But they must have AM hate radio.

in the late 80s, the Sunday morning God squad shows were money markers for the station and checked some required actions for our license renewals.

The Church or preacher, by contract, were required to deliver their tape to the station with a check no later than 10am on Thursday and signed the contract for next week's show.

If they were late? Oh well. They lost their slot.

The problem was that there were always Great and RIght Reverend so and so of the great and mighty church of something or other (they all sounded like they were recorded in the basement bathroom) who would jump at the fact to take over a slot.

We saw that happen a couple three times a year.

From a monetary standpoint? They paid the normal Sunday morning rate (I want to say $5 - $7.50 per 30 sec x 60 minus 25% for the bulk buy - did this so we didn't run afoul with the FEC political advertising rules) and we had college interns learning "Board operations" from 6 - 12n so the labor
cost was zero.

And like political ads, under no circumstances were we allowed to edit or change the religious show's tape. No pitching it to stretch or shrink to the contractual times. They could get up there an call down fire and brimstone on those FV&K1N6 sinners and we just had to deal with it (my 2nd job in radio was working for Mary in the business office to address all the FCC complaints about one of the shows (who swore a lot).

But it wasn't all about the money. Each one of those 30 minute snooze fests gave the station a nice check mark in their Public Service logbook.

They counted just as much as having the Fire Department come in and do a show (once a month for 6 months straight same topic different person but the same script) to discuss the shift from fire engine red trucks to their pea soup green trucks and the lady who discussed the relining of sewer pipes for an hour. I engineered that recording and drew the short straw for Sunday so I got the pleasure of hearing it twice.

Fascinating

So then, why *did* the red fire trucks become green?

there was some study indicating that the puke green they chose was more visible than red.

here in Scottsdale back in the 1970s. That the ugly green was more visible than red.

In a boat or in a car,
the entire AM band is only loud buzzing with some occasional hate speech station.

I can't even pick up AM at most of the places I travel. It's patchy, static filled and the topics are so boring. Why would anyone listen to it when there are so many other better options today?

I wonder if Ed listens to AM radio in his Benz?

I imagine Biden would sign the bill if it gets to him.

It's a technology that doesn't really work with FM because the short wavelength would dissipate rapidly over distance, requiring repeaters every few hundred feet.

These AM stations operate on milliwatts. Those same traffic info stations can be broadcast on analog FM - if there's space on the band. Would need a higher power transmitter (watts, not milliwatts), tower mounted transmission antennas, and likely directional antennas. It's all about field strength. The tower probably already exists (thank you cellphone companies).

Elsewhere in the world AM is functionally dead. DAB+ is replacing FM and AM broadcasts. The longwave AM band has 8 stations left worldwide, of which 4 are full time and are slated to close this year or next. Local commercial stations that are on DAB+ have handed in their medium wave AM licenses and are all digital. The BBC will be off AM domestically within 5 years. Norway has no regular AM or FM transmissions - it's all DAB+. India is different though, it's adopted DRM - a system similar to HD Radio but not encumbered with the patents and licensing requirements that HD Radio has. They have it because India uses shortwave to cover the country.

Should a bill advance through Congress, it should have a sunset clause. The simplest would be X years. Alternatively when a digital system is in place that covers the country and digital receivers are abundant... Then shut down AM and remove a requirement for vehicles to have that tech.

Right now, North America is behind in adopting a nationwide digital system. HD radio exists but it's not prolific in vehicles, and in homes it is a minority listening process - plus receivers aren't cheap. Also DAB+ has advantages HD Radio doesn't - a program guide, tuning by name and not frequency, use of single frequency networks to allow bigger area coverage.

The biggest reason IMO why North America is behind in the digital game is that radio stations own both the content creation and the broadcast infrastructure. Elsewhere, the content creation is separate from the broadcast infrastructure - this is historical... The UK's Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA)owned all the transmitters and licensed stations using a "franchise" model to provide programming on those transmitters for X years. When the IBA was split up, the transmitters were sold off to a private company but the basic model remained. So when digital radio came along, a private company got the rights to a particular frequency and area, existing stations had to be carried, and the company that operated the analog transmitters set up and run the digital ones.

The FCC could do something similar but it would need some political will to do so. A regional DAB+ network can be set up and existing stations have "must carry" status.

So until North America has a robust digital system I do support keeping AM radios in vehicles. However I believe automakers will not be worried about how well the AM radios will work. The AM radios in all the Freightliner trucks I have driven are IMO deaf as doornails. Those motorist "Tune to XXX AM for travel info"? It can't hear them. My local 5 kilowatt AM station? Easier to get the FM translator at 250 watts. Even a big 50kw station like WCBS has issues on these trucks. I don't know what AM is like on an electric vehicle. My cars aren't that deaf but AM is noisy because there is so much electrical interference these days... Plus power lines.... IMO they're the biggest culprits.

