Ford plans to stop putting AM radios in new cars

[Reynard]

 

The venerable format is taking another blow. Ford Motor Co. plans to stop putting AM radios in new gas-powered and electric vehicles beginning in 2024, including the all-electric Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning pickup,

Ford is not the only carmaker pulling the plug on AM radio. Automakers say that EVs' electric motors interfere with AM frequencies, creating annoying buzzing noises and faded signals.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/technologyinvesting/ford-just-made-a-move-that-will-infuriate-american-drivers/ar-AA19yPKF?ocid=mailsignout&li=BBnb7Kz

[Bryan G]

I suppose the EV demographic isn't the one that still tunes AM, but still...I'm a big fan of the band and listen to several stations regularly. It will be a long, long time before I have to worry about it, I suppose. Certainly were I the owner of an AM station I'd be pulling all the strings I could right about now.

[rocketraider]

I too dig AM, especially clear channel stations at night. Being able to listen to New York, Boston, Toronto and Atlanta stations here on the VA/NC border shows the magic and power of AM radio. Other worlds await!

 

FCC regs are supposed to control and limit electrical interference on AM. I've found traffic signal controls will tear up even a strong local station. A higher voltage transmission line strung alongside a highway obliterates them.

[ply33]

I am trying to remember the last time I listened to AM radio. Probably during my work commute back in the late 1970s or early 1980s.

 

I occasionally listen to FM radio on the current daily driver. But I am much more likely to be listening to the Internet stream of some favorite radio stations from cities hundreds of miles away from where I currently live. I just use the music app on my mobile phone to stream the station and the phone is paired via Bluetooth to the car so the station plays the car’s speakers. The stations I happen to listen to are all FM in their local coverage area but it would not surprise me if many or even most of the small specialty AM radio stations have Internet streams nowadays.

 

When I am driving in areas with bad cellphone reception (big portions of the mountain west once you are off the freeway) then I simply play music stored on my phone. I have enough music on the phone to get me across the nation several times without repeating a track.

 

All to say that as long as the car has Bluetooth capability I wouldn’t miss having a radio at all.

[1937hd45]

An electric car and cell phone are not needed in my ability to have a good day, neither is an FM radio. If I had the funds to buy a new car I'd invest the money in several vintage cars.

Edited April 7, 2023 by 1937hd45 (see edit history)

[f.f.jones]

I can recall all of the popular AM stations and most of their on-air personalities back in the '50's and '60's in my old home town. But now having lived as a transplant in another city for the past 40 years, I have never become an AM radio listener. The last time I gave the dial a sweep it was all talking heads and screaming commercials - and very few of those in English. FM seems to broadcast more of what some people call "music", but it certainly is not to my taste. The radios in my old cars have not been turned on in years and years; not sure if any of  them  work anymore.

As a little kid at home, AM provided hours of entertainment for the whole family before the TV appeared and started AM radio's slow death. Whatever AM's demographics are today, I don't understand how it has survived as a broadcast medium this long.

 

 

[TAKerry]

New cars still have AM radio?  I think the last time I listened to AM was sitting at the breakfast table circa 1970 before heading out to the school bus. WBAL in Bmore. I think my older brother still listens to it. When I started driving it was cassette tapes. I always had a very high end stereo, eq. great speakers, amps etc. Not the thumping type today but good sounding stuff. I would upgrade every 6 months. I would listen to FM on occasion. As I aged out I started with talk radio, then I found sirius which was great for awhile. I still have that on a couple of cars for my wifes listening pleasure. I have the radio tuned to a 70's/80's station in the shop and on the rare occasion I listen in the car fm is my go to. But that is rare. After 40 yrs of construction my hearing isnt what it used to be and music is pretty much just background noise at this point.

[Brass is Best]

They want you to have to pay for music in your car... They also want you to pay and have google and amazon listening to you in your new car. I just bought a new Chevy and deleted google, amazon, sirius xm and onstar before I left the lot. 

[TAKerry]

I detest the idea of the listening in thing, although I figure Im not that important that they would stay tuned, but I think the onstar thing may be ok if the car is stolen. Other than that there may be a couple of good reasons but I cant think of any offhand.

[Roger Frazee]

It depends on where you live and drive.  WLW is still popular in Cincinnati.  WHAS is still listened to in Louisville, KMOX still has an audience in St. Louis, WABC has a following in New York, etc.  Smaller markets have little to offer on the AM band.  At any rate, removing AM radios from cars will surely be the final nail in the medium's coffin.  

