Congress fights to keep AM radio in cars
U.S. lawmakers are weighing whether to require carmakers to keep AM radio receivers in new vehicles, pitting arguments about market freedom and technological obsolescence against concerns over public safety and infrastructure resilience. Supporters say AM’s long range, simplicity, and existing role in emergency alerts make it a cheap, critical backstop when power and cellular networks fail, especially in rural or disaster‑prone areas. Critics counter that few people use AM today, EV drivetrains create interference that’s costly to mitigate, and modern alternatives like FM, weather radio, satellite, and mobile alerts could shoulder the emergency‑broadcast role instead.
Emergency communications & public safety
- Many argue AM’s main value is as a resilient emergency backstop: long range, simple infrastructure, and car-powered receivers when grid, internet, and cell fail.
- Cited scenarios: hurricanes, blizzards in mountain passes, wildfires, major blackouts, evacuations where roadside signs direct drivers to AM advisory stations.
- AM’s low frequency gives large coverage with few transmitters; stations often have backup generators. Travelers’ Information Stations and FEMA’s emergency network are built on this.
- Critics say households could just keep cheap portable or crank radios and disaster “go bags,” but others respond most people don’t prepare, so embedding a radio in cars is more reliable.
Market vs regulation
- One camp: let automakers drop AM; almost no one uses it, and “vote with your wallet.”
- Counter: for low-cost, low-visibility safety features, market pressure is weak; no one will switch car brands over AM, yet the public-good / national-security value is high.
- Comparisons are made to mandated seatbelts, first-aid kits, and UHF tuners in TVs.
Technical characteristics: AM, FM, and digital
- AM advantages: very long range, simple receivers (down to crystal radios), and “good enough” fuzzy audio that remains intelligible at fringe reception.
- FM and digital: better audio, less local interference, but shorter range and often “all-or-nothing” behavior when signals weaken, though some argue modern codecs plus error correction can outperform analog at low SNR.
- Debate over whether digital radio standards (DAB, HD, MA3, 5G broadcast, etc.) should replace analog AM; supporters cite efficiency and richer metadata, opponents stress loss of extreme robustness and universal compatibility.
EV interference and implementation cost
- Automakers claim EV drive electronics create AM-band EMI, making in-car AM unusable.
- Some commenters say the silicon for AM+FM is essentially free and the real cost is EMI mitigation; they argue vehicles should meet stricter emission limits anyway.
- Others note some hybrids/EVs manage acceptable AM, implying it’s an engineering/expense choice, not impossibility.
Alternatives & international context
- Alternatives discussed: FM-based alerts, NOAA weather band in cars, satellite radio, internet streaming, and cell-based emergency alerts.
- Skeptics note cell towers and broadband often fail quickly in disasters, and satellite radio is subscription, infrastructure-heavy, and not widely used for public alerts.
- Europe and some countries (Norway, Switzerland) are phasing out FM in favor of DAB; AM is already gone or marginal in parts of Europe and Canada, reinforcing that this debate is very US-specific.
Politics, content, and actual usage
- AM today is seen as dominated by talk, sports, and often right-wing or religious programming; some view the mandate as benefiting those broadcasters.
- Many urban and younger drivers report never using AM (or any broadcast radio), relying entirely on phones; others—especially in rural or disaster-prone areas—say they still use AM regularly and would refuse cars without it.