Jump to content

Ford Adding AM Radio Back Into Vehicle


Recommended Posts

1 hour ago, rperez817 said:

Jim Farley's statement on this is below. One of the commenters, Brian Gallegos, asked an excellent question in response. ?

 

 

Thinking back to the 80's when I did long distance travel with a box of cassette tapes, I never long for a return to that medium. There are times, even today, that I tune in to AM radio for local information. FM doesn't seem to offer the same vibe. I use bluetooth for most of my music. Using my 5G phone is good for many things, but the interfaces seem clunky unless you have a passenger acting as copilot. Even my 2018 Mustang with all the infotainment options is lacking. But have to admit the CD player in my 2014 SHO is largely collecting dust. But the AM radio in all my cars is used at least once a week.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Harley Lover said:

It's a stupid question. Is a cassette tape part of the Emergency Alert System? Perhaps if his beard contained a few brain cells his reading comprehension might improve.

Wow. I remember having cars with the CONELRAD markings on the dial. But my cell phone today goes off whenever someone goes missing within a 200 mile radius. But having broadcast alerts is still a good thing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, Harley Lover said:

It's a stupid question. Is a cassette tape part of the Emergency Alert System? Perhaps if his beard contained a few brain cells his reading comprehension might improve.

 

Always remember when you're reading Twitter replies that the first 4 letters of Twitter spell twit.

I use AM radio at least one a week as well.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 minutes ago, paintguy said:

Wow. I remember having cars with the CONELRAD markings on the dial. But my cell phone today goes off whenever someone goes missing within a 200 mile radius. But having broadcast alerts is still a good thing.

 

Never heard of that...and looked it up

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CONELRAD

 

I haven't touched AM/FM in a very long time..almost 20 years. I've been using Sirius or my own music since 2006. 

 

Edited by silvrsvt
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, 2005Explorer said:

There is no reason not to offer AM radio on all of their vehicles. 

 

1 hour ago, silvrsvt said:

In EVs, the additional electrical motors cause interference 

 

In a letter to Congress, the organizations Alliance for Automotive Innovation, Zero Emission Transportation Association, Consumer Technology Association, and Technet make a good case in opposition to the proposed mandate for automakers to include broadcast AM radio in new vehicles. AM Radio Coalition Letter (autosinnovate.org)

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Harley Lover said:

"Good case" according to whom? All those organizations are lobbying organizations that are doing their job representing the interests of the organizations that are paying them to shill, nothing more and nothing less.

Yep, it's a lot about the information on AM that they want to hinder.....not about EV interference.

All vehicles have electric motors that don't interfere with the radio.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, silvrsvt said:

 

In EVs, the additional electrical motors cause interference 

Some. 
 

My Lightning has the best AM reception of any vehicle I’ve owned. I get zero interference. My Mach-E had good AM reception. It would occasionally get interference, but mainly when trying to pull in weak signals, and I still used it a lot.  
 

Some EVs have significant interference, not all, and I suspect it’s an engineering exercise that was just overlooked in those cases. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i am 58, but this is good news.  I still listen to Am radio on my morning commute, to get traffic "on the 8's" and local news.  Being in NC that is what i tune too for Hurrican news when an approaching remnant heads this way.  I still use my CD player in my 2017 Escape. for music mainly use Pandora thru the Bluetooth. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, 70 Stang said:

Yep, it's a lot about the information on AM that they want to hinder.....not about EV interference.

 

What does AM offer over FM or other forms of communication without breaking out the tinfoil hat conspiracy theories? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, silvrsvt said:

What does AM offer over FM or other forms of communication without breaking out the tinfoil hat conspiracy theories? 

On the ability of motorists to receive emergency alerts? Nothing.

 

Texas media executive Robert Lee's plea to FCC back in 2019 is even more relevant now. I Repeat - AM Radio Is Dead - Radio Ink

 

Now, as the FCC undertakes its important Quadrennial Review, I would again implore Chairman Pai and the Commissioners to walk away from the past, lay AM radio to rest, and move all the AM stations to an all-digital, expanded FM band in the television channels’ 5 and 6 spectrum. And, in addition, implement a “date certain” plan, sooner rather than later, to move the incumbent FM band, at 88 to 108 MHz, to all-digital. We already required the move, years ago, of broadcast TV from analog to digital. There is no rational reason for not mandating the same of broadcast radio. In fact, digital broadcast television is already evolving to its next, forward-looking advancement: ATSC 3.0. But we’re still vainly rendering life support to AM radio.