[leomara]

Never mind the AM radio, do you want to have your posterior sitting for long periods of time inside a box where those batteries are giving off a great amount of ambient energy?  I don't believe it's the electric motors that cause the AM static problems, I believe it's the high concentration of batteries.

[Cadillac Fan]

I love apple car play and am

 figuring out how to add it to my late model cars.   
 

99 percent of new buyers have a smart phone and can stream the AM stations via their phone.  Corporations should not cater to the 1 percent by adding costs to all cars.  

To the one percent, sorry but time and technology marches on. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Brass is Best]

21 minutes ago, Cadillac Fan said:

I love apple car play and am

 figuring out how to add it to my late model cars.   
 

99 percent of new buyers have a smart phone and can stream the AM stations via their phone.  Corporations should not cater to the 1 percent by adding costs to all cars.  

To the one percent, sorry but time and technology marches on. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But the world caters to the 1% for every other thing so why not keep AM?

[Frank DuVal]

28 minutes ago, leomara said:

Never mind the AM radio, do you want to have your posterior sitting for long periods of time inside a box where those batteries are giving off a great amount of ambient energy?  I don't believe it's the electric motors that cause the AM static problems, I believe it's the high concentration of batteries.

?????

 

Batteries just store energy, they do not make EMI. Chargers and motors do. When was the last time a tool battery sitting next to your AM radio made any noise? The tool running will, but not the battery.

 

And just what is ambient energy? I know what ambient temperature is. 

[Frank DuVal]

I love that you used a picture of a GE Super Radio. These are great radios for AM listening. Some of the most sensitive and selective AM radios made in the last 40 years. They bring good money at antique radio auctions compared to run of the mill transistor radios.

 

 

[Frank DuVal]

If it wasn't for WSM (650 Nashville) and CFZM (740 Toronto), I would never try the AM band in the car. Everything else is useless talk. That is just on the air to rile people up (and get the ad revenue that results from making you keep listening, that's how radio works). There is sports broadcasting, I'm just not a sports listener, even if baseball and AM radio do go hand in hand on summer nights.👍

[Cadillac Fan]

18 minutes ago, Brass is Best said:

But the world caters to the 1% for every other thing so why not keep AM?

Because it does not make financial sense.  Corporations are for making money not preserving old technology.  

[TerryB]

For me, cruel and unusual punishment can be represented by solitary confinement, bread and water diet and the radio crackling out modern country western music on an AM radio channel.  I’ll be glad to tell you nuclear secrets, even if I have to make some up, to stop that level of punishment🤪.

[Str8-8-Dave]

So who is gonna blink?  Will it be the carmakers voluntarily yeilding to present day emergency broadcast arrangements going back to either normal AM radio or much cheaper automated tuning am radio to capture emergency broadcasts?  Will the government update to either FM broadcast band or better yet VHF FM emergency broadcast with a requirement that auto radios have priority driven reception requirements?  Just eliminating the ability to be notified seems a bit unreasonable, but I'm not sure taking away AM has that effect.  I think there must already be some form of priority FM broadcast reception, the last time local authorities put out a tornado warning in our area we got the message while listening to local FM radio.  Could be FM stations must yield regular broadcasting to emergency radio as part of their FCC licensing agreement...

Edited April 7, 2023 by Str8-8-Dave (see edit history)

[Max4Me]

I haven’t listened to AM radio since the days of Wolfman Jack back in the 60’s. My 2012 Expedition and my 2022 F250 (and most other cars, I’m sure) have ports for a USB drive that connects to the entertainment system. I’ve loaded about 6 gb of songs I like onto one and plugged it in. No fade out while driving, no ads, no crappy songs, no idle chatter from the DJ between songs I like. Yes, I could use carplay but I don’t always take my phone (too many years tied to my ph. for work-nice to cut the tether😁). With the USB drive I always have my music, and it’s easy to add/remove songs.

Edited April 7, 2023 by Max4Me (see edit history)

[Pfeil]

It seems some groups will do anything to stop talk radio.

[dodge28]

A. M. (audio modulation) the signals are random and has to be picked up and put together to make sense. F.M. signals goes from point to point in a straight line. From broadcasting station to receiver. With no telephone land line (being phased out) FM broad casters are using the same telephone repeaters . The FM signals are erratic . It goes on and off according to weather conditions. For example when the weather is very rainy in south    Florida my telephone conversation to my relative in Tamper  is disruptive many times within half an hour . WEHETHER IT IS GOOD OR BAD ONLY TIME WILL TELL.

I am subject to correction.

Harry in Toronto, Canada.

