![]() ![]() But the company changed course last month and Chief Executive Officer Jim Farley said all 2024 Ford and Lincoln vehicles will include AM broadcast radio.įarley said the reversal came “after speaking with policy leaders about the importance of AM broadcast radio as a part of the emergency alert system.” He didn’t say what might happen after 2024. was originally on that list too, dropping AM radio from the F-150 Lightning pickup truck and the Mustang, saying AM listeners accounted for less than 5% of radio usage in its vehicles. The AM radio audience is older and whiter than FM radio’s, according to Nielsen.īroadcasters say a Nielsen survey for fall 2022 showed 82 million Americans listen to AM radio monthly.Ĭarmakers omitting broadcast AM tuners from electric vehicles include Volvo Group, Volkswagen AG and Mazda Motor Corp., according to Senator Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat who objects to excluding AM radio from cars.įord Motor Co. Until 1978, more than half of all radio listening hours were spent on the AM dial, the Federal Communications Commission said in 2015.īut by late 2022, only about 15% of people 12 and older listened to AM radio during an average week - less than half the 34% who did in 2000, according to Nielsen data provided to Bloomberg. “We must ensure that no community’s left behind, no voice is silenced and no emergency response is compromised.”Ĭarmakers, their dashboards replete with FM radio, internet and satellite-radio links, can cite evidence that users prefer those media, which were unforeseen when AM commenced commercial broadcasting in 1920.ĪM radio was once the dominant form of audio entertainment. “Removing AM radio receivers from vehicles means individuals may miss out on critical lifesaving updates,” said Representative Bob Latta, the Ohio Republican who chairs the communications panel that held the hearing. More than four dozen House members have signed onto the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act, a bill that would require all new cars and trucks to receive AM broadcast signals. “When the power goes out and cell networks are down, the car radio is often the only way for people to get information, sometimes for days at a time,” Jerry Chapman, president of Woof Boom Radio, which operates three AM stations in Indiana and Ohio, said in testimony for a US House hearing on Tuesday. Shielding radio reception gear can be costly and complex, especially when vehicle users can access AM signals via digital platforms.īroadcasters say AM radio deserves protection because it’s a linchpin of the US emergency information system, and remains important on a day-to-day basis for millions of listeners including rural, religious and foreign-language audiences. FM stations operate over different wavelengths. AM radio is particularly susceptible to disruption because it uses frequencies like those emitted by EV systems, which can overwhelm the radio signal and make it unintelligible. and BMW AG, are omitting AM tuners from electric vehicles, citing electromagnetic interference with the frequencies used by the century-old broadcasting service.
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