Automakers Are Starting to Drop AM Radio in New Cars. Here's Why

[kalvado]

A server is way cheaper than an AM antenna, even if you're the only one using it.

Yes, but the vast majority of radio broadcasters have already taken care of that particular cost by selling their AM/FM towers to companies like Vertical Bridge, which in turn use those towers to co-locate wireless services on them. iHeartMedia and Audacy, in theory, could turn off all their AM/FM stations and simply go to podcast/streaming music networks, and not miss a beat.

My webserver costs me $28/month. It's a cheap, kinda slow one, but it's enough to run an ecommerce business on. I'm doubtful that the operating costs for renting the use of a transmission tower, even if the station is not on the hook for maintenance or support staff, are anywhere close to comparable.

I bet server capable of handling couple hundred simultaneous streams - 1% of midsize MSA - would cost much more. That is with customers paying for signal distribution via their connection fees.

A couple hundred simultaneous streams, you say? Then it's not as much as you'd think it would cost. Unlike radio, a stream can do things like compress and timeslice data to reduce the amount of bandwidth used. One site I've found describes a 320 Kbps stream (140.62 MB/hour) as a "high quality" stream.

Assuming by "a couple hundred" you mean 200, the math works out to:

140.62 MB × 24 hours = 3360 MB/day
3360 MB/day × 31 days = 104160 MB/mo
104160 MB/mo × 200 users = 20832000 MB/mo
20832000 MB ÷ 1024 = 20343.75 GB ÷ 1024 = 19.8 TB

DigitalOcean will rent you a managed server with 6 TB of bandwidth for $160/month. So say you get four of them and balance the load between all four servers. That's $640/month, and you don't have to do any maintenance on the server; the hosting company does it for you.

Just paying one tech $7.25/hour to watch the tower 24 hours a day would cost you $5,394/month, not to mention the cost of power, parts, benefits, redundancy in case the tech gets sick, etc. And good luck finding a qualified radio tech that works for that cheap to begin with.

I have no idea how much it costs to rent a managed AM tower, but I can't imagine it's less than $640.

Less than I expected, but not exactly free
And if we're at it...  one may also ask what is the breakeven audience for a radio station?  And how many stations single tower supports?

[bwana39]

Not a lot of people are listening to AM, but for the station owners, that AM signal is soooooooo important. With an AM license you get FM-translator stations licenses easily. You take two or three low power FM (translators) and can fill the metro area with the programming from the AM station on the clearer FM band.

It even happens in rural areas.

[vdeane]

As a listener, it would be nicer if some of those AM stations were just a regular FM stations.  I know I've passed on adding some to my presets in favor of ones I like less just because the low power translators don't cover a wide enough area to be useful on roadtrips; I prefer the coverage of my preset system to be fairly comprehensive in the area where I have stations on it, and I only get 11-12 (I have one the same on both FM1 and FM2 for easy switching) available unless I can find some frequency shares in different markets.

[bandit957]

The American radio industry needs to just start over pretty much from scratch.

Does city of license even mean a thing anymore? Radio can't compete with YouTube unless it adds some localized elements, which they won't do.

[hotdogPi]

Radio can't compete with YouTube

Can you watch YouTube while driving or at work?

[bandit957]

Radio can't compete with YouTube

Can you watch YouTube while driving or at work?

A commute is only a couple hours each day.

I used to actually listen to the radio all day. The only time I listen to it now is for 'American Top 40' rebroadcasts on WGRR.

[bwana39]

Radio can't compete with YouTube

Can you watch YouTube while driving or at work?

I don't watch Youtube, but I listen to stories particularly The History Guy and Mentor Pilot while i commute. In a lot of cases you don't need the video.

[ZLoth]

A commute is only a couple hours each day.

Depends on how far your commute is. Right now, I'm working from home, so my commute is about 30 seconds. If I'm walking to work, it's 30 minutes round trip. If I'm driving, it's 5 minutes round trip plus kicking myself for being lazy.

[Road Hog]

I work at home for one of my jobs too and my other job (retail management) is a 5-minute drive, so I will spend that short drive listening to the AM news station just to make sure there is no breaking news. That's the extent of my AM.

[D-Dey65]

I need to show you people something I mentioned regarding a picture I took in December on my way to Folkston, GA, but only uploaded nearly several days ago:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NB_US_441;_Paynes_Prairie_Park_@_1610_AM.jpg

[NJRoadfan]

For those saying that AM sounds like crap. Here is a C-QUAM AM Stereo air check from Japan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cq6KSavcVMI

Sounds pretty damned good.

Another air check, this time from 500miles away.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMAPKTnJtnA

[Road Hog]

For those saying that AM sounds like crap. Here is a C-QUAM AM Stereo air check from Japan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cq6KSavcVMI

Sounds pretty damned good.

Another air check, this time from 500miles away.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMAPKTnJtnA

Unfortunately, a lot of C-QUAM stations switched to IBOC and then back to conventional AM without restoring C-QUAM. There might still be some space for music on AM instead of a bunch of Limbaugh wannabes otherwise.

[D-Dey65]

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but some AM stations have (or are transitioning to) the FM dial, esp. if they're part of a conglomerate. For example, Boston's talk radio WRKO, best known on AM 680, can be heard on FM 100.7 (HD) which is the same dial as rock station WZLX. I suspect there will be more of this in the years ahead.