[ply33]

3 hours ago, leomara said:

Never mind the AM radio, do you want to have your posterior sitting for long periods of time inside a box where those batteries are giving off a great amount of ambient energy?  I don't believe it's the electric motors that cause the AM static problems, I believe it's the high concentration of batteries.

@Frank DuVal beat me to it. DC (batteries) cause no static. RFI (radio frequency interference) is high frequency AC and is more likely created in the motors, inverters and other electronics while the car is running.

 

2 hours ago, Brass is Best said:

But the world caters to the 1% for every other thing so why not keep AM?

The world caters to the top 1% of the wealth/income bracket. Somehow I doubt that demographic listens much to AM radio when they are traveling around in their limos and private planes.

[rocketraider]

Invisible airwaves crackle with life... a companion, unobtrusive.

 

 

 

Marconi plays the Mambo, we listen to the radio...

 

 

 

The lyric about "corporation games" is fitting here, no?

[JamesR]

16 hours ago, rocketraider said:

I too dig AM, especially clear channel stations at night. Being able to listen to New York, Boston, Toronto and Atlanta stations here on the VA/NC border shows the magic and power of AM radio. Other worlds await!

 

Your comment brings back some rather magical memories from my younger days.  I can remember hearing stations in Texas, close to 1000 miles away, while driving around at night. I think I also remember hearing  stations from places as far flung as Atlanta and Arizona..at least traces of weak signals. I think I maybe also heard  one or two announcers with British sounding accents, though I don't know where they originated from. It made me dream about going to places outside of the Midwest.

[rocketraider]

One of my most treasured possessions is a nine-band  transistorized 1963 Zenith TransOceanic radio. You talk about taking you to other worlds, a TO can do it. Imagine listening to the BBC broadcasting from London on GMT, or listening to Cuban, European and Mexico City programming on shortwave bands- which are coincidentally those areas' equivalent to AM bands here.

 

Sure, like American AM, the SW bands have their share of religious and political cranks, but there's a richness there that offsets all that. 

 

Wonder if carmakers elsewhere are going to delete SW bands from their factory radio offerings?

[Brass is Best]

4 hours ago, ply33 said:

@Frank DuVal beat me to it. DC (batteries) cause no static. RFI (radio frequency interference) is high frequency AC and is more likely created in the motors, inverters and other electronics while the car is running.

 

The world caters to the top 1% of the wealth/income bracket. Somehow I doubt that demographic listens much to AM radio when they are traveling around in their limos and private planes.

Then why do they put back up cameras in cars? The top 1% don't even drive themselves. That camera is a real waste of money.

 

[TerryB]

12 minutes ago, Brass is Best said:

Then why do they put back up cameras in cars? The top 1% don't even drive themselves. That camera is a real waste of money.

 

They became mandatory in the US around 2018 to help prevent people from running over things like pets and children that they couldn’t see behind their vehicle. 

[Billy Kingsley]

I believe I've listened to AM radio exactly 1 time in my life, when the NASCAR race that week was on a TV channel we didn't get and it was broadcast on a local AM station. That would have been around 1998.

[joe_padavano]

Just now, Billy Kingsley said:

I believe I've listened to AM radio exactly 1 time in my life, when the NASCAR race that week was on a TV channel we didn't get and it was broadcast on a local AM station. That would have been around 1998.

I was going to say something similar. I don't think I've listened to AM radio this century. Heck, I haven't listened to any radio in nearly that long, ever since every Oldies station left the DC market. I have pretty much every rock song from 1956-1972 on my phone and us it to play MP3s in the cars.

[oldcarfudd]

In my Model T, I'm happy listening to the music of the clicking coils.

[ply33]

1 hour ago, Brass is Best said:

Then why do they put back up cameras in cars? The top 1% don't even drive themselves. That camera is a real waste of money.

Nothing to do with the 1%. Apparently there were a fairly large number of accidents where parents in oversized SUVs and trucks with lousy rear visibility were backing over their children.

 

Since there are a non-zero percentage of idiots in the world and one of our first societal reactions is "there ought to be a law", we get a bunch of laws like that.

[joe_padavano]

17 minutes ago, ply33 said:

Nothing to do with the 1%. Apparently there were a fairly large number of accidents where parents in oversized SUVs and trucks with lousy rear visibility were backing over their children.

 

Since there are a non-zero percentage of idiots in the world and one of our first societal reactions is "there ought to be a law", we get a bunch of laws like that.

