The electric vehicle revolution is now causing a wave of concern among a significant portion of the American public: Conservative talk show listeners.
Major car manufacturers such as BMW, Mazda, Tesla, and Volkswagen are sidelining a staple of American life: AM radio, removing AM receivers from their new electric vehicles, and saying that the radios create electromagnetic interference with the electric-powered engines.
Ford, a stalwart of the U.S. auto industry, said it will exclude AM radio from nearly all its new vehicles – both gas and electric – by 2024, citing data that suggests less than 5% of in-car listening comes from AM stations.
The transition isn’t just a switch of radio frequencies; it’s a fundamental disruption to the conservative talk show ecosystem. Talk radio has long dominated AM radio, while the alternative NPR has dominated FM radio. Some conservatives are crying “foul.”
“I think people want more options, not less options. And this would be a direct hit politically on conservative talk radio in particular, which is what most people go to AM radio to listen to,” said Sean Hannity on Fox News. “It’s not complicated to put in a radio system that allows you to have AM FM, Sirius XM, or the ability to plug in your own music from your own phone “And I think people want more options, not less options. So is there a political component to it? Certainly feels like it.”
Hannity, whose show is broadcast on over 700 AM and FM radio stations, also noted that the car manufacturers are devaluing the AM stations.
“People paid a lot of money for those signals, and they pay that money to, you know, the federal government [that] gives out these licenses. What’s the point if they’re going to take away a significant percentage of the population’s ability to even get the station they would listen to the most while they’re driving?” Hannity said.
The National Association of Broadcasters says 82 million Americans tune into AM radio every month, the majority of broadcasts consisting of news, talk radio, and sports.
In Alaska, AM radio is woven into the fabric of emergency response, capable of reaching remote areas and relaying urgent messages about floods, fires, or earthquakes. This function of AM radio is part of the nation’s Emergency Alert system; Americans rely on it for timely, crucial information.
For instance, one AM radio station in Glennallen — KCAM — can reach all the way to the Canadian border. With a 200-foot section of the Glenn Highway flooded this week at Moose Creek in the Cooper River Valley, being able to reach drivers with that information is possibly lifesaving, and cell phones are not always reliable.
In Alaska, AM radios are far more practical than electric vehicles.
Seven former FEMA administrators wrote a letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, emphasizing the public safety necessity of maintaining AM radio in vehicles. A rising tide of policymakers are championing the cause of AM radio, urging automakers to reconsider their stance and underlining its critical role during extreme weather events and natural disasters.
FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington voiced his support, asserting that the Commission “should make clear the vital importance of AM radio.”
“Implementing cost cutting measures at the expense of our nation’s emergency communications abilities is reckless and will have dire consequences for Americans that rely on AM radio in times of crisis,” NAB President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt said.
So now it’s just FM/Feeble Minded?
Feebleminded are those who can’t download any among a plethora of available apps to their connected devices. Apps that allow access to any conservative radio program or podcast imaginable.
Then again: Why be a content, constructive conservative when being a crank, conspiracy theory spewing conservative makes you so misanthropic?
Downloading is great if you have a signal. And downloading is great if you don’t mind listening to old information that is not live in real time. AM is important to the emergency broadcast system. Some don’t want to download and want to just turn a dial to AM. Why destroy options? Having options to make different choices in life is what makes us free from being slaves to corporate masters. Why only have one technocratic option for information via internet? What is wrong with the freedom of options and choices? Keep AM in cars. No need to get rid of options that give people a choice. Only tyrannical societies want options eliminated.
Does that freedom to choose posture of yours obtain regarding women’s freedom to reproductive autonomy?
Let me answer on your hypocritical behalf: NO.
Wasn’t reproductive autonomy what a boy and a girl did in the back seat of an auto.. back in the day when AM radio was a thing?
Sophie, please explain to us how the abortion of a fetus is somehow a part of the reproduction process. I know of no species that reproduces via the killing of its own incipient offspring.
It doesn’t extend to infanticide.
Or, Sophie, those that do not own devices that can download said apps.
There ARE those of us out there, you know, but yet you assume otherwise.
That said, AM radio far outreaches the barriers of FM radio, albeit with a far less quality of sound amplification and enrichment compared to FM.
Apparently, you engage within the hateful technologist belief system, that those not as technologically subservient as yourself are somehow lesser than yourself.
Also, and you can confirm this unto your heart’s desire, should you wish to do so, AM radio is more protected and sustainable against proacted attacks against its base network, due unto its old school mechanism, just as CB and HAM radio operators partake of.
