[www.msn.com]

America’s love affair between the automobile and AM radio — a century-long romance that provided the soundtrack for lovers’ lanes, kept the lonely company with ballgames and chat shows, sparked family singalongs and defined road trips — is on the verge of collapse, a victim of galloping technological change and swiftly shifting consumer tastes.

The breakup is entirely one-sided, a move by major automakers to eliminate AM radios from new vehicles despite protests from station owners, listeners, first-responders and politicians from both major parties.

Automakers, such as BMW, Volkswagen, Mazda and Tesla, are removing AM radios from new electric vehicles because electric engines can interfere with the sound of AM stations. And Ford, one of the nation’s top-three auto sellers, is taking a bigger step, eliminating AM from all of its vehicles, electric or gas-operated.

Some station owners and advertisers contend that losing access to the car dashboard will indeed be a death blow to many of the nation’s 4,185 AM stations — the possible demise of a core element of the nation’s delivery system for news, political talk (especially on the right), coverage of weather emergencies and foreign language programming.

Things are changing...

Vaguely recall tuning in an AM station in hunt for a football game about two years ago.

I don't even know when the last time I listened to AM radio was. Maybe 20 years ago? While I feel like there should be an option for it still available, I don't think it needs to be standard.

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C(-)ris
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Local MLB team games are on AM. I think I can stream the audio. If so, there’s nothing on that band I’d miss.

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Embarassing myself on the Internet since 1978.

I have two AM stations that I tune into. They’re broadcast from NY. I’ve been able to receive their broadcasts as far south as North Carolina.

It’s nice having those stations from home available to me when I’m so far away.

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I remember maybe a decade ago (?) there was some sort of advancement planned on AM radio (or on the AM band). IIRC, it was supposed to rival FM in quality and was also in stereo. I was sort-of in the market for a receiver (not a car one) at the time and looked around to see if I could find a brand that was going to support it, just to sort-of future-proof my purchase. Nada.

Don't even remember what it was called. Obviously didn't catch on. Seems like it might be worth reclaiming that broadcast bandwidth and doing something more useful with it.

Party tricks on cloudy nights

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Hurts like a bastid...

I listen to an AM news/traffic/weather station when FM reception of it's simulcast sister station is on the fritz.

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I am that Masked Man.

All you can do, is all you can do.

There’s trouble — it's time to play the sound of my people.

Your boos mean nothing to me, I've seen what you cheer for.

Insisting on your rights without acknowledging your responsibilities isn’t freedom, it’s adolescence.

I've been to the edge of the map, and there be monsters.

We are a government of laws, not men.

Everybody counts or nobody counts.

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

....I....AM.....what I.....AM....

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_____________________________________

I reject your reality and substitute my own!

Quote
RAMd®d
I listen to an AM news/traffic/weather station when FM reception of it's simulcast sister station is on the fritz.

Same here. Station in the area has FM transmissions to cover the north and central areas of the valley, but often need to switch to their AM station. In one case it is a particular stretch of road where the FM signal breaks up, and this is less than 10-12 miles from their antenna.

Hi everyone,

One of my primary stations is 1010wins and a couple of other news stations. Until recently, they were only available on AM or, when reliable, streaming. 1010wins is now on FM. It only took decades for this to happen. I never did understand why news stations were only on AM. Now that 1010wins is on FM, I almost never switch to anything on the AM side of my radio.

'course, I tend not to listen to FM radio either. Very few stations play my favorite genres. For years, I had to rely on an ipod for music. Fortunately, with carplay, streaming and unlimited data, finding my favorite bands, as well as new music in my favorite genres is a non-issue.

The world has changed quite a bit over the decades.

Robert

Traffic on the threes. That's it. I'll live.

Good riddance. A.M. radio in my area is filled with right wing whack jobs.

Quote
jonny
Good riddance. A.M. radio in my area is filled with right wing whack jobs.

Goodby Larry Elder and ilk!

There was a time when radios came equipped with SW bands. AM to follow in the footsteps of short wave radio.

When I was about 9 years old, we moved from Chicago to Pittsburgh. WLS was my favorite station. I listened to it on a cheapo radio.

I missed it in PIttsburgh, but one night I was tuning thru stations on the cheapo radio and then bam! WLS was playing!

I was stunned and told my dad. He said, "Yeah, that can happen with AM radio when the atmospheric conditions are right."

I turn it on every once in a while. Made out with a zillion girls to a weak WLS signal in the late 1970s.

Now the wacko talk radio will start buying up FM stations. They rake in too much money to go off the air.

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“No persons are more frequently wrong, than those who will not admit they are wrong.” -- François de La Rochefoucauld

"Those who cannot accept the past are condemned to revise it." -- Geo. Mathias

The German word for contraceptive is “Schwangerschaftsverhütungsmittel”. By the time you finished saying that, it’s too late

I've made over 30 trips over the pass to the Seattle area for medical reasons in the last year. AM radio is where traffic alerts are available. I don't mind AM going away but I need those alerts.

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Ukulele music I couldn't find anywhere else.
[colquhoun.info]

Quote
Ombligo
Now the wacko talk radio will start buying up FM stations. They rake in too much money to go off the air.

The wackos are already on FM. You never heard of Clear Channel?? (a.k.a. "iHeartMedia") Thanks to deregulation, they own or control the content of nearly every radio station in the country. Whatever you hear in Podunck, it's under the direction of the same people who program the stations in Manhattan. They're broadcasting whatever they think the locals will buy, FM or AM. Same shtick.