 

Please, Chairman Pai and Commissioners, let us once and for all face up to the reality of AM radio’s future…that there is none. Move AM stations into the 21st century and onto all-digital FM channels, and stop all the insane and hopeless non-revitalization nonsense. AM radio is dead.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 minutes ago, silvrsvt said:

 

What does AM offer over FM or other forms of communication without breaking out the tinfoil hat conspiracy theories? 

Just conservative radio in general.......not "tinfoil hat conspiracy theories"......LOL

Link to comment
Share on other sites

https://apnews.com/article/am-radio-ford-cars-congress-bill-aec6e6405d33ff95cff3dd31bef617db

 



Ford removed AM from the 2023 Mustang Mach-e and F-150 Lightning electric pickups after data collected from vehicles showed that less than 5% of customers listened to it, spokesman Alan Hall said. Electrical interference and reducing cost and manufacturing complexity also played a role.

 

 

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, akirby said:

I haven’t listened to FM since Sirius came out.  And never listened to AM.  If they kill AM that content will migrate to FM or HD channels.

 

Funny you mention HD radio-so far it hasn't made a dent in the market in the past 15 years+...seems like streaming and 4G/5G have killed off much of the terrestrial radio market. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, silvrsvt said:

 

What does AM offer over FM or other forms of communication without breaking out the tinfoil hat conspiracy theories? 

Range. AM has a far longer range than FM, so AM stations (particularly in the clear channel frequencies) can be heard where FM is absent. Back in the day, KOMA out of Oklahoma City could be heard from Mexico to Canada at night when the conditions were right. 

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, silvrsvt said:

 

Funny you mention HD radio-so far it hasn't made a dent in the market in the past 15 years+...seems like streaming and 4G/5G have killed off much of the terrestrial radio market. 


Because it isn’t dramatically better than analog FM.  Certainly nothing like SD vs HD TV.  The biggest advantage is they can multicast multiple programs.  E.g. in Atlanta I think the local WSB AM station is simulcast on their FM sister stations HD sub channel.  This is easy because AM is such low bandwidth.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

42 minutes ago, SoonerLS said:

Range. AM has a far longer range than FM, so AM stations (particularly in the clear channel frequencies) can be heard where FM is absent. Back in the day, KOMA out of Oklahoma City could be heard from Mexico to Canada at night when the conditions were right. 

 

Even during the day, I could drive to Northampton, MA (20 miles north of Springfield, MA) and hear Don Imus on WFAN out of NYC. And traveling cross-country I often heard AM stations a thousand miles away. 

 

Reminds me of one of my cross-country trips driving from Las Vegas back to Connecticut. I drove all day through torrential rain with tornado warnings reported on AM radio with updates broadcast for different counties where tornados had been sighted. Imagine driving all day, having no idea what county you're in, hands gripped to the steering wheel, peering through the windshield looking to see if there was a tornado visible. Finally, after a long, tiring drive I decided to stop for the night at a Holiday Inn motor lodge, order a steak dinner via room service and watch Johnny Carson. After a while, all of a sudden, I hear this giant "roar" and immediately do what you should never do and run out the door. Evidently, the Holiday Inn was next to the airport, the winds or some other condition had changed, and the airport started re-routing the incoming flights over the Holiday Inn to land on a different runway. I couldn't help but laugh when I realized what the noise was from, but it took several hours not to want to jump up every time another plane flew overhead!

  • Like 1
  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, SoonerLS said:

Range. AM has a far longer range than FM, so AM stations (particularly in the clear channel frequencies) can be heard where FM is absent. Back in the day, KOMA out of Oklahoma City could be heard from Mexico to Canada at night when the conditions were right. 

KOA in Denver "The 50,000 Watt Blowtorch" was similar, you could pick it up a long ways away (to the east) on a good night.  Coincidently, AM is also the same frequency band that ADF's in airplanes use.  A lot of older airplanes still have ADF antenna's and you can tune in an AM station to listen too while flying and get a bearing at the same time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, akirby said:

I haven’t listened to FM since Sirius came out.  And never listened to AM.  If they kill AM that content will migrate to FM or HD channels.

I cycle through a combo of both FM/HD and Sirius.  I don’t have any streaming music subscriptions and haven’t bought any songs since the 2010s.

only time I may tune into an AM station ie for sports.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...