No More AM Radio in CArs

[LanceyHoward]

The Washington Post just ran an article about how auto manufacturers, including Ford, are not including AM radio in cars anymore.

End of a love affair: AM radio is being removed from many cars - The Washington Post

Very few AM radio stations draw a rating above .1 anymore. Any AM radio programming that is still popular will find a home on FM.

But as someone who tends to travel by car rather than fly I will miss listening to those 50,000 watt AM boomers. I remember driving from Las Vegas to California in spring 1981 and hearing Vin Scully do a baseball game on radio for the first time.

 

[dixiehack]

Elon Musk accidentally breaking right wing talk radio is a hilarious possible permutation I did not see coming.

 

[MisterCreosote]

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

This is pretty much only in some electric vehicles.

 

[Songbird]

 

[Liut]

This is pretty much only in some electric vehicles.

Don't have a subscription so thanks for mentioning that no-so-insignificant detail.

 

[Corky Ramirez up on 94th St.]

Phew. I was getting nervous about not being able to tune into those CONELRAD stations at 640 or 1240 in case of a nuclear attack.

 

[dixiehack]

This is pretty much only in some electric vehicles.

I believe Ford is phasing it out in all new cars, not just electrics.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

The Washington Post just ran an article about how auto manufacturers, including Ford, are not including AM radio in cars anymore.

End of a love affair: AM radio is being removed from many cars - The Washington Post

Very few AM radio stations draw a rating above .1 anymore. Any AM radio programming that is still popular will find a home on FM.

But as someone who tends to travel by car rather than fly I will miss listening to those 50,000 watt AM boomers. I remember driving from Las Vegas to California in spring 1981 and hearing Vin Scully do a baseball game on radio for the first time.

Now you can catch the Dodgers in your car via a Bluetooth connection to your phone.

I don’t think I’ve ever used the AM band on my car radio. Hell, thanks to Bluetooth, satellite radio and the Internet, I barely use the FM band on my car radio.

Someday we’re going to have to explain to our grandchildren how our parents’ cars only had AM radio and one speaker, and how Buck Owens connected one of those speakers in the recording studio so he could make his music sound better on it.

 

[swingline]

Driving out west, when I got tired of my CDs, I would hunt around the AM dial looking for a Country Gold station. That works best at night.

 

[Mr. X]

Now you can catch the Dodgers in your car via a Bluetooth connection to your phone.

Don't you need a subscription for that? I thought stations that carry Major League Baseball games can't stream them.

 

[Noholesin1]

I love my satellite radio, but in Philly (KYW) and New York (WINS), AM radio is/was great. (Don't know if either station is still around.)

 

[ChrisLong]

The Angels are on KLAA-AM/830, which Arte Moreno owns and the studio is at Angel Stadium.

The Ducks were on that station until this past season, when they went to a streaming service called TuneIn Radio. My daughter showed me how to get bluetooth in the car and put the app in. I guess I can listen on my phone, too, which I never do. I only listen to the postgame show driving home from the games. You have to listen to a couple minutes of commercials before you get the show and if you're on the wrong station, you've wasted time on those commercials. You try again to get the right show and, yeah, the commercials. The volume is inconsistent and there are gaps in the broadcasts.

The Ducks have fired radio analyst Dan Wood and postgame host Josh Brewster. Rumors are the woman they hired from Chicago to host their streaming features -- Alexis Downey -- is going to get the radio analyst job. After a one-year trial, she has shown to be pretty bad. I posted on FB that if the Ducks are trying to enhance the presence of women in their organization, I am just fine with that. But the women -- and men -- have to be talented and knowledgable. So far, Downey is neither. For the record, Wood was an OK analyst, Brewster wasn't a good host. His show was named "Duck Calls" and he never got any calls. Kinda tells you a lot.

The Kings switched to radio streaming a few years ago. Showing how naive I am, I asked what number it was. I don't even remember the name of the service. Doesn't matter, I won't listen.

 

[jr/shotglass]

Looking back, it's amazing how much static I'd put up with to listen to my favorite stations. Like Johnny Most doing Celtics games.

Even today, I'll go on YouTube and play old radio checks for WABC (New York) and WCFL (Chicago) from the '60s and '70s. That's pure nostalgia.

 

[wicked]

Either MLB now allows teams to stream in their home market area, or they're testing it.

AM radio has been going tits-up for 25 years and there are a ton of reasons, not just the Internet. SiriusXM is one. Clusters are another. Property values for the land where the towers sit is often worth more than the stations itself, especially if the station has a ridiculous directional pattern. Most music stations cutting midday and night shifts — sometimes even AM and PM drive — for syndication has put the nail in the coffin. Why scan the dial if all I'm going to hear is nine stations airing the same four midday shows? Also, have you ever tried listening to AM radio while you drive under a power line? Not a user-friendly experience. The band should've done all-digital a while ago, but ...

There are only a handful of markets where AM matters anymore: Boston, New York and Philly are three, and Boston's only because of WBZ. The clear channel stations used to be a fun catch after dark. Listen for 10 minutes and you could learn a lot about that particular city or its teams. I loved listening to WFAN at night and hearing whoever was on (Summers, Beningo, etc.). Now almost everyone is airing the same stuff. If it's not exactly the same, it's in the same genre: angry white men bitching about what 'Murica has turned into.

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

My Ex girlfriend, after driving from central Pennsylvania down to Charlotteville for the 2007 Pitt-UVA game and watching me fish for games on AM bought me the Sirius Stiletto for Christmas because, "I can listen to college football but I can't do static."

 

[Roscablo]

My Ex girlfriend, after driving from central Pennsylvania down to Charlotteville for the 2007 Pitt-UVA game and watching me fish for games on AM bought me the Sirius Stiletto for Christmas because, "I can listen to college football but I can't do static."

It's funny, I know there might be an argument against satellite radio too but I just love it. Especially as much as I am in my car. I am not a playlist guy so even better. But I find myself even finding the local games on the satellite radio. I'm already tuned to it, just go to the sports channels.

I have told this story, but in times before having one of those puppies, I got the Broncos game on Denver's KOA driving back to Phoenix where I lived then from the Grand Canyon.

 

[Batman]

I stream the local AM talk station at home and in the car because the sound quality is infinitely better. There are drawbacks, though. Namely, paying $20 a month for internet service in the car vs. free. You can also hit a dead spot or have the internet slow down and lose the feed.

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

It's funny, I know there might be an argument against satellite radio too but I just love it. Especially as much as I am in my car. I am not a playlist guy so even better. But I find myself even finding the local games on the satellite radio. I'm already tuned to it, just go to the sports channels.

I have told this story, but in times before having one of those puppies, I got the Broncos game on Denver's KOA driving back to Phoenix where I lived then from the Grand Canyon.

I agree. As an #Old posting on a message board catering to print journalists past, present but probably not future, I try to understand and respect everyone's got certain nostalgic soft spots when it comes to media consumption. Goodness knows I do. **** that streaming ****, give me my cable. And gimme my CDs too. But satellite radio is such a superior option to regular radi0, especially if you're not into playlists or podcasts. I also just tune in to the local games on the XM station, knowing I'll have a crisper feed than on AM. And while the XM music selections are infinitely worse than they were in the early '00s, they're still infinitely better than the variety on local FM.

 

[FileNotFound]

My 2018 truck has AM radio, but no CD player. All streaming all the time via CarPlay.