Enjoy your seemed and proverbial technological advantage, Sophie, as it shall only last as long as when your supposedly technological advantage lasts, and when it is gone, you shall have nothing to fall back on, which unto one as myself, is a good thing, as your technology, which you so heavily rely upon, shall not help you within the future, and you shall be left upon the survival of your own devices, of which you have none.
Anyone advocating on behalf of the potentially dispossessed, those complaining about being dispossessed, or those accusing FM listeners of being “feebleminded” HERE — on MRAK — are using devices CONNECTED TO THE INTERNET. Therefore, they have capacity to communicate their knowledge to others so they can also connect to conservative programming.
In case you wonder: this describes YOU, dear.
Your precis is as weak as water dripping from a leaky faucet.
Ah, Sophie.
Do you also not advocate upon behalf of ‘your’ potentially dispossessed individuals of procreation?
You certainly seem to do so.
But yet you denigrate others that advocate within another direction.
So, tell me, Sophie.
Are you an advocate of the potentially dispossessed individuals, or are you not?
If so, that makes you a hypocrite.
If not, that makes you a liar.
Which is it?
It is impressive the list of things big business and government are removing from our choices under the guise of the removed items being unnecessary.
We used to be a free country.
So you are for the Government mandating what private industry does? Doesn’t seem to free to me.
It is amusing, RINO, how all your pro-establishment quislings and bootlickers suddenly became Adam Smith in defense of so-called “private industry” when those industries act hand-in-glove with the government and the power establishment to further reduce our freedoms. And that is exactly what fascism fundamentally is: (big) business working together with government to advance the cause of both. And that is exactly the system under which we live today.
There isn’t much that is private about the auto industry. Remember we bailed them out with taxpayer money a few years ago.
Didn’t read the bit about the emergency broadcast system, did you?
Wow! Those broadcasts go out over the phone now. That happened during Trump’s administration.
Really resistant to the 21st century, aren’t you?
The government mandated that the radios be put in back in the ’50s or early ’60 for an early warning system for nuclear attacks. You could do a delete option Radios back then had a little symbol on the dial to tell you where to tune to in any sort of emergence. CONELRAD was the name of one of the systems.
In a way it’s genius. Can’t compete? Eliminate how the competition can get the message out.
Im frankly surprised they didn’t do it earlier. 15 years ago this would have really hurt.
Ford gives the game away by eliminating AM in gas powered cars. Saying the quiet part out loud.
Easy workaround for most. If you have a modern cellphone, download your stations app and listen from it.
Ideal? No. But it is a viable option for most people.
First went the 5 gallon flush, and plunger manufacturers rejoiced.
Then went incandescent bulbs, banned because the consumer wasn’t making the ‘right choices’.
Now the left is pimping EVs, for whom the elimination of AM radio is a happy accident.
They gaslight us and pay their media shills to tell us how ‘popular’ electric cars are – never mind that they are banning the alternatives in many larger cities. (IE, London – over 10 million residents.)
Just wait until they get around to eliminating cash and you are forced to give away your personal information with every purchase. This is also happening in larger cities in Europe, and don’t think for a second that they aren’t trying to do the same here.
The Stone Age did not end for lack of stone…
Nice troll – Shallow false equivalency, implying that these products simply became outdated and consumers moved on. The government outright banned manufacture and they disappeared from shelves overnight despite huge volumes being sold.
GE needed a government ban to guarantee competitors couldn’t continue selling/importing the popular and cheaper incandescents while they flogged compact fluorescents at 20x the cost.
It’s ok though; when the right wing finally learns to use government power to ban your consumer preferences out of sheer spite, don’t cry about it and scream ‘fascist!’ – just reflect on exactly where we learned it from.
Not to worry.
.
Next Stone Age may be only one world war away.
Cash no more! OMG! Was there some kind of global pandemic of which I was unaware?
The right wing is going to ban consumer preferences? Why not? They already ban women controlling their own bodies. They ban books. They ban parents taking care of their children’s medical needs. All the while, they support the manufacture and sale of AR15 and AR15-style weapons across this country so white supremacists/nazis, and hate-filled, twisted individuals can indiscriminately mow down schoolchildren, innocents and the police who try to stop the carnage DAILY .
So it’s ok for you to kill kids by abortion but it’s murder only if it’s done with a firearm? Lets add the numbers of kids killed by abortion and compare them to the numbers of kids killed in shootings. Amazing how many more are aborted, isn’t it?
The scary part is that you probably actually believe the crap that falls off your ignorant fingers.
Hannity is broadcast over 650 AM LOL
I once worked for a company that went ahead and paid the extra for an AM only radio in our work truck.