So to summarize - AM is dying, and the USA (& Canada) need a more robust digital radio system. Until then AM needs to be in cars but automakers will probably deprecate them by degrading their performance.

Just like telegraphs, dial phones and steamboats. The death of hate radio is just a delightful by product.

...why save old garbage, dump it...

...let those who want AM buy there own radios, I don't want to pay for it even if it's only 2 cents per car...

...AM radio...

...... has not been on since 2003. In these rural areas, all we get is a bible-thumping radio—useless propaganda.

...which doesn't depend on having a multi-hundred dollar device and/or a monthly subscription cost. If only it weren't filled with junk.

you would literally have to buy a new car to take advantage of this proposed legislation.

And people with less money more often buy used ones. And if this goes through, at some point, x years from now, they may be buying cars without access to local radio.

And that is why I think Republicans will never support this bill. Local radio is a big way they keep the rabble roused. Ever since the fairness doctrine was killed.

But I still think it's a shame, for reasons along the lines of post #11. And as the responses to that mention, sure, someone can still buy an AM radio for their home, if they think of doing that before there's an emergency that they want to stay informed about...

But even just to have something to listen to in the car, or to stay informed about the news, or to follow a sports game, it would be nice if people who end up buying those cars don't have to add a pricey device and/or monthly subscription to get those things, which we've always taken for granted. But yes, I'm also mixed about this because of how much awful content permeates AM.

But I paid about $60 for my android phone and $150 a year for my phone service plan.

Then I can use the same device to listen to podcasts, news shows and music as I travel. AM radio can't give me cell phone service. While my cell phone can give me the same thing AM radio gives me.

The last time there was a major hurricane the only reliable source of information, unless you personally knew a ham radio operator, was AM radio. All that nifty stuff on your cellphone dies within a day or two as the batteries on the towers die with no grid electricity to recharge them. FM stations are limited by the horizon and those in range were all dark too. We are so used to ubiquitous connectivity that we don't realize how much infrastructure it requires. It doesn't help that the folks who own and maintain that infrastructure are more interested in profits and stock prices than worst-case reliability, as the old Bell phone network was. AM does not require a complex circuit with a computer or frequency synthesizer, or even an old school superheterodyne architecture, to work. It's unlike any of the more modern, more capable, more convenient communications media in that way. It is a shame that daily programming has been taken over by loons and whack jobs but there is still the news, and here in New Orleans WWL is always the source of last resort when everything else is down.

And can be run or be recharged by solar.

I'm a bit paranoid and carry walkie talkies in my emergency kit as well.

And I prefer that magat drivers near me not get their blood pressure over 300 as directed by talk hosts hating on HRC, Hunter's laptop or Barack.

The radio is replaceable for cheap. Lives aren't.

Cheers.

The advantage of having something like AM bundled into something nearly everyone has -- especially something they will need anyway to evacuate a disaster -- is that it's there when you need it, and the extra cost for including AM is really approximately zero. The car manufacturers are just miffed that they will have to do a little engineering, which is a one-off investment for the entire fleet not a per-car expense, to integrate a suitable antenna and keep the noise down from powerful class D electric motor speed controls.

OTOH, receiver circuitry (I forgot AM, FM or both) is part of all the chips in mobile devices, from what I read, and could be activated at about zero cost, and a handful of lines of code.

Since software ate the world, pretty much anything can be done, less peripheral hardware, in software for a few bucks. I especially like to hate on power boosts and other neat features already in the hardware and enabled at extra cost or subscription.

But TBH, I think that many people will just panic, despite information. During wildfires here, sheriff's deputies post yellow signs and if danger is right at hand, yank people out of homes, especially the less mobile folks. Heard a few stories.

Take care. I also carry around a booster battery for my $20,000 am radio.

I don't think AM ever was, because of the wavelengths involved (many meters - eg 1440 khz equates to 208 meters, and the lower the frequency the longer the wavelength) and AM antennas in small household radios are nothing more than a giant coil of wire round around a ferrite rod. That takes up a lot of space. FM is about 3 meters. Wired headphones serve as the perfect antenna for FM on a cellphone. With cellphone manufacturers looking to optimize for size and with the elimination of the 3.5 mm audio Jack, the FM antenna has effectively gone away - making a FM system on a cellphone more difficult to do. With no major clamouring by consumers for FM radio in cellphones, manufacturers just eliminated the chip and other circuits to no major outcry.

I'm an amateur radio operator and just bought a new SDR transceiver to replace an "older" one from the 1990s. It was 1/3 the price of the older one and runs rings around it in every way. Car makers are making a mistake if they rely on analog radio designs - SDR systems will let everyone have his cake and eat it too. My new SDR system can receive from "DC to daylight" as the saying goes, and can handle any current transmission mode. So, the future has arrived for radio technology.

