# AM radio being removed from cars **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** radio-podcast\ **Created:** [May 15, 2023, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-radio-being-removed-from-cars/984081 "2023-05-15T14:29:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2026, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-radio-being-removed-from-cars/984081/242 "2026-10-05T04:28:09Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > How many were in service but overwhelmed by call volume You’d use the internet to look for information, not make a phone call. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2026, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-radio-being-removed-from-cars/984081/243 "2026-10-05T05:01:23Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > You’d use the internet to look for information Yeah, I don’t think anyone who isn’t old enough to have used a Thomas Bros. guide is going to react to an emergency situation with “I’d better tune to AM 940 for essential news and information!”. They’re gonna check Reddit. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2026, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-radio-being-removed-from-cars/984081/244 "2026-10-05T05:08:40Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Yeah, I don’t think anyone who isn’t old enough to have used a Thomas Bros. guide is going to react to an emergency situation with “I’d better tune to AM 940 for essential news and information!” Even if the EAS alert that comes over their cell phone directs them to do so? If not, then I guess everyone under 40 is just gonna die. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2026, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-radio-being-removed-from-cars/984081/245 "2026-10-05T05:20:57Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Even if the EAS alert that comes over their cell phone directs them to do so? If the EAS alert can tell me to tune to AM 980, it can tell me what AM 980 would be able to tell me. If EAS stops working, Reddit is down, and so is the entire FM band and all satellite and cell service, then all the AM radios in the world aren’t gonna save you. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2026, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-radio-being-removed-from-cars/984081/246 "2026-10-05T05:27:27Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > If the EAS alert can tell me to tune to AM 980, it can tell me what AM 980 would be able to tell me. Not necessarily; such a message would be directing people to listen to AM 980 for continuing information updates from local authorities. The EAS system is built to provide an immediate, relatively short alert, with key information, along with – if needed – that direction on where to get more/continuing information. It is true that EAS is _also_ built to allow the President to provide a direct message to citizens in the event of a national emergency – though it has never actually been used in this manner, even on 9/11. Nearly all emergencies for which EAS is used are local or regional in nature. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2026, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-radio-being-removed-from-cars/984081/247 "2026-10-05T05:39:05Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Not necessarily; such a message would be directing people to listen to AM 980 for continuing information updates from local authorities. Or it could tell me to tune to FM 92.5. Or to check [noaa.gov](http://noaa.gov) for updates. Or watch the local sheriff’s department’s Twitter feed. Or turn on the TV. If the situation is so desperate that AM radio is the only functioning means of communication left, then either we’re in the most extreme of edge cases that you might as well be requiring cars to carry flare guns and semaphore flags, or we’re all about to die anyway. (Also, nobody’s gonna be able to tell us what station to tune to in the first place.) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2026, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-radio-being-removed-from-cars/984081/248 "2026-10-05T06:36:57Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Or it could tell me to tune to FM 92.5. Or to check [noaa.gov](http://noaa.gov) for updates. Or watch the local sheriff’s department’s Twitter feed. Or turn on the TV. Once again… AM signals carry further than FM signals and modern over-the-air digital TV signals. The broadcast infrastructure for AM radio is more robust and less prone to failure in severe weather or other emergencies than cellular phone and data service. They are not necessarily fully interchangeable. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2026, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-radio-being-removed-from-cars/984081/249 "2026-10-05T06:48:57Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Not necessarily; such a message would be directing people to listen to AM 980 for continuing information updates from local authorities. So this place is so remote and desolate that it doesn’t have FM radio _but_ it also still has an old-fashioned locally-run AM radio station _and_ the local authorities are so responsive that whenever the EAS goes off, Mayor Hoss runs to the radio station to give instructions to his peoples? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2026, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-radio-being-removed-from-cars/984081/250 "2026-10-05T06:50:20Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > AM signals carry further than FM signals and modern over-the-air digital TV signals. The broadcast infrastructure for AM radio is more robust and less prone to failure in severe weather or other emergencies than cellular phone and data service. And if ALL of that fails all at once, then whether your car has an AM radio in it is going to be the LEAST of your worries. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2026, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-radio-being-removed-from-cars/984081/251 "2026-10-05T06:51:35Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > So this place is so remote and desolate that it doesn’t have FM radio stations _but_ it still has an old-fashioned locallt-run AM radio station? Not necessarily. As has been mentioned a number of times already in this thread, including in my post immediately above yours, an AM radio signal can be picked up and heard on a radio from a much longer distance from the transmitter than an FM radio signal. So, people in a rural area that has _no_ nearby stations at all can still listen to AM stations from many miles away, even if they are out of range of any FM stations. