An acquaintance of mine recently said he would never purchase an all-electric vehicle and offered up a reason I never heard before. “They don’t come with AM radio,” he said.
While this surprised me, shifting technological preferences have indeed started to change how automobiles and broadcasters interact. As an example, a gaggle of Mazda owners found their vehicles stuck tuned to National Public Radio this February after a local station transmitted an FM data packet that effectively froze the cars’ infotainment system amid the swap to next-generation broadband services. That transition has already caused some interesting problems for the industry and electromagnetic interference has likewise become the default explanation for automakers limiting your frequency band choice in certain vehicles. But it doesn’t explain why some companies are ditching AM radio outright. In fact, a little research has shown a lot of the explanations given by manufacturers leave a lot to be desired.
My not-quite friend said he’d come to his realization about AM radio after browsing the all-electric Porsche Taycan and a few Tesla models — none of which offered an AM receiver. Though I was absolutely positive that I’d driven EVs equipped with them in the past and was relatively confident that included at least one Tesla model.
After some light research, I learned that Tesla had actually abandoned AM radio in 2018, citing static from electromagnetic interference created by the electric motors. BMW and Porsche have used similar reasoning for why the feature has been removed from their EVs. But the situation doesn’t appear to be universal, as American manufacturers have retained the option to listen to AM radio on their all-electric products. Interestingly, a lot of the companies that have ditched the 550 to 1720 kHz bandwidth offer alternative ways of listening to AM frequencies. But this typically requires additional expenses. For example, Tesla will allow drivers to tune in if they’re subscribed to its Premium Connectivity service.
While it’s rather curious that a lot of the companies pioneering subscription-based lockouts for already installed features (e.g. BMW now charges customers a subscription for heated seats and steering wheels in certain markets) have streamlined their radio options, it’s absolutely true that AM frequencies do tend to be more vulnerable to electromagnetic interference. Despite being affordable to broadcast on and capable of traveling long distances, AM radio is often accompanied by static and thereby more susceptible to things like storms, nearby power lines, and even solar activity. However, anything that would be strong enough to totally nullify an incoming broadcast is likely to create some problems for your phone and FM radio as well.
Digging deeper resulted in my finding a recent report from The Drive exploring the same issue, that delved into why European manufacturers might be more prone toward dropping AM radio for reasons other than it opening the door for new ways of charging their customers. Noting that Audi, BMW, Porsche, Tesla, and Volvo are now frequently sold without AM radios, the outlet suggested that the format simply isn’t that popular in the EU anymore.
From The Drive:
We contacted all three of Detroit’s giants for why they continue to include AM radios when some European makes have phased them out, but the answer establishes itself across those very same lines. AM radio has fallen out of favor in Europe, with Radio Info reporting in 2015 that stations were shutting down en masse from France to the Netherlands and Russia. The frequency has largely been superseded by the DAB format, which is a more advanced form of radio broadcasting with better audio quality and choice of stations. AM radio stations and their listeners are all but gone in Europe, so European carmakers may not need to include technology that many of its customers can’t use.
In the U.S., on the other hand, radio remains a must for car buyers, with 89 percent of responders in a 2021 survey stating radio should be standard in new cars. That makes radio even more important to U.S. car buyers than USB ports, which only 84 percent said were necessary. AM audiences were in rapid decline as of a 2017 report by Inside Radio, but not to enough a degree for American carmakers to leave AM radios out of their products. It’s not hard to figure out why AM’s holding on here, either: AM signals travel further than FM broadcasts do and are cheaper to transmit, allowing them to cater to audiences in sparsely populated areas. Audio quality can’t compare, but that’s secondary to having anything to listen to at all in some parts of the continental United States.
Having taken more long and lonesome road trips than most, I’ve occasionally turned to AM radio when there’s nothing good on satellite or FM stations and I’ve grown tired of my own personal playlists. Often talk-focused, the older band offers a mix of multilingual news channels, 24-hour weather broadcasts, traffic updates, religious services, political debates, and even the odd pirate station. There are at least 6,000 unique AM broadcasters in operation today compared to the roughly 15,000 commercial outlets that exist on FM frequencies. And that’s perhaps telling of the former spectrum’s dwindling popularity, as is the fact that I hadn’t even realized radio features were being trimmed from newer (usually electric or hybrid) models offered by specific companies until quite recently.
The good news for AM lovers is that most of those channels can still be found on simulcast HD stations or even streamed directly over the internet. So, even if you buy a car that doesn’t come with AM radio, you should still be able to find all but the smallest outlets by other means. Still, there’s a chance some of those weird, ultra-distant, and privately-operated stations will become impossible to find organically — further limiting the overall reach of AM radio over time.
