AM radio fights back after getting the boot from Tesla, other EVs

Automakers moving into an electric future are locked in a battle with broadcasters concerned about the potential loss of an aged and fading technology: AM radio.

Major carmakers, including Tesla Inc. and BMW AG, are omitting AM tuners from electric vehicles, citing interference from EV systems with the frequencies used by the century-old broadcast service. Shielding radio reception gear can be costly and complex, especially when vehicle users can access AM signals via digital platforms.

Broadcasters 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.

“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.

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.

“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. “We must ensure that no community's left behind, no voice is silenced and no emergency response is compromised.”

Overtones of the US partisan divide have crept into the discussion, with some zeroing in on talk radio, where conservative hosts such as Sean Hannity thrive on AM channels.

“AM radio is worth keeping in our cars,” Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, tweeted last week. “Millions of Americans listen to talk radio. It's central to our democracy and freedom of expression.”

Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers magazine, which covers the talk radio industry, said he doubted carmakers had any intention to quiet conservative voices on talk radio. But he lamented the rift in what he called a “long, symbiotic relationship.”

“Radio has exalted the automobile as being mythical, and gorgeous,” Harrison said in an interview. “It's almost a betrayal on the part of these car manufacturers to say, we're getting rid of AM radio.'”

Carmakers, 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.

AM radio was once the dominant form of audio entertainment. Until 1978, more than half of all radio listening hours were spent on the AM dial, the Federal Communications Commission said in 2015.

But by late 2022, only about 15% of people 12 and older listened to AM radio during an average week.