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2026, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-radio-being-removed-from-cars/984081/252 "2026-10-05T06:52:17Z")
So Mayor Hoss can just get on his phone that doesn’t work and relay to the AM operators 2,000 miles away what the conditions on the ground are. A seamless plan! ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2026, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-radio-being-removed-from-cars/984081/253 "2026-10-05T06:53:10Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Not necessarily. As has been mentioned a number of times already in this thread, including in my post immediately above yours, an AM radio signal can be picked up and heard on a radio from a much longer distance from the transmitter than an FM radio signal. Why would such a radio station have “continuing information updates from **local** authorities”? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2026, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-radio-being-removed-from-cars/984081/254 "2026-10-05T06:54:43Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > Why would such a radio station have “continuing information updates from **local** authorities” I believe the scene at the AM studio would look something like this; [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/jDBPmEAheCY/maxresdefault.jpg "Gondor calls for aid! And Rohan will answer!") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDBPmEAheCY) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2026, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-radio-being-removed-from-cars/984081/255 "2026-10-05T06:56:32Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > Why would such a radio station have “continuing information updates from **local** authorities”? If the nearest town of any size is 50 miles away — and picking up an AM signal at that distance is very feasible, while not so for an FM signal — those probably _are_ the local authorities. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2026, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-radio-being-removed-from-cars/984081/256 "2026-10-05T06:58:07Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > If the nearest town of any size is 50 miles away Then it may as well be in China given that you’ve told us all other forms of communication with the outside world have failed. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2026, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-radio-being-removed-from-cars/984081/257 "2026-10-05T07:00:25Z")
EAS may or may not be bullshit, but EAM is not: > **[High Frequency Global Communications System](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Frequency_Global_Communications_System)** > > The High Frequency Global Communications System (HFGCS) is a network of single sideband shortwave transmitters of the United States Air Force which is used to communicate with aircraft in flight, ground stations and some United States Navy surface assets. All worldwide receiving and transmitting sites in the HFGCS system are remotely controlled from Andrews Air Force Base and Grand Forks Air Force Base. Before 1 October 2002 it was known as the Global High Frequency System (GHFS). HFGCS stations ... Armageddon, indeed. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2026, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-radio-being-removed-from-cars/984081/258 "2026-10-05T08:04:20Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > > [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > > > We needed AM radio during the San Francisco earthquake of 1989 and the I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis when thousands of people were stuck in their cars. > > > > We needed AM radio during the historic Mississippi River floods when levees were breaking and Emergency Managment bulletins were being issued every 10 minutes telling people to evacuate this or that tiny community. > > How many of those folks had 5G smartphones? None of them. That didn’t exist. It’s a good thing they had AM in their cars. > [@Smapti](#): > > If the EAS alert can tell me to tune to AM 980, it can tell me what AM 980 would be able to tell me. It really can’t. I’d tell you why but you’d just shoot it all down anyway. You don’t seem to accept that it’s not just some dudes on the SDMB but also pertinent experts who believe that AM car radio is an important safety feature. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2026, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-radio-being-removed-from-cars/984081/259 "2026-10-05T09:12:33Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > None of them. That didn’t exist. It’s a good thing they had AM in their cars. Then I guess it’s a good thing it’s not 1927 anymore. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2026, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-radio-being-removed-from-cars/984081/260 "2026-10-05T11:58:38Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > doesn’t mean Congress has to mandate that Sean Hannity have access to my drive time Y’know, we can argue the usefulness and possible obsolescence of the technology, and the wisdom of industry-protectionist measures. That should be neutral to whether we detest some of the content and the ownership. ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2026, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-radio-being-removed-from-cars/984081/261 "2026-10-05T12:24:10Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > whenever the EAS goes off, Mayor Hoss runs to the radio station to give instructions to his peoples? You’re under estimating the coverage of AM radio. On a clear night, an AM transmitter in Chicago can be heard all the way into Mexico. During the day, a Miami AM radio station covers most of the Caribbean. EAS has 77 hardened radio transmitters, with battery backups. They can cover the entire country, the wilderness, the territorial waters, and beyond. There’s no other system that can do that. And then you’re underestimating the requirements for Mayor Hoss to run a radio station. He has to support the EAS with weekly and monthly drills as well as monitor two other stations in the case of missed EAS messages. But if he drops the ball or dies, there are still those primary transmitters covering the area. * * * EAS pushes to AM and FM radio, TV, satellite radio, etc. As a result, it’s not just a bunch of transmitters, it’s a complex system of procedures, alert codes and messages, and regulations. We can’t just start tossing parts of it away until there is a replacement. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-radio-being-removed-from-cars/984081.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-radio-being-removed-from-cars/984081.md?page=14)