WALK 97.5 FM and 1370 AM were always simulcasted... or at least they were during the Robert Kline show.

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned the three Dodge Coronet AM radios we had in the 1970's that used to pick up radio stations from the midwest on Long Island, didn't I?

[GCrites]

WLW from Cincinnati I bet.

[MikeTheActuary]

This should be a non=paywalled link:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/electric-vehicles-need-am-radio-former-emergency-officials-argue-9e69e297?st=rqy0l3db4eaxvwa&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

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.

[Rothman]

Hm.  Former FEMA admins seem out of touch with current trends (imagine that).  Travel advisory radio is going the way of the dodo.

[kalvado]

Hm.  Former FEMA admins seem out of touch with current trends (imagine that).  Travel advisory radio is going the way of the dodo.

All seven of them... I wonder how long it took to go through 7 people in a high-level position and how many of them were asked to leave after big failures...

[Max Rockatansky]

Hm.  Former FEMA admins seem out of touch with current trends (imagine that).  Travel advisory radio is going the way of the dodo.

All seven of them... I wonder how long it took to go through 7 people in a high-level position and how many of them were asked to leave after big failures...

Safety Management is more about appearing like you are doing something complex rather than writing user friendly emergency plans. 

[kalvado]

Hm.  Former FEMA admins seem out of touch with current trends (imagine that).  Travel advisory radio is going the way of the dodo.

All seven of them... I wonder how long it took to go through 7 people in a high-level position and how many of them were asked to leave after big failures...

Safety Management is more about appearing like you are doing something complex rather than writing user friendly emergency plans.

How many emergencies do happen according to the plan?
While fire drills are mandatory, the actual response I witnessed included EHS ladies on high heels (department xmas party, you know)  chasing fire trucks - all that in response to a slice of pizza burnt in a microwave. Exactly by the plan!

[Max Rockatansky]

Hm.  Former FEMA admins seem out of touch with current trends (imagine that).  Travel advisory radio is going the way of the dodo.

All seven of them... I wonder how long it took to go through 7 people in a high-level position and how many of them were asked to leave after big failures...

Safety Management is more about appearing like you are doing something complex rather than writing user friendly emergency plans.

How many emergencies do happen according to the plan?
While fire drills are mandatory, the actual response I witnessed included EHS ladies on high heels (department xmas party, you know)  chasing fire trucks - all that in response to a slice of pizza burnt in a microwave. Exactly by the plan!

None do, that's exactly why emergency plans shouldn't be so rigid and assumptive they will go a single way.  People are creatures of habit and largely not used to dealing with situations where their adrenaline will suddenly something.  Personally I've found emphasizing "do something"  and "get out first if you can"  to be the most effective approach to most emergencies.

[ZLoth]

This should be a non=paywalled link:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/electric-vehicles-need-am-radio-former-emergency-officials-argue-9e69e297?st=rqy0l3db4eaxvwa&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

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.

How expensive is it for someone to put in a portable AM/FM radio in their car's emergency kit... provided that someone actually HAS a emergency kit...

[Henry]

From a roadgeek perspective, I think it's time to update the big blue signs that mention what frequencies to tune into for the latest road conditions. Most of them still have AM-only frequencies listed (540 and 1710 being the most used), but newer ones add FM as well, so I guess it's now a requirement that local/state transportation agencies use a frequency on that band to broadcast their information.

[bandit957]

From a roadgeek perspective, I think it's time to update the big blue signs that mention what frequencies to tune into for the latest road conditions. Most of them still have AM-only frequencies listed (540 and 1710 being the most used), but newer ones add FM as well, so I guess it's now a requirement that local/state transportation agencies use a frequency on that band to broadcast their information.

Years ago, I remember seeing a big blue sign in Michigan for info on road conditions that listed the frequencies of the main commercial FM stations in the area.

[kalvado]

This should be a non=paywalled link:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/electric-vehicles-need-am-radio-former-emergency-officials-argue-9e69e297?st=rqy0l3db4eaxvwa&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

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.

How expensive is it for someone to put in a portable AM/FM radio in their car's emergency kit... provided that someone actually HAS a emergency kit...

pretty meaningless as that doesn't take away interference from the engine. So you would need to park (because you cannot use portable radio while driving),  turn off systems to avoid interference and take the time to listen for transmission. ANother Tesla coming by may cause loss of reception, though.

[ZLoth]

How expensive is it for someone to put in a portable AM/FM radio in their car's emergency kit... provided that someone actually HAS a emergency kit...

pretty meaningless as that doesn't take away interference from the engine. So you would need to park (because you cannot use portable radio while driving),  turn off systems to avoid interference and take the time to listen for transmission. ANother Tesla coming by may cause loss of reception, though.

Who said anything about listening to the AM radio when driving? From the article:

While drivers nowadays can use smartphones and other tech to dial up their favorite radio stations, the signal keeping those services online isn't as reliable as AM radio during emergency events, the former FEMA officials said.

If you are stuck on the side of the road during a natural disaster, you may want to conserve fuel and battery power. Also, my car has some of my emergency items in it including a backup radioI . If anything, car radios should have the NOAA frequencies in it, but I know, good luck with that with the NAB. Also, when was the last time you purchased a new vehicle where it only had the AM radio in it? How many decades ago was that?

I seem to recall that 88.1 MHz to 89.9 MHz of the FM spectrum was reserved for non-profit use. Perhaps the FCC needs to have a word or three on that as well.