Goodbye to AM radio?

[Fragile Bird]

I can’t remember the last time I listened to AM radio, I’ve only listened to FM stations for the past few decades. There are still over 4,000 AM stations in the US, though, so somebody is listening. Are you?

Several major car companies have announced that their new cars will no longer have AM receivers. BMW, Porsche, Volkswagen, Volvo, Tesla and Mazda say electric engines interfere with the frequency. Ford has announced they will phase out AM radio from most of their new cars, even internal combustion ones. Ten companies, including Honda and Toyota, say they have no plans to discontinue AM radio “for now”.

The radio industry says this will be a death blow to AM radio, and hurt rural America and emergency broadcasts people rely on.

Do you still listen to AM radio? Will it be missed if it’s gone?

[Jaxom 1974]

The only time I listen to the satellite radio is when I'm in the car with my wife, who doesn't like AM overly much. I mostly listen to sports talk and baseball games, but I listen. A number of shows/personalities I used to listen to are now gone, but I'm also not fully in the Chicago market either. I haven't been a regular FM listener for nearly 25 years...

[Spockydog]

Waiting for Scot to appear praising the benefits of the new fangled Wireless Telegraph.

 

Edited May 15 by Spockydog

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

11 minutes ago, Spockydog said:

Waiting for Scot to appear praising the benefits of the new fangled Wireless Telegraph.

 

Hey… just because I don’t like eReaders doesn’t mean I’m a complete luddite.  I just like my reading materials sans batteries or power cords.

[Ran]

54 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

Are you?

There are a handful of AM radio stations left in Sweden, I think, and no, never listen to them. Sveriges Radio, the national radio broadcaster, stopped sending on AM channels back in 2010.

I was thinking the other day -- I can't recall why I was thinking it -- that sports radio doesn't seem to ever have been a thing in Sweden.

Edited May 15 by Ran

[Mlle. Zabzie]

I wouldn't miss it.  But, to be fair, I live in a place that is basically the antithesis of "rural America."

1010 WINS used to be something you'd hear a lot in cabs, but honestly haven't recently.

[IheartIheartTesla]

Cool, another reason for conservatives to hate EVs; although I'm sure they'll get over it since this is what the free market desires

[Wilbur]

AM had all kinds of interesting entertainment options in the days before the internet.

Depending on what local or distant lunatic had access to a broadcast set and the atmospheric conditions, you could tune in content ranging from Escape and other similar radio plays to religious stuff to Bluegrass to French language news to Mexican Radio.

I am not sure that the entertainment portion of AM will be missed, as no one needs to schedule their bath time to coincide with the broadcast of tonight's episode of The Lone Ranger.  And my guess is that AM radio today is just a bunch of worthless talk radio.

On the other hand, as Fragile Bird reminds us, a lot of emergency signals won't be available in cars.  My phone has an app that can tune in local AM radio, though, so there are work-arounds for the truly dedicated.

[Jaxom 1974]

You wouldn't have podcasts if not for Uncle Milt and AM radio...

[Fragile Bird]

I asked a number of my friends if they listened to AM radio and they pretty well said no, except….when in heavy traffic they turn on the AM “all-news and traffic every ten minutes” station. And they pointed out they all have cell phones and there are radio apps that will tune in to AM radio if they need it.

[Argonath Diver]

I still listen to an AM broadcast station for baseball games sometimes, because the sport lends itself quite well to a radio broadcast. 

That said, I'm damning the tech, as I only ever listen to the station through their online stream, not actual AM radio tech.

[Tears of Lys]

Yeah.  The only time I'll listen is when I need the weather and don't want to be futzing with my phone when I'm supposed to be driving.

[Martell Spy]

I used to, but now no, not really. AM was where you'd go for conservative talk radio. And it's been pretty deranged for many years now so I had to quit. AM 570 and 770 I think were the 2 big stations here in Seattle. Art Bell was on there!

I've often been a big radio listener though. And I've been listening a ton since the pandemic since I'm work from home. I use an actual radio, I got one of those USB powered ones and plug into my work laptop. I need my hands and eyes for work so it works well at passing the day.

I listen to KIRO mainly. It's talk radio during the day and the hosts aren't crazy. I think technically they do broadcast on AM so you could say I am listening to AM, but I always use FM. (I do  have the KIRO app for my phone and have used it in the past, but I just find it easier to flip the radio on, plus I can tune to music randomly)

Edited July 28 by Martell Spy

[Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II]

What’s a radio ?  

[Lord of Oop North]

I don't much. But I think the retired population of boomers is keeping it afloat. My in-laws (retired) listen to the dinosaurs on CFRB 1010 literally from when they wake up to go to bed.

[Fragile Bird]

41 minutes ago, Lord of Oop North said:

I don't much. But I think the retired population of boomers is keeping it afloat. My in-laws (retired) listen to the dinosaurs on CFRB 1010 literally from when they wake up to go to bed.

Omg, CFRB! We had a radio in the kitchen when I was growing up and it was always tuned to CFRB. I should listen to it just to see how it’s changed or not changed in the intervening decades. Or to see if I’ve turned into a dinosaur yet!

[Zorral]

Unlike MZ I listen to our local radio a lot. For one thing WNYC's coverage of local news, weather, politics and elections, and art and events is far better than most outlets.  Also still like the Latin pop music stations, and the jazz programs on WBGO and WKCR.

I can listen streaming too, of course, and often do.

 

[Freshwater Spartan]

Its good for baseball and American football games, both of which have less fluid gameplay compared to soccer or hockey.  Basketball makes for an ok listening experience due to the rapid scoring changes. Saturday nights in much of the U.S you can still listen to the Grand Old Oprey on 630 am straight from Nashville. Sometimes I'll do some late night AM dxing  to see what I can pick up but outside of some random games there is not much on the bandwidth but lots of right wing cuckoo talk.

The FCC should probably restrict licensing to two dozen or so nation wide and require them to crank up the wattage 24/7.

Most people don't realize that at night with a decent receiver or if you are in your car it possible to pickup stations hundreds of miles away due to most stations being required to power down during the night. Meanwhile the big stations increase wattage. Signals don't bounce as well during the daytime in general. So big stations power down during the day to make room for more stations but if nobody is listening I say lose the smaller stations.

I did hear some car manufacturers backed off of losing AM radio for now.

[Fragile Bird]

“Lots of right wing cuckoo talk”, lol.

I remember years ago going to my brother’s bedroom late at night and hearing him listen to US talk radio (we live in Toronto, in Canada). He’d say “there’s this guy called Rush Limbaugh” and say, “and I like to listen to the crazies who call in from across the USA”.

There was someone else as well, not sure if it was Alex Jones or someone else.

[LongRider]

KFRC the Big 610, San Franciso, back when it played Top 40, before AM went over to news, talk shows and sports.  l listen to FM radio now, but only in the car.  While I don't miss AM, it would be too bad if it died out.