cable with a 3.5-mm plug on either end. That's the easiest solution, but the one that it least likely to be encountered, depending on how old your car is.

roamer65

(36,739 posts)
29. All I use is FM on my older vehicles.
Mon May 15, 2023, 11:14 AM
May 2023

I use it for a couple of stations and to receive my Bluetooth from my devices via a small FM transmission device.

Get rid of AM and reallocate the spectrum.

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