Politics

so hear me out... not a popular opinion by any stretch of the imagination.. but the real reason manufacturers are doing this is because of how much RF spectral splatter EVs put out (think inverters/switching noise, computers, etc) and it's bad news for ham radio operators that use AM/SSB bands. it's cheaper to ignore the problem than it is to EMI shield everything to reduce the noise floor low enough so that the AM receiver works in the car, otherwise you'll hear a bunch of static/popping/whining from the EV electronics that make the AM radio effectively useless. a similar concern that has since gone away was the battle over BPL [broadband over powerline] for the same reasons in that power lines would be effectively big antennas radiating crap in the AM bands. personally, i'm in favor of keeping AM around if it forces these manufacturers to follow proper EM shielding practices, but again... minority opinion for my own selfish reasons. the FCC doesn't give a shit about ham radio, so it's not looking good.

I stopped using AM radio over a decade ago when I tuned in to such vitriol and hate that I couldn’t continue listening.

I love how people here ignore that most government notifications about emergencies is over AM radio.

Who needs to be notified about sudden storms/tornados/accidents/AMBER Alerts while they drive the US? /s

Funny that a democrat senator (Markey from MA) introduced a bill to prevent this (AM For Every Vehicle Act).

This should be addressed. Not because of the hate spewed on AM radio but because we shouldn’t lose that capability. AM radio is overall a benefit to society.

Ah yes, it's a Wednesday and rightwingers have checks notes found something else that threatens their fragile egos.

I often listen to baseball and other sports radio on AM when I'm in the car. I would hate to lose that option.

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.

AM radio is still useful for public broadcast for emergencies. It offers better range, is more simple to generate, and is more resilient to intense weather that could interfere with FM or other radio frequencies.

Some of these emergencies can knock out other communication methods, so the idea of depending on phone alerts is a bit naive.

That's also assuming the emergency didn't also knock out electricity and your ability to charge your phone over many days or weeks or longer. AM/FM radios require a few batteries and can last a long time.

With that said, you can still get emergency information on many FM stations as well. There are also other radio frequency spectrum that are used for public broadcast information during emergencies. Familiarize yourself with the ones in your areas and ensure you have a way to receive those frequencies.

But ultimately I get the decision. Electric vehicles are essentially EMI (electromagnetic interference) machines. Like @debounced said in their post, dealing with this EMI is a tough problem to solve. Sure it can be solved, but the benefits really don't outweigh the effort.

The damned commie libs won't even put shortwave in my car! HOW WILL I LISTEN TO MY FAVORITE NUMBERS STATIONS??

I listen to AM radio almost daily during baseball season. I'll miss it in the cars.

Not the end of the world but it would have been nice to have it. AM travels much farther than FM which would be helpful in catastrophic events.

But the chances of something like that happening are very low. If you're that paranoid, you can get a ham radio.

No issues with radio in my car.

I think they just want to cut costs and push subscription based media.

Even rural places can get fast internet through satellites these days, and most roads and population centers have cell coverage. The death of AM just means disinformation enthusiasts will have to seek it out themselves; podcasts run by extremists are not in short supply.

Do people actually still listen to the radio?

Good.

The Verge recently had an interview with Sen Ed Markey(D) about his bill to require AM radio in every car. Its pretty interesting if you want more info. Here's the YouTube but you can also find it in most podcast apps.

https://youtu.be/jhYAohkf3tM

I'm over 30, I can't remember intentionally using AM radio ever in my life so it can't be that essential. There's probably emergency stuff that goes over that, but you should have one of those little emergency hand crank radios for that anyways.

That being said, I don't really see the benefit of removing it, it'll still need an antenna and other radio related hardware for FM unless they're planning on removing that too.

Ooooh yeah REALLY don't care