[Image: Virrage Images/Shutterstock]
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AM radio still exists??? I guess I never thought of that. I don’t think I’ve purposely had a radio on in any car in at least five years. I’m not even sure if my car has a CD player. Are those still a thing?
I’m not kidding or being sarcastic.
“AM radio still exists??? I guess I never thought of that. I don’t think I’ve purposely had a radio on in any car in at least five years. I’m not even sure if my car has a CD player. Are those still a thing?”
I took the AM/FM/CD/NAV headunit out of my truck and replaced it with a modern Android Auto / Apple CarPlay head unit which does all of those things better with the help of my smartphone.
After I used the Android Auto setup for a couple of months, I took the AM/FM antenna off for a carwash and never put it back on.
I’ll put the antenna back on if I ever need it. But it’s been almost 2 years, and I haven’t missed it enough to go through the 90 seconds of labor it takes to put it back on. That old antenna just isn’t worth the aerodynamic drag.
AM/FM/satellite/CD radios are obsolete for me.
I have to wonder if this isn’t a move to limit the reach of talk radio? It’s the only media not heavily dominated by the liberal hive mind.
Pretty sure my Mazda’s built-in satellite radio still got Fox News, Fox News Headlines, Fox Business, SiriusXM Patriot, and God knows how many other sources of right-wing windbags.
It’s much more restrictive to get on satellite radio than on AM. The Fox blowhards may nominally be “on the same side” as the often much more local and eclectic AM commenters ( at least to the one, two, many… crowd who by now comprises the vast majority of our little freefalling Indoctritopia ). But the satellite yahoos are invariaboy thoroughly vetted and hamstrung by ambulance chasing shakedown terrorists, “insurance” racket trash and other such inventions of totalitarian states. All of which a)makes them no different from any other mainstreamer aside from stated “party” allegiance. And b)makes it too expensive to blowhard about anything other than the same old silly national level nonsense as on any other channel. AM was/is cheap, even despite Clear Channel, accessible and dispersed enough that lots of content are both more original, less vetted, PC and “mainstream,” and more local.
Freedom of Speech really isn’t so in practice, if the only ones allowed to speak, have to do so through a satellite uplink in Northern Virginia. AM isn’t free as in Rwanda either (you don’t stay on the air long if you insist on rallying people to hack each other up….), but at least it’s distributed enough to be more resistant to outright censorship than anything requiring access to satellites.
Yes but those channels can be centrally controlled vs local Jimbob radio.
@28-cars-later
“Yes but those channels can be centrally controlled vs local Jimbob radio.”
You might be interested to learn about the existence of the Federal Communications Commission.
So the libs named Fox and one other network. Your making my point. Meanwhile the socialist dems control CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC, NPR, Youtube, Google, Facebook, Instagram, etc, etc . But it drives them crazy that local and national talk radio on AM isn’t also theirs exclusively. As for the personal attacks, try reading my post again. It was presented as speculation. Your insults reveal your character.
I didn’t have to wait long for some delusional insurrectionist, such as yourself, to start whining about free speech in a manner you don’t understand. It’s probably an Antifa related George Soros backed space laser attack on God fearing AM radio stations everywhere. Which reminds me: Rush Limbaugh is DEAD!
I named four channels. And you seem to be under the strange impression that there are SiriusXM stations for Youtube, Google, Facebook, Instagram – or ABC, CBS or NBC, for that matter.
And what personal attacks are you talking about?
Well technically yes, but 3 of them were just different flavors of Fox. The personal attacks didn’t come from you. Your post wasn’t at all personal. No, i never implied those other propaganda outlets were on XM. Merely pointing out that the overwhelming majority of all media is Dem run. But it you want to look for socialist stations on XM there are plenty.
@kcflyer: “But it drives them crazy that local and national talk radio on AM isn’t also theirs exclusively.”
I’m the liberal they warned you about and, no, this doesn’t bother me in the least.
First off, I’m an American and I believe in free speech. Your right-wing news media lied about me in that respect.
I don’t even think about AM radio most of the time.
I’m too busy living my crunchy overeducated limousine-liberal lifestyle to care, except at election time when I wonder how the people I’m voting against ended up so far in right-field.
I don’t even have a working FM radio in my pickup truck these days because the antenna wasn’t worth the aerodynamic drag.
Worrying how the antenna affects the drag of a pickup? Interesting. Do you also worry how sprinkles add calories to cake? Do tell :)
AM interferes with the bird drones the gov uses. Wake up people!