Regarding commercial AM broadcasts: Just about every station that relies on it's FM side for revenue but still has the left-over AM side wants to ditch its AM systems. The land the tower systems occupy are more valuable than the signal or the equipment. There are some big traditionally AM stations (WSM, WCBS, and others) that will remain for good reasons but the 1000 watt to 5000 watt stations that are just relics today compared to their FM operations are just money-losing albatrosses.

SDR is the wave of the future. Flexibility, low expense, few limitations, and almost infinitely programmable.

perfect fix.

to cover all the absolutely useless warning lights. But my car is 5 years old. New cars are entirely flat panel displays from what I read. Can't reasonably tape over them.

The windshield washer alarm goes on randomly even when the reservoir is full. Would probably cost $300 or more to have the sensor replaced. I am going to grab some black tape shortly.

After my last chat with the highway patrol, the radar detector is getting a priority spot on the dash.

Good luck. Don't feed the bears.

I gave it up around 2017. I imagine the clutter has only gotten worse. It used to be only high-end cars had that stuff.

It may not work well. And I might have to go to one of those map apps that reports speed traps.

I didn’t make any excuses other than “I didn’t see the sign, sorry” even though I REALLY WAS going to my daughter’s wedding.

I really wasn’t paying attention to the posted speed signs, or I wold have slowed down.

Adjusting my strategy.

Thanks for the reply.

Then google bought it for a Billion and turned it into a hot dumpster fire of an app. Go to the play store and read the reviews on it. I stopped using it 3 years ago.

I was typing a reply condemning the RW blowtorch hate and lying stations and the endless "Bible Politics" stations when the browser crashed, losing my typing.

I won't be deterred. Stop AM trash radio.

Strip malls are private property. The radio bands are public.

The public am radio frequencies have all been sold to private companies.

They control all the non-federal uses -- including private company use but many other uses also.

regulatory agency. It ‘regulates’ in the interest of the industry.

Us Generation Xers would vote for whoever proposes that in a landslide.

AM radio is dying for a reason.

I noticed that almost none of the new cars have CD Players.

I know, I know, just download them to my phone, but, I've already given up sound quality by not having a turntable in my car!

until I spotted the teeny little arrows to load and unload the discs.

Mr YD loaded all our music onto his phone. He has always been the one who takes care of the CD changing when I am driving. When he drives I manage the music on his phone.

Maybe I will get him to load up some stuff for me before I take my next road trip.

then plug that into my radio/cd player's usb port or music

At one time I bought a mechless car radio - no CD, just AM, FM and a USB port.

Worked well.

but that's cool. the ol' thumb drive holds so much more music than a disc.

CB radio.
Then that also turned to hate.
Recently read that Artificial Intelligence. tends to turn to hate as well.

are an important aspect of national security and must be protected.

I am sure that there are some folks here are old enough to remember when AM radio dials looked like this



The little pyramids were marks (680 and 1240) for AM stations to which the public could tune to in case of a civil emergency. Every other station could be ordered to shutdown.

This also why the FCC designated only a limited number of stations in the nation that could broadcast 50,000 watts in an omnidirectional signal (clear channel). These clear channel stations can be heard across the nation at night (try it some night. Get in your car, pull out into the driveway and hit the "seek" button on your AM radio. You will quickly pick up stations from across the country that you never ever hear during the day.

The internet is fragile. It goes down. AM stations? If they have power, they have a footprint that is not limited, especially at night, to line of sight like FM radio is.

We are foolish to allow the phone companies to retire POTS in favor of VoIP.

POTS was rock solid technology. It was available 5 9s of the time. VoIP and cell? a lot more fragile.

Sometimes that old time technology must be protected because it worked all the time in the most common and the most extreme situations.

When I visited my auntie in Texas, I was able to pick up stations in Nashville, New Orleans, Chicago and even good old KNBR (faint but there) from back in San Francisco at night.

This was back when AM radio still played music, so I was delighted to have access to so many stations in more civilized parts of the nation.

in my hometown had a map with the farthest distance their station was heard marked.

They had a pin in the ocean off the Cape of Good Hope. A Portuguese cargo ship sent in a letter that they heard them at night and was sent a whole bunch of station swag.

Also quite a few radio folks got well known because of this.

Bill Mack, Art Bell and George Noory, Larry King and Jim Bohannon became national names for their late night shows.

And every rural town with AM radio I drive through has a bunch of religious weirdos or right-wing assholes.

and a rhinestone stud setter

to stud jeans (didn't do rhinestones, just the round metal studs)!

Now I'm going to lose a brain file!