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Quote
Robert M
Hi everyone,

One of my primary stations is 1010wins and a couple of other news stations. Until recently, they were only available on AM or, when reliable, streaming. 1010wins is now on FM. It only took decades for this to happen. I never did understand why news stations were only on AM. Now that 1010wins is on FM, I almost never switch to anything on the AM side of my radio.

'course, I tend not to listen to FM radio either. Very few stations play my favorite genres. For years, I had to rely on an ipod for music. Fortunately, with carplay, streaming and unlimited data, finding my favorite bands, as well as new music in my favorite genres is a non-issue.

The world has changed quite a bit over the decades.

Robert

The only argument that seems to be relevant is that AM radio has a much larger range and can get into areas where FM cannot. Why is news on AM? Because talk lends itself better to poor quality audio, you really wouldn't want to listen to songs on AM, they sound horrible.

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C(-)ris
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I just remembered...

Today, when out and about, I noticed my News/Weather station was coming it pretty weak and almost completed disappeared now and then, in areas were reception was always good.

Switching to the simulcast AM freq it sounded fine.

On a lark, I called the studio, and found out one of the antennas was down for routine maintanence, hence the impaired reception.

In the house, the FM reception is fine, but I'm not moving so I don't know if they're done.

It started this morning, so I imagine if it's not done yet, it will be by tonight.



Why is news on AM? Because talk lends itself better to poor quality audio, you really wouldn't want to listen to songs on AM, they sound horrible.


Tell us something we don't know.

I'd hazard a guess those of us here who aren't Amish or the like spent more that a few decades listening to AM in the car, since there was no FM.

Maybe not a lot, but more than a few of us remember waiting for the car radio to warm up.

Because tubes needed a high plate voltage, the old car radios had vibrator in a tin can, then needed replacing from time to time.

These were almost a consumable item, as the contacts got pitted, eroded, or burned, but the can was plug n play.

The push-pull station preset buttons were quite the advancement.

Some 'police calls' (OPD in my area) used to be on the low (?) end for the AM dial.

AM was a noisy band, subject to all sort of RFI but it was long range, and the only game in town for very long time.

I'll miss it when it's gone even though as I say, it gets very little use from me.

---

I am that Masked Man.

All you can do, is all you can do.

There’s trouble — it's time to play the sound of my people.

Your boos mean nothing to me, I've seen what you cheer for.

Insisting on your rights without acknowledging your responsibilities isn’t freedom, it’s adolescence.

I've been to the edge of the map, and there be monsters.

We are a government of laws, not men.

Everybody counts or nobody counts.

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

Quote
pdq
I remember maybe a decade ago (?) there was some sort of advancement planned on AM radio (or on the AM band). IIRC, it was supposed to rival FM in quality and was also in stereo. I was sort-of in the market for a receiver (not a car one) at the time and looked around to see if I could find a brand that was going to support it, just to sort-of future-proof my purchase. Nada.

Don't even remember what it was called. Obviously didn't catch on. Seems like it might be worth reclaiming that broadcast bandwidth and doing something more useful with it.

"HD Radio"- (In-band-on-channel-digital)-- supposedly quality was not going to be different between AM and FM because it would be the same digital signal being carried.
(yes I know it drove the purists nuts because "not really HD")

I loved my Boston Acoustics radio with digital reception that I had at my old job-- unfortunately no place for it in my life the last 5 years.

I listen incessantly to Bloomberg radio on 1130 AM in the car in the NYC area. The signal travels for about 100 miles at night.

AM radio was on its deathbed many years ago.

Then along came the balding corpulent fellow.

Radio stations who carried him and his fellow travelers made lots of Dead Benjamins.

People whined and complained about this.

Air America tried to compete, but Al Franken and Rachael Maddow went nowhere, just like the show.

It is what it is...

Quote
freeradical

Air America tried to compete, but Al Franken and Rachael Maddow went nowhere...

Actually, Al Franken went to the US Senate, and Rachel Maddow has been pretty successful herself.

FM & AM

[en.wikipedia.org]

The album incorporates (and mocks) the "clean cut" act Carlin performed on The Ed Sullivan Show on its "AM" side (in monaural), while featuring the counterculture material he was becoming known for on its "FM" side (in stereo with Carlin on the left channel and the audience on the right). Carlin's official website refers to the album as a sort of comedy concept album and says that it "marked Carlin's metamorphosis from straight-laced to hippie, intentionally embracing the growing counterculture."

FM & AM won the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album.

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& PM. too.

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Hurts like a bastid...

Once again, you make people with differing opinions feel so welcome here. You guys just can't help yourselves. Do you have any self-control?

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Bryan
______________________________________________________
Mac Studio 2022
MacBook Pro 14 inch 2021
iPhone 14 Pro
Location: Cincinnati

This started off as a normal thread but went off the rails. Keep your political banter on the correct side please.

What becomes of Travelers' Information Stations?

"Governmental entities, as well as park districts and authorities, may be eligible to operate a Travelers' Information Station (TIS, also called Highway Advisory Radio) for the purpose of disseminating information by broadcast radio to travelers. A license is required before construction of, or operation of, a Travelers' Information Station. This service, which was created in 1977...

Travelers' Information Stations operate in the AM Broadcast Band (530 kHz - 1700 kHz) and are limited to a 10 watt transmitter output power, an antenna height no greater than 15 meters (49.2 feet), and a coverage radius of 3 km. These stations may not transmit commercial information.
This service is not available to individuals or groups, but only to governmental entities and park districts."