Unfortunately, most of these laws (like TPMS - thanks Firestone) exist because elected officials must appear to do SOMETHING, whether it makes sense or not. The backing over children is why new lawn tractors are required by law to disengage the mower when you shift into reverse. Fortunately none of my equipment is that new.

 

Having said that, my newly-acquired truck with a service body definitely needs an aftermarket backup camera, as the body pretty much blocks all rearward view. Hooking up my trailer is a nightmare right now. 😲

[Frank DuVal]

11 hours ago, Str8-8-Dave said:

Will it be the carmakers voluntarily yeilding to present day emergency broadcast arrangements going back to either normal AM radio or much cheaper automated tuning am radio to capture emergency broadcasts?  Will the government update to either FM broadcast band or better yet VHF FM emergency broadcast with a requirement that auto radios have priority driven reception requirements?  Just eliminating the ability to be notified seems a bit unreasonable, but I'm not sure taking away AM has that effect.  I think there must already be some form of priority FM broadcast reception, the last time local authorities put out a tornado warning in our area we got the message while listening to local FM radio.  Could be FM stations must yield regular broadcasting to emergency radio as part of their FCC licensing agreement...

Conelrad went away in 1963. Emergency broadcasting uses all the broadcast services, AM, FM and TV (including cable TV). So without AM in your vehicle the Emergency Broadcasting System can still get to you via FM broadcasting. Of course now everyone, with the exception of a few Luddites on here, gets their Emergency Warnings and Amber Alerts on their phones.  

[Frank DuVal]

5 hours ago, joe_padavano said:

Heck, I haven't listened to any radio in nearly that long, ever since every Oldies station left the DC market.

There are oldies stations, but.... they think oldies is 1980 or newer!!!!!!😫  We are the vanishing listeners. Where is the Doo Wop and Rockabilly?👍

 

Ever since WAMU dropped music on their main station (it still has Bluegrass on HD whatever, I have no modern radio to listen, but I do have internet!) and took off the Eddie Stubs show and Ray Davis passed away, DC radio just isn't the same. 😫

[John348]

I just took took delivery of a 2023 Cadillac 3 weeks ago, I don't even know if has an AM band on the radio. It really would not matter if it doesn't. All of the AM stations that I need (local news traffic weather) have an FM equivalent, I have the XM sports package so I get to listen to local baseball teams that would otherwise be on AM.

 

Unfortunately AM and FM radio stations along with newspapers are rapidly becoming a thing of the past.  

 

[dodge28]

There is a small group of people from around the world who sit in an office in a city in France ,Called Dove or Dobe  or

somethin like that , I cannot remember , and decide what is best for the billions of the world and which direction the world should go. May be that is the 1% this person is refereing to .

The noise heard coming from the radio in the car is from the Generator . (segments of the armateur) Not much from the Alternator. It was possible to buy a suppressor condenser from automobile parts suppliers and ground the BAT, to the body.

Harry in Toronto.

[John348]

7 minutes ago, dodge28 said:

There is a small group of people from around the world who sit in an office in a city in France ,Called Dove or Dobe  or

somethin like that , I cannot remember , and decide what is best for the billions of the world and which direction the world should go. May be that is the 1% this person is refereing to .

The noise heard coming from the radio in the car is from the Generator . (segments of the armateur) Not much from the Alternator. It was possible to buy a suppressor condenser from automobile parts suppliers and ground the BAT, to the body.

Harry in Toronto.

 

WOW ......THATS DEEP!  I heard the real reason is that nobody is spending money for advertising and the stations cost more to operate because nobody listens anymore. So why would the manufacturer install a radio that cost more to manufacture if nobody cares? If i were given the option to pay more for an AM radio I would think about it, to be honest,

 

  But your explanation sounds real cool, but also way out there! 

[kuhner]

AM radio is going the way of the local newspaper.

Our local station was bought up by a big out of town company that has very little interest in what is going on locally.  If I remember Clear Channel Corp. bought up many AM stations years ago, and ran their syndicated shows.

Our local paper is now owned by USA Today, along with several neighboring towns. I keep getting our paper but gripe every time I pay the bill.

Just a couple things that technology has changed in our lives.
 

[edinmass]

It’s all in the nomenclature when it comes to radio.

 

AM = awful music

FM = fantastic music

 

Fortunately my newest car is almost 20 years old, my commute to work is less than three minutes. So I seldom turn on the radio anymore. In the pre war cars we stream from a iPhone with a remote speaker. Driving the Pebble Beach tour in 2021 we had Sammy Hagar’s “I can’t drive 55” blasting at full volume from the Duesenberg. On the trip back to the lodge it was the Stones. Great time was had by all.