I wasn’t a fan of Amplitude Modulation at the time, but it was actually awesome when in the mountains and the world wasn’t practially solid with towers…
Re: “saying that the radios create electromagnetic interference with the electric-powered engines.”
AM Radio interferes with the brainwashing and dumbing down of children, adults, and especially voters by government employees and Soros $$$.
Marlin Savage, good observation!
Luckily I sold all my Ford stock when I realized they had gone woke. Especially when they announced they were planning on ending production of ICE Ford 150’s. Today I read that George Soros has shorted Ford stock. He loves woke but doesn’t want to put his money in woke stocks ha ha.
He also sold every one of his shares in Tesla, got a theory on that?
Fascinating article Suzanne. I had no idea this was going on. Yet another reason to not buy a new car. They are vastly overpriced, and the new cars spy on their owners- sending data collected back to the car manufacturer. One friend bought a Ford pickup that is costing him almost $1,000 per month in payments. Insanity.
I’ll also share that NPR, National Public Radio, has gotten so revoltingly bad it is unlistenable. In the old days they at least had decent, but biased news. Now the programming is devoid of quality news, badly biased, and filled with weird “bumper” music between segments. That, and the endless commercials- when they like to pretend that they don’t have commercials- makes it even worse.
Los Anchorage offers some six or seven AM stations; sports/talk format (at least 2), news/talk (3), and I don’t listen to those on the right end of the dial. Have trouble reaching them in this truck. LOL
All these choices would not exist if they were not in demand and not making money for their owners. This is just more bovine scat from all those progressives who know so much more than the plebeian majority. However, WE know how to wield pitchforks, shovels, and scythes!! God will execute judgement on those
I have 2 over 10 year old Fords in my driveway. They’ve both been pretty good and I’ll drive them till it’s no longer economic to do so. At that time they will NOT be replaced with Fords. Divesting myself of any affiliation with all companies that go woke. Period.
Opportunity for radio manufacturers to build special lines of radios just for these vehicles. Work around this attempt at stifling speech.
The reason for eliminating them is they cause interference with the electric vehicles?
Any electrical engineering student worth their weight in spit could design shields and filters to make that a non-issue.
I think this is an outright lie. I can’t imagine the physics that would cause that interference, and I can solve I=E/R equations within reason.
The only good thing here is that the average age of a car in the US is almost 20 years, so it is going to be a very long time before the communists get us to give up our old cars.
Sorry to disagree Art, but we’ve already seen it.
We’ll just have ‘Cash for Clunkers II’.
The next WEF serpent-in-chief will simply use our own tax dollars to bribe car owners to scrap their gas vehicles prematurely rather than sell them to lower-income individuals.
Got that? Hand out federal government checks to encourage individuals to destroy their own assets – and we all know how people respond to incentives.
Cash for Clunkers is the only evidence needed that socialists don’t actually give a toss about actual ‘conservation’ and their green talk is just window dressing to fool the activists. Young, dumb and all that.
They didn’t actually get many cars other than in sh*tholes like California. I can’t imagine the circumstance under which I’d part with my MB CLS 550.
Must be something about FM that does not work with talk shows, maybe need a technological breakthrough?
More like there is something about talk radio that doesn’t work with the feeble-minded people who listen to NPR.
Jesse Kelly. Unfiltered and Unapologetic.
Our grandparents allowed
the replacement changes when cassettes replaced vinyls or t.v replaced radio without filing complaint despite a personal preference for the other. If they were here, they’d make the adaptable changes
or always drive a car
with am radio
.
Apparently, it’s not the radios interfering with the electric cars, but the electric cars interfering with AM radio, causing “unwanted noises, static and poor reception,” I’m reading.
AM radios are just receivers; don’t transmit any signals to interfere with anything.
Anything they can do to destroy America right now, the globalists are doing, including the push to ban fossil fuels and gasoline powered cars.
Don’t panic they still have Blue Tooth and its easy to connect to your phone. Right?
Interesting read. While I abhor any disturbing extremism on the accessible radio frequencies, I do have to credit whatever was available on the radio during the commute homeward now and again after a tiring shift at work. And, as KFQD used to advertise songs to soothe the suffering secretary, listening to some of the classical music stations might possibly impair vigilance for things that I might bump into in the dark, or the Chugiak High School Exit. On the other hand, I’m not likely to be driving a BMW. The little Blizzard White hybrid Prius has everything necessary: shovel, blanket, water, kitty litter, heat, a/c (!) and Bluetooth.
And you seem to be dumb enough to believe that your Bluetooth will work if the battery in your Prius is dead.
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