It may still be a viable signal but why should I be forced to pay for one if I don't want it. 8 tracks disappeared, cassettes are gone, cd players are not on new car now either. I still have CD's at home so I load those onto thumb drives and can carry 100's of disks in the palm of one hand. Just remember to rip them as waveless, lossless files or they will sound like AM radio.

on a standard car stereo, most cars with USB inputs will only play MP3s but not FLAC, and they only read drives formatted in FAT32 but not NFTS

From a purely technical point of view, it’s extremely difficult to filter out controller/motor noise in electric cars from the audio system, and nigh on impossible to filter it out of the AM radio band. Ever try to listen to an AM radio in a house with dimmer switches halfway up? BZZZZZZZZZ!!! AM radio was replaced by FM radio in an effort to improve fidelity and reduce interference. It’s a natural part of the AM mode and as an amateur radio operator, it’s something I have to live with at home. I consistently turn off every dimmer in my house to use my ham radio. And the throttle in an electric vehicle is little more than a giant dimmer switch.

Will interfere with my AM radio!! Tv etc

I only listen to live sports (but not sports talk on AM, and that's only when they aren't on FM and streaming and SXM has delays

I would like them to keep it. I agree with the proposal and many people have already made good points. It's important for things like weather and traffic alerts. Maybe some day there will be a viable replacement for all that, but there isn't at the moment. It's necessary condition updates for crossing mountain passes, where we live there is the possibility of tsunamis, there are ferry updates when the internet goes down. Sometimes radio stations go to canned programming and there just aren't alerts.

Not a change that needs to be made at this point.

I really enjoy listening to this station in the car.
The hosts are Thom Hartmann, Joan Esposito, Santita Jackson, Patti Vasquez, and Rick Smith
I'm so surprised to hear all the negative comments about AM radio. Is Chicago, and surrounding areas, the only city that has a progressive talk program available on AM?

... WSB is the home of several rightwing wannabes (Erickssssson, von Hessler, etc), and for a while was the home of Hannity (from what he said a few times on air). It's a HUGE noise factory, but they also carry local sports/weather/traffic with high quality, so it's a hard choice.

AM Talk Radio generally sucks.

But the news/weather/traffic is essential.

I can get AM, FM and digital radio in my car, as well as playing music from CDs, Bluetooth from my phone, and a USB stick.

Rarely use any of them while driving. Occasionally, FM news radio gets tuned to.

Granted, some farmers out in the far regions rely on weather reports and grain/meat market reports, with AM the only radio that reaches them.

Millions, I mean MILLIONS, of Americans have no froe. We should not rest until there is a froe in every garage, kitchen, basement, or Ferrari.

. . . whatever that is!

....who didnt just LOVE the 50s?

This is yet another example of socialism for plutocrats.

of them. But take them off AM they will just clutter up FM.

It's been decades since I've listened to AM radio. Is there much use in saving it? Maybe traffic/weather alerts.

MOST of the largest cities have ALL NEWS stations - like here in Philly, KYW 1060.

There is no "talk" programming on that station. They are currently a CBS-affiliate under the now-in-the-process-of-being-bought-by-George-Soros Audacy (which owns the 2nd largest bundle of stations in the U.S.).

Similarly, you have stations like WCBS (NYC), KCBS (L.A.), WBBM (Chicago), WTOP (D.C.), etc. that are "all news".

And as an added comment, a number of minorities own small AM stations to run their own programming.

and because of that, want to get rid of the platform completely, which is just the broadcast mode.

Every Sunday, I listen to a gardening show that is recorded as a podcast from Saturday morning broadcasts on a low power station that I can't pick up here in Philly (and is not syndicated on any stations around here that I can pick up). I have been listening to radio garden shows since the mid-'70s and many of the high power and low power stations USED TO run that type of programming along with "home repair", "car questions", "cooking tips", etc., all the time.

After Raygun got in and the communications were deregulated (unfortunately that includes under Clinton), RW loons bought the bundles of stations and removed most of that "community programming" (with local hosts), replacing it with their syndicated nonsense.

"AM radio" is NOT equal to "the programming", and that is what needs to be emphasized.

I think the article (or some articles I saw) mentioned about farmers who get the farm reports early in the morning from some AM stations (I remember, even here in Philly, when there were "farm reports" on TV at like 6 am - I think including weather, etc).

Or the Ol' Time Trading Post in many markets.

nt

because, even though I am less than 75 miles from NYC, there are no stations available that don't fade in and out while I am driving. I do try once in a while to seek AM stations and usually find none. AM is on it's death bed.

Ask kids "what's a radio"

until suddenly they are the hottest thing out there.

I.e., kids eventually "discover" something that we know is "old" but is "brand new" to them and they will often seek it out.

so far.