@JMII: Don’t tell kcflyer! It’s bad enough we can’t use our mind-control machine on him because of the tinfoil hat he wears! Stop giving away all our deep state secrets!
“AM interferes with the bird drones the gov uses. Wake up people!”
Should it read:
AM interferes with the bird drones the gov uses. WOKE up people!
Beep boop! Tinfoil cranial shielding self-test succeeded.
Actually AM radio has plenty of NPR stations, and some liberal talk stations, but yes it is dominated by conservatives for the most part
I doubt it but that’s a neat feature which may have put the decision over the top.
As soon as I read the headline, that is what I thought
talk stations generally broadcast on FM now anyway. If not they usually stream. No conspiracy, AM has been on the way out for years.
I have to wonder if this isn’t a move to limit the reach of talk radio? It’s the only media not heavily dominated by the liberal hive mind.
I removed the radio antenna on my truck, because I just don’t use AM/FM radio anymore and the antenna wasn’t worth the aerodynamic drag.
I use Android Auto heavily, and and I get whatever content I like there.
I’m pretty sure I could get as much right-wing content as I wanted through my smartphone if I wanted to listen to that junk. For instance, I use Spotify for music which has invested heavily in some well-known RWNJ personalities. I’m an American and I believe in free speech, even though I have a very low opinion of Spotify’s RWNJ personalities.
So, no, this is not a free speech issue. RWNJs have free speech and huge audiences without AM radio.
AM/FM/satellite radios are just plain obsolete.
Why would I want an old-fashioned when my smartphone already does a better job of delivering content to my car’s speakers?
AM/FM/satellite radios are just plain obsolete.
No problem. They are taking features away, but will charge you more for remote start, heated seats, and force you to have useless Onstar.
My 19 Ioniq 1 has AM radio – not that I listen to it.
I don’t understand deleting it since the incremental cost is negligible, and in some cases having AM radio could enhance safety if you need to listen to one of those highway safety broadcasts.
SCE: Serious question: I know you said you don’t listen to AM. I was wondering, though, if you’d check it out and see if the EI from the drive motors actually does create static in the AM signal as claimed in the article? Thanks!
For me AM radio is still a ‘must’. Why? The Blue Jays games are transmitted only on the AM band and a nice summer evening drive, listening to the ball game is one of my longstanding traditions.
In fact in the Toronto area, all of the ‘all sports’ stations are on the AM band. So that also means that the Leaf games are broadcast only on AM.
I have AM on my Maverick as well as FM. I cannot remember the last time I listened to AM radio and the only time I listen to the radio is when I am driving. I remember when radios were an option and if you didn’t have one you got a radio delete plate. I was happy on my first car to have an AM radio, air conditioning, power assist steering, and power assist brakes and was very happy to have all those which at the time were all options. My first new car had AM/FM with power windows, power locks, and cruise control and I thought I was driving a luxury vehicle. Times have changed.
Ah yes let’s do away with the thinking mans radio, AM. Soon enough it will be nothing but pickup trucks and county music for every cause ‘murica!
Now that the traffic subscription has lapsed on my BMW, I have to listen to AM680 to keep tabs on Toronto traffic. I also love to listen to baseball on radio and so the loss of AM would sadden me. Yeah maybe you can get it on satellite radio, but the scratchy, mono sound is part of the appeal.
In Boston and New York, and I suspect most other major cities, AM radio traffic reports are much more current than the SiriusXM traffic reports. Waze updates every few seconds but only gets data if there are people using Waze in a particular area. I would be very, very upset not to be able to listen to “Traffic on the 3s” on AM on my way to work.
https://www.insideradio.com/who-s-listening-am-radio-by-the-numbers/article_a65caa4a-54b6-11e7-b58d-df9c58fd262d.html#:~:text=Just%20one%2Din%2Dfive%20(,tuned%20into%20an%20FM%20station.
The above link shows that AM radio is not dead by a long shot in the USA. It is more popular than the Sunday newspaper, woo-hoo!
Some manufacturers like BMW actually have AM in some of their EVs but they disable it because the reception is quite poor compared to a normal ICE vehicle and not up to BMW standards. Basically you only hear the strong stations because of all the electrical noise that the motor/controller generates. I’m told that you can go to the dealer and get AM enabled if you insist.
That’s a 5+ year old article sourced from a trade publication- so they tend put on a positive spin as best they can. Per the source, it only means listeners for a few minutes in a given week. AM radio had declined 1% from the year prior, and had declined 8% from 5 years prior. I’d guess that after another 5 years to the present date, that would have fallen at least another 8%. A few minutes listening to the ads on AM tells everything you need to know about the future of the medium.
