{"id":239354,"date":"2025-09-19T16:43:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T16:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/239354\/"},"modified":"2025-09-19T16:43:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T16:43:09","slug":"congress-is-still-trying-to-save-am-radio-do-you-even-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/239354\/","title":{"rendered":"Congress Is Still Trying to Save AM Radio. Do You Even Care?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The biggest car news and reviews, minus the BS<\/p>\n

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Quick: When was the last time you listened to an AM radio broadcast? OK, fine, when was the last time you did it on purpose? If you drive an EV, the answer very well might be \u201cnever.\u201d <\/p>\n

While that probably says more about you as a consumer (or perhaps how long you\u2019ve actually held a driver\u2019s license) than it does about the state of broadcast radio, the reality is that the vast majority of EV owners, whether they know it or not, are rolling around without an AM radio receiver at all<\/a>. The feature is also disappearing in some ICE-powered vehicles, but it\u2019s more commonly omitted in EVs because their powertrains produce quite a bit of electronic interference, and AM frequencies are particularly sensitive to it. But don\u2019t worry; Congress is on the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile automakers want to ditch AM frequency from EVs because of interference distorting quality, regulators use the AM frequency for emergency alerts, and the AM broadcast does not require a paid subscription for a driver to hear it,\u201d S&P AutoIntelligence Associate Director Stephanie Brinley told us. \u201cThis has been an ongoing issue for several years; it is less about consumer interest in AM radio.\u201d<\/p>\n

While there are good reasons to preserve AM radio reception, the primary driver behind it\u2014the emergency broadcast system\u2014has become less of a priority in the age of mobile phones, and while it took the government an inappropriately (though entirely expected) long time to acknowledge that, it finally got around to passing the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System Modernization Act of 2015<\/a>, which did two things:<\/p>\n

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  1. Directed FEMA to: (1) establish common alerting and warning protocols, standards, terminology, and operating procedures for the system; (2) include in such system the capability to adapt the distribution and content of communications on the basis of geographic location, risks, and multiple communication technologies and to alert, warn, and provide equivalent information to individuals with disabilities, access and functional needs, or limited English proficiency; (3) ensure that specified training, tests, and exercises for such system are conducted and that the system is resilient, secure, and can withstand external attacks; and (4) conduct public education efforts and a general market awareness campaign about the system.<\/li>\n
  2. Required the system to: (1) be designed to adapt to and incorporate future technologies for communicating directly with the public, provide alerts to the largest portion of the affected population feasible, and improve the ability of remote areas to receive alerts; (2) promote local and regional public and private partnerships to enhance community preparedness and response; (3) provide redundant alert mechanisms; and (4) protect individual privacy.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    That\u2019s the long, red-tapey way of saying that we don\u2019t need to rely on AM radio anymore, and we\u2019re just doing so because we haven\u2019t implemented the next thing yet\u2014or for that matter, even bothered to define it. <\/p>\n

    But that hasn\u2019t stopped Congress from spending years on the preliminary steps to mandate AM radio\u2019s inclusion in new vehicles<\/a>. The House\u2019s version of the bill made it out of committee this week with \u201coverwhelming\u201d support, Axios reported Thursday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    For a Republican-controlled Congress to even consider new regulatory measures against an industry, there must be some serious popular support for this, right? <\/p>\n

    \u201cIt is highly unlikely a consumer would forego an EV because the AM band isn\u2019t there,\u201d Brinley told us, \u201cbut that misses the point of why US lawmakers are interested in maintaining the availability of the frequency even in EVs.\u201d<\/p>\n

    \"Electricstock.adobe.com www.thedrive.com<\/p>\n

    Brinley\u2019s take was at least partially echoed by another analyst.<\/p>\n

    \u201cWe do not have any specific figures or numbers regarding consumer demand for AM radio,\u201d Robby DeGraff, Manager, Product and Consumer Insights at AutoPacific, told us in response to our inquiry. \u201cThat being said, I don\u2019t believe if an EV especially (or any vehicle regardless of powertrain) is not\u00a0equipped with AM radio that that is a deal-breaker for a consumer.\u201d<\/p>\n

    \u201cWhile I understand the draw some may have to AM radio, and perhaps its need in an emergency broadcast system, most of today\u2019s vehicle shoppers and owners are streaming content through their phone, tuning into satellite radio, or toggling through FM stations,\u201d DeGraff added.<\/p>\n

    Part of it comes down to the age of the average buyer. Electrified vehicle adoption skews younger and more tech-savvy, which won\u2019t have much overlap with the old-school AM radio crowd.<\/p>\n

    \u201cOf course, there are demographics, especially Baby Boomer and some Gen Xers, who do listen to AM radio on a routine basis,\u201d DeGraff said. \u201cI don\u2019t think the absence of it is enough to steer someone away.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Got a tip? Let us know at tips@thedrive.com.<\/p>\n

    Byron is a contributing writer and auto reviewer with a keen eye for infrastructure, sales and regulatory stories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The biggest car news and reviews, minus the BS Our free daily newsletter sends the stories that really…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":239355,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[284,171,975,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-239354","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-electric-vehicle","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-music","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115231968985884359","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}