Talk Back: Where has all the AM gone?
Some days, we only get junk mail. But this week, something arrived that was really important. That’s what was printed in big letters on the envelope. “Important.” Inside was a letter from an anonymous benefactor who cared so deeply about our well-being that he — or maybe it was she — wanted us to know our property’s protection plan was about to expire or may have already done so. Leaving us at risk of being financially liable for any and all repairs. Yikes!
And horrors!
We’re forever indebted to this Unknown Writer. For as students of all things Oz, we know what happens whenever you roll the dice and blow off an appointment with the Munchkin Insurance Co. One minute you’re living in a palatial mansion and the next somebody’s dropping a wicked witch on it and totally flattening the place — leaving only a couple loose shingles sticking out. Both of which shrivel up and vanish the moment you grab hold and try to pry them loose. But roofing material isn’t the only thing pulling a disappearing act today. So is something that’s been part of a car’s standard equipment for nearly a century.
AM radio.
Yes, a host of automakers from BMW to Mazda and Volvo to Volkswagen have all decided — some might say colluded — to dump the broadcast band invented by the famed Italian physicist Macaroni. The guy named after the feather he stuck in his cap. Anyway, these horseless carriage makers seemingly have a bone to pick with the Great Voice of the Great Lakes and others — forever banning their signals from being heard in the electric vehicles they’re churning out. They claim the new-fangled wizardry in the cars’ innards causes too much interference with such broadcasts’ reception. We have only one response to that.
Farfegnugen.
Fortunately, Stellantis and other manufacturers long ago figured out moving the radio receivers away from the gadgetry and shielding the components meant stations on all three bands — AM, FM and PM — could be heard just fine. But try telling that to Ford. They’re deleting the AM option from all 2024 models — including gas-powered. And if you don’t like it? Tough.
Ford tough.
It’s a foolish move. Nielsen — the broadcast ratings company — figures about 80 million people listen to AM every month. And it’s a pretty good bet they aren’t all switching to satellite programming the moment they get behind the wheel. If a storm is coming, AM tells you right away. With the helpful sounds of lightning strike static. So we’re pretty geeked about the move underway in Congress to put an end to the latest round of automaker tomfoolery.
Spearheaded by Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., who maintains broadcast AM radio is irreplaceable, the bipartisan legislation introduced last week calls on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to require all cars be equipped with AM at no additional cost. The National Association of Broadcasters is solidly on board. And so’s the FCC, which says just because automakers want to make everyone fork over a few grand extra for their own brand-centric internet-connected sound systems should not mean motorists must sacrifice access to the life-saving information AM stations can provide.
But it doesn’t stop there.
You see, there’s nothing quite like tuning in to the hometown play-by-play crew after you’ve moved a thousand miles away — you can’t do that on FM or satellite — and hearing the thrilling finish, “The ball is down, the kick is up, and the kick is …… (unintelligible garble and interference from high-powered electrical lines and transformers) … back to you!” That’s radio the way it’s supposed to be.
True theater of the mind.
Talk Back with Doug Spade and Mike Clement is heard every Saturday morning from 9 a.m. to noon Eastern Time at www.dougspade.com.
This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Talk Back: Where has all the AM gone?