I have a vague recollection that, years ago, the government mandated that radios must contain both AM and FM. I can’t remember which mode tended to be missing. Either way, will it be legal for auto manufacturers to drop AM in the US?
Would that requirement of both AM and FM be for emergency broadcasts because that would be the only reason to mandate that.
Jeff: Your question is correct. Both AM & FM are relied upon for national emergency/weather and other ‘official’ announcements. The federal government has what is called the EAS – Emergency Alert System. They require all stations to have EAS units installed and to weekly test such systems to verify proper operation. At least once a year they also conduct a nationwide test requiring all stations to report being able to broadcast the test successfully. Not sure if it’s tied into the license for the stations, but it may be a factor for being able to continue to broadcast or cause a station to be subject to an FCC fine.
Never heard of any U.S. regulation of radio features or performance. Perhaps you are thinking of the 1964 FCC regulation mandating UHF tuners in TV sets. Prior to then one had to buy a set top UHF converter and the UHF broadcasters thought that put them at a disadvantage. In later years more requirements were added for a) parity tuning; i.e. if VHF (channels 2-13) was detented, UHF (channels 14-83) had to be also plus b) a maximum noise figure of 14dB. There are plenty of FM-only cell phones and hi-fi tuners out there.
AM radio is nothing but RWNJ ranting anyway. Good riddance.
“RWNJ ranting”
Real Whores of New Jersey?
Hey, if you can listen to that on AM, it beats paying for it on cable.
“All your purchased vehicle are belong to us.”
Glad someone got the memo.
Hey, only $1,600 a year for Airbag Professional.
I stopped listening to AM when I was in High School in the ’70’s. Why does it even exist?
I replaced AM radio with USB drive with podcasts long time ago. But still had a choice to listen live news when needed. But still- you can listen AM stations on phone app.
In the late 70’s had only AM radio in my Mustang. The Saturday night fever soundtrack was out where it became too ubiquitous and irritating on top 40 radio, so it forced me to, in a healthy manner explore more genres on the dial, from what would now be called classic country as well as R and B.
At home I would listen to the free form FM DJs which expanded my pallet immensely.
Unfortunately with radio consolidation over the past few decades many of small and mid market stations lost their local flavor and just have pre packaged bilge out of Clear Channel. This led to a less informed populous who tend to regurgitate a bunch of jargon. You could travel to a region and get a good feel of the place just by its radio and local personalities as well as music selections.
There was a great PBS segment as well as some articles a couple of decades ago about how radio consolidation impacted Minot, North Dakota. They used the example of a tanker truck explosion on a highway that caused a dangerous situation yet there was no local radio outlet to inform residents about it.
There’s still some good AM in the Boston area. As mentioned already, the BZ traffic is pretty good. And without 850 WJIB I’d be lost.
“Often talk-focused, the older band offers a mix of multilingual news channels, 24-hour weather broadcasts, traffic updates, religious services, political debates, and even the odd pirate station.”
Yar!!
I would not be surprised to see AM fade away in the future but I’d hate to lose it in the car if I still commuted to work. All news 880 was essential for navigating the horrors of NYC traffic jams. The interference issue with Hybrid/Evs is likely legit. When I had a Altima hybrid, it came with a pointy roof mounted antenna that smacked of old-school cell antennas whereas standard Altimas did not. Nissan said it was due to interference from the hybrid drivetrain.
In my area, many FM stations also have an AM counterpart – some broadcasting nearly the same content and others quite different content. As someone mentioned local sports along with regional sports are prominent on AM radio. A station I work with broadcasts the local farm team baseball along with the sport broadcasts of the local university. They are the only place to find both items. The station also provides a stream of all programming as an alternative for folks who have no AM radio or want to listen that way for whatever reason.
Also, as mentioned, solar RFI, happens to both AM & FM. There are certain times of the year where the activity from the sun causes predictable brief issues for both. We would experience the yearly dropouts, log them and move on. Usually they were long enough that our emergency backup audio would kick in, but not so long that the interruption lasted much more than 5 minutes.
It’s curious, but I find many folks have the opinion that FM is made for talk radio -not music. That seems completely backwards to me, but what do I know? The broadcaster (talk radio) I worked for owned both AM & FM. They decided to sell off the AM and keep the FM for that very reason. It was weird as the FM side didn’t have near the reach of the AM. Being a commercial enterprise I would have thought keeping the AM made more sense since the ads would reach more listeners which equates to higher ad rates and more income for the station.
