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New electric cars won’t have AM radio. Rightwingers claim political sabotage
(www.theguardian.com)
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I grew up in a South Georgia farming community, AM Radio is/was full of farm programs in some rural places that don't get good cellular signals meaning farmers can't replace that info with a cell phone. I get that tech marches forward and old tech usually gets left behind, but in this case, I think it's more than that for some communities. I agree though that the GOP has jumped on it only because a significant part of their reach could be cut off because between the morning and afternoon farm reports there was definitely Rush Limbaugh.
Most farmers I knew growing up would cling to old tech for as long as possible anyway, so I'm not sure how many are buying electric cars and pickups. But, as we march towards a more electric future it's a concern I'm sure. The best option I can think of is, to have an optional, cheap but optional, AM Radio adapter kit of some kind.
Disclaimer: We moved from that rural community to a suburb of Raliegh and eventually settled in a Suburb of Atlanta so I have no clue if those same farmers are clamped to the AM like they used to be. I'm just saying I can see why farmers, and some rural people, could be very upset by this.
Thanks for reminding me that Rush Limbaugh died.
Portable AM radios still exist, and will continue to exist. Nobody is forcing them to stop using AM technology.
And I agree, they probably won't be buying an electric vehicle anytime soon anyway lol