AM radio is disappearing from cars. Congress wants to stop that

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Chances are the last time you listened to a traditional radio was in a car.

Maybe you tuned in to a ballgame, a local news report, or a weather or traffic update. Maybe there’s even a talk or music station you’ve listened to for years, if not decades. In a car, it can be as simple as just tapping a button — much easier than finding it on your phone.

Broadcasters are fighting to make sure that doesn’t have to change.

Legislation passed in the House last month that would require all new cars to have an AM radio. Backers of the bill say the century-old tech is critical to ensuring all Americans still have a way to access emergency information.

Radios have been standard equipment in cars since before most of today’s drivers were born. The overwhelming majority of vehicles do include them. But automakers like Tesla, Volkswagen and Volvo have been removing AM radios from some newer models over the past few years, especially electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, since EV motors affect the sound.

“EVs and AM broadcasting technologies don’t always mix,” said John Bozzella, CEO of industry trade group Alliance for Automotive Innovation, during congressional testimony in April 2024 . “The high-voltage electrical systems in EVs generate electromagnetic interference…. distort AM radio signals, affecting the listening experience for drivers and passengers. In other words: really staticky.”

Auto industry research finds that drivers rarely listen to analog AM radio, instead tuning in to streaming and satellite radio or digital AM and FM broadcasts. But the National Association of Broadcasters, who represent the radio stations, argues there are serious safety reasons to keep analog AM radio in cars.

Fewer and fewer American households have a traditional radio in their home, which can be an important source for emergency warnings during events like hurricanes, wildfires or terrorist attacks. That’s because some emergency situations can disrupt cell service, or a rush of usage can overwhelm networks, blocking phone alerts.

“When the power goes out, radio can often be that sole lifeline, and AM radio in particular has a reach and a durability that that other media just don’t simply have,” said Curtis LeGeyt, CEO of NAB.

Car radios are also critical to keeping radio stations in business. Fifty-three percent of the audience for AM and FM radio listen in cars, according to the NAB. That’s a big audience to lose.

AM radio is still used by more than 4,000 stations across the country, according to the Federal Communications Commission. That includes sports and talk radio, as well as religious programming and foreign language news, sports and music. The NAB says 82 million Americans listen to AM radio every month, and that broadcasts are particularly vital for rural and tribal communities where internet and cellular connection can be unreliable.

But automakers are always looking for ways to cut costs, said Ivan Drury, director of insights at car buying site Edmunds. If companies can save a little money by eliminating something they believe their customers don’t care about, they will.

“It might be that the cost of a single unit is downright silly,” said Drury, noting that an AM radio adds less than one-tenth of 1% to the cost of building the typical new car. “But when you make millions of them, it becomes significant.”

The automakers also object to the government interfering in parts of the design that don’t improve the safety of the vehicle, saying a radio is different from seat belts and air bags.

“Congress is opening a space for (the National Highway Safety Administration) to mandate vehicle equipment that falls outside the vehicle safety lane,” Bozzella testified. “NHTSA should be a vehicle safety agency – and an agency with boundaries.”

But the legislation, which heads to the Senate, does have significant bipartisan support. While it won’t get a vote before the midterm election next month, its supporters hope it passes in the lame duck session between election day and when the new Congress is seated.

“If it was put up for a vote tomorrow, it would pass overwhelmingly,” said LeGeyt.

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你上次收听传统收音机很可能是在车里。

也许你收听过球赛、本地新闻报道，或者天气或交通信息。甚至可能还有你听了好几年、甚至几十年的谈话或音乐电台。在车里，只需轻按一个按钮——比在手机上查找方便得多。

广播公司正在努力确保这种情况不会改变。

上个月众议院通过了一项法案，要求所有新车都必须配备调幅收音机。该法案的支持者表示，这项已有百年历史的技术对于确保所有美国人仍然能够获取紧急信息至关重要。

在如今大多数驾驶员出生之前，收音机就一直是汽车的标配。绝大多数车辆都配备了收音机。但像特斯拉、大众和沃尔沃这样的汽车制造商，在过去几年里，已经开始在一些新款车型中取消AM收音机，尤其是在电动汽车和插电式混合动力汽车上，因为电动汽车的电机可能会影响音质。

“电动汽车和调幅广播技术并非总能兼容，”汽车创新联盟首席执行官约翰·博泽拉在2024年4月的国会听证会上表示。“电动汽车的高压电气系统会产生电磁干扰……扭曲调幅广播信号，影响驾驶员和乘客的收听体验。换句话说：收听体验非常糟糕。”

汽车行业研究发现，驾驶员很少收听模拟调幅广播，而是收听流媒体广播、卫星广播或数字调幅/调频广播。但代表广播电台的美国广播电视协会则认为，出于安全考虑，在汽车中保留模拟调幅广播至关重要。

越来越少的美国家庭在家中拥有传统收音机，而收音机在飓风、野火或恐怖袭击等紧急事件发生时，却是获取紧急预警的重要渠道。这是因为某些紧急情况会中断手机信号，或者激增的手机使用量会使网络不堪重负，从而屏蔽手机警报。

“停电时，广播往往是唯一的生命线，尤其是调幅广播，其覆盖范围和持久性是其他媒体所不具备的，”美国广播协会 (NAB) 首席执行官柯蒂斯·勒盖特 (Curtis LeGeyt) 表示。

车载收音机对电台的生存至关重要。据美国广播协会（NAB）统计，53%的调幅（AM）和调频（FM）广播听众在车内收听。失去这部分听众群体意义重大。

据美国联邦通信委员会（FCC）统计，全美仍有超过4000家电台使用调幅（AM）广播。这些电台播放体育、谈话节目、宗教节目以及外语新闻、体育和音乐节目。美国广播协会（NAB）表示，每月有8200万美国人收听调幅广播，对于互联网和移动网络信号不稳定的农村和部落社区而言，广播尤为重要。

但汽车制造商总是在寻找降低成本的方法，汽车购买网站 Edmunds 的洞察总监伊万·德鲁里 (Ivan Drury) 表示。如果公司能够通过取消一些他们认为客户并不在意的东西来节省一些钱，他们就会这么做。

德鲁里说：“单个收音机的成本可能微不足道。”他指出，一台调幅收音机只会使一辆普通新车的制造成本增加不到0.1%。“但如果生产数百万台，成本就相当可观了。”

汽车制造商还反对政府干预那些不会提高车辆安全性的设计部分，称收音机与安全带和安全气囊不同。

博泽拉作证说：“国会正在为（国家公路交通安全管理局）开辟空间，使其可以强制要求配备超出车辆安全范畴的车辆设备。国家公路交通安全管理局应该是一个车辆安全机构——而且是一个有明确职责范围的机构。”

但这项即将提交参议院的法案确实获得了两党的大力支持。虽然在下个月的中期选举前不会进行投票表决，但支持者希望它能在选举日到新一届国会就职之间的“跛脚鸭”会期内获得通过。

“如果明天就此进行投票表决，它将以压倒性优势获得通过，”勒盖特说。