As an audio dork, I totally understand. AM sound quality is awful, although I have an older pre-HD Radio car making a tough situation even worse. Especially when driving by power lines. Since most of us have phones with lots of radio apps, it’s more a matter of convenience now.
I like talk radio. KABC used to be able to get high profile local and state wide political leaders to show up and more often than not, embarrass themselves by creating mythical perspectives that got called out by the host. He got Jerry Brown to call in every other week when he was governor, got Debbie Wasserman-Schultz to hang her reputation live on air, etc.
Now politicians have more astute handlers that realize their boss is an idiot and can’t be allowed to embarrass themselves like that. Pity.
AM radio is disappearing due to many causes, one important reason is the real estate value of transmitter sites has gone up through the roof. As some of us know Medium Band wavelengths require fairly large antennas to be efficient and many station owners will cash in on this by selling the land to developers and settle for smaller transmitter sites with less power, as they mostly make their money off FM translators. Even international shortwave broadcasting is a shadow of its former self nowadays with the advent of the internet
I would miss AM radio. I like having local news/weather/sports. I like a market which offered a level playing field to all positions, yet the side that enjoys big money from big cities wound up getting their ass handed to them when it encountered real-world competition in the marketplace of ideas.
I can also see why those of a totalitarian bent would be unhappy to have their positions revealed in plain English.
I would miss AM radio. I like having local news/weather/sports. I like a market which offered a level playing field to all positions, yet the side that enjoys big money from big cities wound up getting their ass handed to them when it encountered real-world competition in the marketplace of ideas.
I can also see why those of a totalitarian bent would be unhappy to have their positions revealed in plain English.
I recall reading a sci fi novel in which all global communication was advanced and in control of a cabal ruling the world.
The novel featured a plucky group of revolutionaries trying to overthrow the world government. They communicated via ancient, primitive AM radio, and were undetected by the global government with its high tech communications.
I forgot the novel on a train before I was done reading it, so I don’t know if they succeeded, but I imagine they did. How can you beat undetected primitive technology?
I hardly listen to the radio except when I am driving and in my wife’s Honda I listen to the oldies on Sirius XM and in my Maverick that doesn’t have satellite radio I listen to a local oldies 50s thru 70s station or NPR (yes there are some of us who like Public Radio and Public TV). I do think it is important to have some kind of communication for a disaster to where people can be warned. Being raised in Houston years ago when radio was mostly AM I would listen to the popular Rock & Roll stations like KILT with the latest hits especially when I was young with my transistor radio which I still have 58 years later and still works and later listened to those stations when I was a young drive on the tube AM radio in my father’s 62 Chevy II. When FM came I listened to a lot of oldies stations playing 50s and 60s music and there was an easy listening station in Houston , KQUE 103 FM, that had Big Band Music a couple of times a week for about 4 hours at night which gave me an appreciation of Harry James, Glen Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington, Bing Crosby, Etta James, and a few others. KQUE had an old Rock & Roll DJ, Buddy McGregor (1230 KNUZ in the 60s) that during week nights in the early 80s that played 50s and 60s Rock & Roll. Buddy actually went to England and interviewed the Beatles in 1965. Radio did expose me to all kinds of music and points of view.
For those who think they can get by with only their phone hasn’t been west of the Mississippi and to the inner swaths of Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota etc., where cellphone service can be nonexistent for a couple of hours at a time. This is where SAT radio comes in to play. Yea-one can download podcasts, music, etc., but I find it easier to call XM once a year-and get the rate at $5.00/month. You can’t even get AM radio signals in the mountains like you can SAT radio.
“. As an example, a gaggle of Mazda owners found their vehicles stuck tuned to National Public Radio this February after a local station transmitted an FM data packet that effectively froze the cars’ infotainment system…”
As wacky as this sounds, those Democrats really are evil enough to pull a prank like that. I mean, every time you think that they can’t possibly think of a more evil thing to do, they think of a more evil thing to do.
HD Radio is a hidden gem. Great sound quality and a few real good channels where I’m at that play actual deep cuts, all without commercials.
Every time I listen to it, I feel like I’m getting away with something and someday soon the radio execs will realize it and kill it off.
My i3 had an AM radio that was made software inaccessible from the factory. I turned it back on using some coding software.
As I remember it, the radio did suffer from quite a bit of electrical whine from the propulsion system, but not so bad as to make it unusable. I believe BMW had turned it off so that they wouldn’t have to deal with owner complaints about the whine.