Honestly, the news on the AM in every car legislation Act seems to go on and on and on .. Last year I briefly had the impression it had passed already. But no, it just goes on and on.. pushing the 3 years now of the same story going round and round.. reports repeatedly indicating ongoing progress towards certain victorious conclusion that the law will be signed in that AM will remain in cars. Great, do it already. I'm getting tired of reading essentially the identical rhetoric month after month, year after year. Pass it already, what the hell? Will we still be hearing about the "progress" of this bill for another 3 years? Sigh.
Anyway, they like the bill in New York.. yee haw!
https://radioink.com/2025/10/14/local-new-york-lawmakers-unite-to-protect-am-radio-in-cars/
"...the legislation continues to gain momentum outside of Capitol Hill, ..... In Western New York, the Erie County Legislature has unanimously endorsed the act, which would make AM radio a required feature in all new vehicles, including electric and hybrid models..."
Another article coverage of the same news:
https://www.audacy.com/wben/news/local/erie-county-legislators-back-am-radio-in-cars
"..."I can tell you, one of our family cars does not have the AM radio in it, and it is a pain. We are frequently trying to use apps like the Audacy app to listen to AM radio. I can tell you that it's not as reliable. when you're driving around, you lose service on your phone and you don't have the AM radio, it's a disconnect."
Almost on the flip side are articles like this one which kind of says Why Even Bother?
Saving AM radio, punishing public broadcasting
Congress claws back $1.1 billion from public stations while considering requiring AM radio in cars ... Goldstein left radio years ten years ago to become a podcasting consultant. He also teaches at NYU and says not one of his students listens to AM.
Most don’t listen to FM, either, preferring streaming services like Pandora and Spotify or on-demand media like podcasts. “AM radio is going the way of the phone booth and fax machine,” he laments. So why save AM radio in the car when folks aren’t listening? And what will be left on FM to tune into? ... ..
@richpowers I agree with your first post on why does this go on so long. Pass it already!
On the flip side, in response,
This goes back to when cable TV came along and free over the air TV was replaced by paying a big monthly fee to get what was free before, over the air. Same with radio now. So take radio out of cars and force you to pay for an app. The car makers get a kick back and make more money not giving you over the air radio. It's not the excuse that it's noise from the electric motors or no one is listening anyways. That's what they tell you. How come Hyundai and Kia do it and it's fine? I saw a video of someone that took a portable into a Tesla and it worked fine on AM.
What if they made cars without all this tech stuff and just put in a normal radio like it used to be. No apps, screens, apple car play, menus, all this stuff? No Bluetooth? Would people not buy cars anymore? Of course they would. They put this stuff in because they want you to pay an ongoing monthly fee. And the multibillionare corporations make more billions$$$$. There was nothing wrong with the way it was before. A radio and that's it. Maybe a CD player, or audio input jack for MP3s. That screen is no different than a TV....while you are driving? And now they want you to pay for radio via apps/streams/podcasts. The law should be not just AM but there must be a terrestrial radio in all cars.
Bottom line, the billionaires don't want you to have a receiver that can receive a broadcast for free without you having to subscribe and pay monthly as in radio in a car. Why wouldn't the NAB and Canadian equivalent be all for keeping radio in cars and be up in arms about keeping it there?
@mark I can understand it, they are just upgrading the dashboards with the lastest (and apparently more listened to) technologies, which is an entirely reasonable thing to do. I mean everything has gone "smart", phones, watches, TVs, cash registers, filling stations, you name it.
But your right, it looks as though auto manufactures also trying to force subscriptions down your throat - I'm not sure if that's the actual case, unless it can be shown they get some kind of kickback or something, but the fact remains, everything is going smart and primed to get even smarter. Not necessarily better.
Seems it would have been nice if instead of incorporating everything into the dashboard they just installed a self-contained unit.. something removable, options. Once upon a time if you wanted to upgrade (or downgrade), all you had to do is remove a couple screws, pull out the stock radio and replace it with whatever you wanted, purchased from a K-Mart or Auto Zone store with whatever features you wanted, tape deck, CD player, or now internet radio.
What OTA broadcast radio has that Internet based radio does not is reliability, as it is only dependant on the transmitter broadcasting and the radio receiving it. Whereas digital radio is dependant on a vast chain of devices, any one of which can break the connection (cell towers, servers, satalights, AI, etc.)
Similar to the above it illustrates how the AM for Every Vehicle Act is still advancing in spite of the government shutdown.
House Recess Slows AM Radio Bill, While Support Keeps Growing.
...What some critics have referred to as an unscheduled “paid vacation” for lawmakers means the proposed AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act (H.R. 979) will not make it to the floor anytime soon for a vote. But that may not be all bad. The record has shown that the longer members of Congress are in their district, the more support builds for the bill as face-to-face lobbying by local broadcasters continues to hold a lot of sway.That seems to be the case again this time ... ..Even as the sunset date is now in flux, other provisions in the proposed AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act remain the same. If carmakers don’t add AM they would be required to put a warning label on vehicles. They could also face potential fines. The proposal would also direct the Government Accountability Office to study whether alternative communication systems could fully replicate the reach and effectiveness of AM broadcast radio for alerting the public to emergencies. ...
The bill has the support of over 125 organizations, including ... ...While carmakers have resisted the mandate, some brands have recommitted to AM radio... ..The latest Nielsen data shows 82 million Americans listen to AM each month. That represents one out of three AM/FM radio listeners.