Electric Vehicles Need AM Radio, Former Emergency Officials Argue

[question everything]

The lack of AM radio in some new electric vehicles could cut off drivers from important safety alerts broadcast over the medium, warned a group of former emergency officials in a letter Sunday.

Auto makers such as Ford Motor Co. and Tesla Inc. have dropped AM radio from newer EV models. Car companies say the motors on such vehicles generate electromagnetic frequencies on the same wavelength as AM radio signals, creating buzzing and signal fading from the interference.

The government should seek assurances that auto makers will maintain AM radio in cars, said seven former Federal Emergency Management Agency administrators in a letter Sunday to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and some congressional committees that was viewed by The Wall Street Journal. The issue, the former officials say, is that AM radio serves as a linchpin of the infrastructure behind the federal National Public Warning System, which provides emergency-alert and warning information from FEMA to the public during natural disasters and extreme weather events.

(snip)

More than 75 radio stations, most of which operate on the AM band and cover at least 90% of the U.S. population, are equipped with backup communications equipment and generators that allow them to continue broadcasting information to the public during and after an emergency, FEMA said.

More..

https://archive.is/9WD2H

[live love laugh]

10. Why?

[rickford66]

2. I remember the static with bad plug wires.

Back in 1966 I had a 52 Ford Flathead. It ran great but if you lifted the hood at night, it looked like Fourth of July. I bought it for $15 and sold it a year later for $25. Those were the days.

[Takket]

3. Sending alerts to peoples phones is more practical

A lot more people have smart phones for their information than use AM radio these days. I don’t think it’s wise to make electric cars even more expensive for this ability.

And you can use FM for alerts as well in a national emergency. And people can tune to AM bands right on their phones in the car if need be or when they get home.

[Lancero]

4. So, why can't they use FM Radio for this? Hardly a new bit of tech...

It's also less susceptible to interference, which you'd think would be attractive during natural disasters and extreme weather events - Certainly don't want the message you're transmitting to turn into a garbled mess by the time someone hears it.

Really sounds like someone doesn't want to modernize their infrastructure. Which, rather amusingly, wouldn't be modern at all - FM only came into use in 1948, compared to 1905 for AM.

Hell, you'd think that they'd want those important messages out on FM, instead of AM, since it's also the more popular format by a wide margin.

https://www.insideradio.com/who-s-listening-am-radio-by-the-numbers/article_a65caa4a-54b6-11e7-b58d-df9c58fd262d.html

[ret5hd]

5. AM can travel farther.

Might mean something if a local station was knocked out but you could still get a neighboring station.

When I was a kid I could pick up WLS (Chicago) from over 700 miles away.

[dsc]

6. yep that

When I lived in MS, I could get a station from Cleveland Ohio at night. I listened to the election results on it back in 96 so I could find out who won Ohio elections. There were a couple stations in Canada, just across from Detroit that could reach vast amounts of the continental US.

[Lancero]

7. It means you're getting news from hundred of miles away, when you need local news.

Beneficial in a nationwide disaster sure, but otherwise? Hopefully that football game a few hundred miles of way is somehow relevant to you in whatever emergency situation you find yourself in.

Some nationwide broadcasts do have sections cutout to allow local stations to add in their own news within the broadcast, but if that local station is knocked out then this won't happen.

[ret5hd]

9. I didn't say you HAD to choose the farthest...

station you could receive…merely that you could, if needed, receive from that distance.

[Brother Buzz]

11. Not necessarily father, either. I don't know how, but AM signals can fill mountain valleys where

NO FM signals reach. Zero. zip. zilch. nada.

Them 50,000 flame thrower AM signals were wicked cool; after the sun dropped and that magical bounce signal kicked in, I could dial in LA Dodger broadcasts (Vin Scully, Baby!) in northern California.

[Deuxcents]

8. This last hurricane, Ian, knocked out all our communications

For many days. I would sit in my car for 15 minute intervals just to get some local information as we didn’t have a clue what was happening. AM radio might sound too old school for some but it was a great help for me.