First Responders Urge Congress to Advance AM Radio Bill
....first responders are ramping up pressure on Congress to advance the bipartisan AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act before the legislative session’s end.... On Dec. 5, ..a coalition of 14 first responders from the States of Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina sent a letter urging ... public safety officials from the State of New York sent a similar letter...
"We know from experience — ... who have attested to AM radio being the only communication tool they had during the worst of it all — that AM was responsible for saving countless lives,” they wrote, recounting their efforts during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. ...after [Hurricane Helene], roughly six million people in the southeastern United States lacked power, and many did not have cellphone or internet service,” the coalition wrote. “They still managed to receive access to life-saving information... emergency alerting systems, which rely heavily on AM radio signals.”..
“During Superstorm Sandy, more than a million residents of the New York region .... “While their cellphones didn’t work, and their internet remained out for days (in some cases, weeks), their AM radios functioned as well as ever.” They also emphasized that, “during 9/11, internet and cell networks quickly went down, but radio did not.”
..At the time of this story’s publication, the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act has a filibuster-proof number of Senate co-sponsors. It easily passed the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and it cleared the House Energy & Commerce Committee on a 45-2 vote
Along the same subject, but looked at from a different angle. This guy makes a very good point.(you only need to listen to the first 2 and half minutes)
Carl will have to help me out on who this guy is, I'm pretty sure I downloaded this clip from KDX site a year or two ago. I'm guessing it was KSTC Sterling Silver1290 (based on the filename)
I agree that AM over the air free radio should be in all vehicles. It doesn't matter that you can get a stream through the internet to get the "AM" stations and have to pay for apps and data because the car company in league with the provider of the apps doesn't want you to listen to free over the air radio. As for what he says about the programming, if AM programmed what it did in it's heyday it would do a lot better. OTR and get DJs like Wolfman Jack.
@richpowers The voice on Rich's clip is that of Walter M. Sterling, who did and maybe still does a Sunday night show on KMOX AM1120 50kW from St. Louis and across the nation on a radio network. If you are real interested you can try to DX the signal Sunday from 9 PM to Midnight Central Time unless the station has some kind of sports at the time.
@carl Thanks Carl. @mark I agree they should be in cars too, (and was surprised that automobile circuitry is exempt from part 15 regulations), and they're vital in emergencies, but I also agree with Walter Sterlings comments in the radio clip.. AM radio programing sucks nowadays. I listen to AM primarily late night (to C2C), and in the early mornings, but everthing for the rest of the day is absolutely horrid on AM.. I tend to tune over to KDX because I actually like talk radio.. but not the programming I hear on the AM around here.
The major problem with AM is the programming, and its phony "serving the community" pretense.No effort or insight seems to go into programming these cookie cutter stations. It's not even the quality of the AM signal, it's what the signal is offering- which is crap.
I think that's what Sterling was pointing out.
But I did like seeing our First Responders putting their two cents in.
KDX AM 1680 is a proud second responder, saying,
Keep It In the Car.
A similar article today in the Washington Examiner:
"...Given how much we and the residents of our home states relied upon AM radio during and in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Helene, we have firsthand experience as to why they are correct.”