Contrary to the popular refrain, video never really did kill the radio star. Electric vehicles, however, might do the job. The question is whether Congress should accelerate the process.
Automakers, including BMW, Mazda, Volkswagen and Tesla, are starting to remove AM radios as standard equipment from new electric vehicles — and Ford was on the verge of removing them from all new vehicles before backtracking under pressure from broadcasters and their allies. The reason is twofold: Electric motors render the fuzzy sound of AM stations fuzzier still. And even as AM declines in popularity, keeping antiquated AM radios in cars costs manufacturers.
Still, protests from AM’s allies are coming through loud and clear — from both sides of the aisle. A bipartisan bill co-sponsored in the Senate by Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) would require car manufacturers to maintain AM broadcast radio by default in new vehicles, electric or not, at no additional charge. Their primary reason: The Federal Emergency Management Agency relies on AM to transmit emergency alerts.
FEMA has been expanding its ability to deliver these crucial messages via more modern media. As FEMA’s deputy administrator argued in congressional testimony last spring, however, AM is nothing if not reliable. Its simplicity makes it less vulnerable to hacking or other manipulation by adversaries than more complicated systems with more possible points of failure. It can also reach everyone, all the time, even in areas with no cell service or WiFi and even amid a natural disaster that knocks out broadband. What’s more, it’s free.
All this makes sense — for now. Before AM gets ousted, Mr. Markey and Mr. Cruz want the Government Accountability Office to report on whether any alternative communications systems could achieve the same reach and reliability as AM broadcast radio during emergencies. Officials ought to find a way because the alternative is equipping vehicles forevermore with what will someday be an obsolete technology.
What happens then? The answer could be AM radio dies. Yes, AM stations could move to FM if cars lose AM — though cost structures may make it more difficult for them to survive on that band. And, yes, AM stations could offer their programming other ways — though for much of their audience, listening while driving is the point. The upshot, according to industry insiders, is that no AM in cars will mean no AM at all before long.
This would be a loss. There are nearly 4,200 AM stations across the nation. Adults these days might think that kids these days have never even placed their fingers on a dial. Yet it turns out AM and FM together account for about 60 percent of all in-car listening, even in the age of satellite radio and streaming.
The fan base for AM is older — much older — and dwindling. Hence carmakers’ reluctance to install this legacy tech in products they market as ultramodern. But it’s also vibrant, particularly in rural America. The afternoon hours on some stations are dominated by right-wing talk, perhaps accounting for the many conservative legislators lined up behind the effort to save AM. The rest of the day, though, often features vital agricultural information for nearby farmers or spotlights community events that families might otherwise miss. Many AM stations are also devoted to programming for immigrant audiences, often in Spanish or other languages.
These channels are sometimes locally owned and operated, whereas FM stations are increasingly commercialized and conglomerated. Listeners have relationships with stations, with hosts. They call in. They’re heard just as much as they hear.
Finally, there’s history. AM radio brought Franklin D. Roosevelt’s fireside chats to an anxious public; it brought sports stars to fame through announcers’ frenzied commentary; it brought the Beatles to America. Michael Harrison, publisher of radio trade journal Talkers, points out that radio helped the auto industry exalt vehicles over the past century. Now, automakers are throwing those years of symbiosis back in radio’s face.
Yet, as important as AM radio might be to American culture, so is limiting government to essential regulatory tasks. It might be Congress’s role to mandate AM radio in vehicles — as long as it’s crucial to public safety. It isn’t Congress’s role to prop up the industry by forcing automakers to install a feature the market says isn’t worth the while. New cars, after all, are expensive enough as is. Legislators might hope along with listeners that AM stays essential for a few more years at least. But in the longer run, policy can’t remain static.
