Good news: A legislative push to save AM radio is almost certain to succeed, meaning America’s strangest listening wavelength will continue to survive for the foreseeable future.
The “AM radio for every vehicle law” is a bipartisan bill introduced by Senator Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) that would force automobile companies to install AM radio in all cars they produce. In its current form, the bill is currently supported by 60 U.S. Senators and also enjoys the support of 246 House co-sponsors, Markey and Cruz have said. With this kind of support it is very likely that it will become law.
Once America’s dominant broadcast channel, AM has fallen on hard times in recent years. While it’s still fun Tens of millions of listenersfewer and fewer people tuned in. As popularity has declined, so have automakers made a concerted push discontinue availability in newer vehicle models. If the bill currently in Congress passes, that won’t happen – and integrating AM radio into new cars will become a federal mandate. So hey, call your senator and tell him what you think.
“Democrats and Republicans are listening to the millions of listeners, thousands of broadcasters and countless emergency management officials who rely on AM radio in their vehicles,” Markey and Cruz said in a statement. “AM radio is a lifeline for people across the United States to receive news, sports and local updates during emergencies. Our sensible bill ensures this basic, essential tool doesn’t get lost on the dial.”
Some people have tried to make AM radio a partisan issue. But it is not. It’s just a radio frequency that happens to have some conservative talk shows on it. This also applies to FM radio. This also applies to Sirius XM. Twitter too. Almost everywhere you go – from cable TV to social media – you will find the same situation.
If you’re a liberal, you shouldn’t allow a few right-wing channels (okay, maybe more than a few) will ruin AM radio for you. Why? Because AM is just fun. It is strange. It is interesting. When you turn it on, you hear a variety of things. I was visiting my parents recently and decided to play around with an old radio in the garage; I stumbled across a few in the morning strange, high frequency squall It sounded like a space message generated by aliens. I found out later that I was listening WWVa continuous time signal broadcast by the US government since 1945. In short, AM lets its freak flag fly, which is an admirable quality in any person, institution, or broadcasting system.
The reason car manufacturers don’t want to support AM radio is obvious: because it will cost them a little more money. To that I say: Who cares? Cheers, Tesla. Give Americans the crazy radio we deserve.