I have a hard time believing that ¼ of all Americans actively listen to AM broadcasts.
That being said, it's indispensable for emergency transmissions, and honestly not that complex a component to enable in modern radio systems.
I grew up with a dad who listened to Rush Limbaugh or some conservative jockey (Mike Savage was quite bonkers, still cannot believe he got hired by MSNBC for about 2 weeks before he said some insane racist shit and got canned) on AM anytime I was ever in the car with him.
He's now a QAnon nut.
I absolutely believe 25% of America listens to AM radio, all the christo fascists and qanoners and magatards on their 3 hour daily commute while they are angry that their kids or ex wives don't talk to them anymore.
Oh fuck I forgot about that troglodyte. My parents were Limbaugh losers back in the day. Now they're anti-vaxxers.
He’s now a QAnon nut.
I was just thinking that I hadn't heard much about Qanon lately, that maybe it had been fading out. No?
Coincidentally, Q posts dried up when John McAfee died. I wonder why that is
I had forgotten about Savage Nation until you mentioned that lunatic. He was crazy before crazy was cool.
I know that back in the early 00s I was traveling cross country and was surprised when I reached the prairies and realized there were way more AM than FM stations, but it's because AM travels much farther even though the fidelity is lower.
even though the fidelity is lower.
That's the trade off you make with AM. With just about all wireless transmission techs, really. There seems to be an inverse relationship between range and bandwidth. If you want one, you sacrifice the other. Compared to FM, AM radio leans more towards max range, so the audio quality isn't quite as good, but it goes for miles.
And thats how you get all the people living in rural America who listen to AM nonsense talk radio.
Its also much, much cheaper in general to start your own AM talk show because of the relatively lower costs compared to FM broadcasting, so any crazy angry idiot can do it.
A lot of EV auto makers have been arguing that the frequencies that some of the electrics in the cars run at interfere with AM radio reception.
Not sure if that's a legitimate argument or they just don't want to pay for extra shielding to block out the noise.
Sounds like they are admitting that their cars violate FCC rules about interferance.
If only there were some way to selectively place an antenna.
A lot of sports radio, npr, and conservative radio stations are on AM. I listen to two of those three, though most the stations I listen to have an app or streaming option I use more often then actual radio.
Didn't realize like 10% of NPR stations were still am.
I have never encountered an AM NPR station. Where do they have those?
Found this list, and they're surprisingly spread out across the county.
(There's 57 of them on the list for anyone that doesn't feel like clicking)
AM is used for traffic advisory and weather conditions by state dots. A car without an AM radio cannot receive those safety critical broadcasts. An AM radio should be required equipment on every vehicle.
AM radios are also incredibly cheap and simple. It's just one more source for a digital stereo system connected to a fairly simple circuit. I doubt this costs more than $5 per car to implement.
Oh my god, we're gonna have to increase the cost of cars and trucks by at least 8000 dollars to cover this egregious and unfair regulation! - Automotive CEO.
Yeah that sounds important
The argument for AM appears to be: the vast majority of adults will receive an emergency broadcast through their cellphone, but what happens if some event has already occurred which disabled large portions of the cellular network (which itself is an obvious target to create havoc)?
I'm fine with using AM as a redundant system for alerts.
Maybe make it more useful though for people in the car? I don't need an AM button I'm never going to touch. Instead have it monitor whatever the emergency broadcast frequencies are automatically, and put something on screen when there is an alert. That would make it a useful "modern" feature as opposed to appearing as a legacy holdover.
I haven't been following the situation, but it sounds like we haven't even really managed to get terrestrial digital broadcast radio functioning all that well for audio. Things have kinda fragmented into three separate standards (HD Radio in the US, and Digital Audio Broadcasting and Digital Radio Mondiale in Europe).
I think that if it's going to reach the point of mandating inclusion of newer radios, it might be preferable to sit everyone down and come up with some kind of broadly-acceptable single standard before we start baking it into legislation.
Also, if we're gonna have a way of talking to the car's computer remotely, for displaying alerts or whatnot, I'd rather that the protocol be cryptographically-secured from the get-go and that the modules be hardened as best we can. I don't really want to deal with little Jimmy with a $10 USB radio and a laptop dicking up autos at scale.
I disabled the emergency alerts on my phone because my provincial govt was using it like their personal Twitter account, and I can't stand listening to the radio. I guess I'm going to find out when the tsunami just rolls over me.
but what happens if some event has already occurred which disabled large portions of the cellular network
As someone who has worked as a technician in both broadcast and cellular, I can absolutely confirm that cellular networks are a lot more fragile than any type of traditional broadcast, and that AM is much more robust than any other form of broadcast.
The transmitters are so much more simple devices, and are much easier to repair with limited resources than FM or television, should the need arise.
Requiring the installation of analog AM radios in automobiles is an unnecessary action that would impact EV range, efficiency and affordability (says the lobbyist)
Oh no the vehicle when driving at speed now uses 10001 watts with radio on instead of 10000 watts. Efficiency and range is ruined.
Also the $60k luxury vehicle is now unaffordable when a $1 am receiver is added in the infotainment
The problem isn't the energy use nor the cost of the am radio, it's the amount of shielding and other changes that need to be made so the motor and inverter don't interfere with the am signal. On my bolt there's an am radio, there's some 'stations' that I can hear the actual sound of the motor.
Lol. "Proponents claim it will reduce electric vehicle range". What a fucking joke.
Here's the thing about AM. Especially during any disaster. Damned near everything can get knocked out, power wise within 50 miles of you. At that point, you have no cell service, no data, and no FM radio. But AM? AM operates at a lower/longer frequency band. It can reach over double what FM can, and much further still, at night when it's signal can actually reflect off the ionosphere. Hundreds of miles.
So if shit ever REALLY goes down, AM radio is the most usable form of spreading information across the country. Bombs, freak accidents, mad scientist doomsday device, war, floods, tornados, etc. Anything that knocks a city out on power, AM will give you that information you'll need about where to go and what to look out for.
The right-wing hate talk radio protection act.
If they oppose it then I'm generally for it, sounds like AM Radio is used to broadcast safety messages on some roads in the USA so it makes sense. Plus, Radios are run of the mill common so it's not like it's any sort of barrier to entry.
AM's lack of fidelity allows it to have increased range, so it's especially important for emergency situations.
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