The Post on AM radio
The Contrary to the popular refrain, video never really did kill the radio star. Electric vehicles, however, might do the job. The question is whether Congress should accelerate the process.
Automakers, including BMW, Mazda, Volkswagen and Tesla, are starting to remove AM radios as standard equipment from new electric vehicles—and Ford was on the verge of removing them from all new vehicles before backtracking under pressure from broadcasters and their allies. The reason is twofold: Electric motors render the fuzzy sound of AM stations fuzzier still. And even as AM declines in popularity, keeping antiquated AM radios in cars costs manufacturers.
Still, protests from AM’s allies are coming through loud and clear—from both sides of the aisle. A bipartisan bill co-sponsored in the Senate by Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) would require car manufacturers to maintain AM broadcast radio by default in new vehicles, electric or not, at no additional charge. Their primary reason: The Federal Emergency Management Agency relies on AM to transmit emergency alerts.
Officials ought to find a way to find technology that is viable with the same reach as AM radio, because the alternative is equipping vehicles forevermore with what will someday be an obsolete technology.
What happens then? The answer could be AM radio dies. Yes, AM stations could move to FM if cars lose AM—though cost structures might make it more difficult for them to survive on that band. And, yes, AM stations could offer their programming other ways—though for much of their audience, listening while driving is the point. The upshot, according to industry insiders, is that no AM in cars will mean no AM at all before long.
AM and FM together account for about 60 percent of all in-car listening, even in the age of satellite radio and streaming.
The fan base for AM is older—much older— and dwindling. Hence carmakers’ reluctance to install this legacy tech in products they market as ultramodern. But it’s also vibrant, particularly in rural America. Many AM stations are also devoted to programming for immigrant audiences, often in Spanish or other languages.
These channels are sometimes locally owned and operated, whereas FM stations are increasingly commercialized and conglomerated. Listeners have relationships with stations, with hosts. They call in. They’re heard just as much as they hear.
Finally, there’s history. AM radio brought President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s fireside chats to an anxious public; it brought sports stars to fame through announcers’ frenzied commentary; it brought the Beatles to America.
Yet, as important as AM radio might be to American culture, so is limiting government to essential regulatory tasks. It might be Congress’s role to mandate AM radio in vehicles—as long as it’s crucial to public safety. It isn’t Congress’s role to prop up the industry by forcing automakers to install a feature the market says isn’t worth the while. New cars, after all, are expensive enough as is. Legislators might hope along with listeners that AM stays essential for a few more years at least. But in the longer run, policy can’t remain static.