Then those people should buy a battery-powered radio and stick it in the trunk.
They don’t need to do anything to take out the satellite radio network, as that’s already too unreliable even without the emergency. It takes out FM and the cell network by virtue of being a friggin’ earthquake, tornado, or hurricane. I have no idea what the relevance of TV is supposed to be. AM radio is left intact by virtue of being far enough away that it didn’t take a direct hit, because it’s really long range.
And how often is this scenario playing out where a preventable death is being caused by a car not having a built-in AM radio?
A problem with the AM radio as emergency notification system is the original federal mandate to have an emergency notification system came in when AM radios were the only kind there were. In cars, at home, or anywhere else.
As soon as FM broadcast entertainment radio was invented, many drivers switched to listening to FM instead. There could be emergency alerts blaring on the AM system and FM listeners will never know.
Now, with Sirius, streaming, etc., it’s worse. While I’m driving, the odds on me being tuned to an AM station are very, very close to zero. I’m tuned to something else using different tech. FM, Sirius, streaming, YouTube, it doesn’t matter what. It sure ain’t AM. I’m sure not everybody, but in this narrow area my experience probably represents a hefty fraction of everyone who’s not a far-rural dweller or traveller.
And if all those other systems can deliver the message “There is an emergency; turn your AM radio to 540” to me, they can equally well deliver whatever content is playing on AM 540.
It is nice to keep AM radios in cars until a modern replacement is engineered, mandated, installed, and operational. That’s sound public policy in action.
But keeping AM receivers alive when there is no real market for it in order to enable the Feds to skip the hard work of engineering and mandating, well that’s cheap half ass work. So totally typical of the last 20 years of Federal everything, not to mention the absolute shitshow of the last 2.
Never, if all cars have built-in AM radios, of course.
If that weren’t the case? Lots.
Allow former FEMA director Pete Gaynor, writing in 2024, to describe a couple scenarios for you.
@Smapti, at this point you’re just doubling down on a flimsy strawman argument that was never very reasonable anyway. Nobody’s claiming that other non-AM-radio communication systems won’t eventually get information about an emergency to everyone affected by it. The point is that having AM radio as widely and easily accessible as it currently is significantly increases the speed and reliability of emergency communication.
You’re advocating that our regulatory structure should deliberately scrap that current level of accessiblity merely to potentially save auto buyers something like fifty bucks per vehicle. (And the idea that the change would somehow meaningfully undermine right-wing political-entertainment media is ludicrous. Hell, satellite radio nowadays is a huge vehicle for conservative talk shows like SiriusXM Patriot. If you want to discourage garbage propaganda media, re-regulate broadcasting for fairness and accuracy criteria, rather than trying to attack it through (one non-essential component of) its physical technology.)
Like I said, a key feature of effective maximum-reach emergency communication systems is that they should be built-in, not opt-in.
All of your tapdancing around the issue with “well, people can just do this other thing instead!” and “well, suppose the intended communication doesn’t happen!” is ignoring the fundamental fact that the current requirement of AM radio access in cars makes emergency communication more effective, and thus keeps more people safer, than not requiring AM radio access in cars. Sorry dude, but on issues like these I definitely trust the Biden FEMA’s judgement more than I trust your bee-bonneted layperson’s take on it.
Can’t have it both ways, though. If it’s sound public policy to keep AM radios mandatory in cars until that technology is replaced by a more effective equally mandatory form of communication, then it’s not sound public policy to stop making AM mandatory before we’ve got a better substitute to make mandatory instead. Don’t just tear down the leaky roof first thing and leave the house exposed while you eventually get around to designing and installing a roof that doesn’t leak.
Those 530 AM radio announcements are a godsend for those of us who have to drive over the Hood Canal Bridge in the north part of the Puget Sound. I’ve received very helpful info multiple times. That bridge gets closed frequently, sometimes for emergency purposes, and that’s the best way to find out why and what kind of ETA I’m looking at.
I’m not seeing the leap from “AM radios are nice to have in an emergency” to “Congress must mandate that every motorist have the means to listen to Sean Hannity”, which is the real reason this bill is being pushed. The argument that an AM radio is an indispensable piece of automobile safety equipment is the strawman and they’re not exactly keeping that a secret.
If AM radio is such a critical must-have that no human being should ever be without for any length of time, are we going to mandate AM tuners in cell phones? More people own cell phones than cars. I don’t own a car - I guess I’m doomed when all mass communication grinds to a halt because the aliens have landed and I have no way of knowing because I’m riding the bus like it’s an ordinary day.
Thank you, @Monty, for attempting to introduce a couple of other Stupid MFer topics into this thread.
And may I just say about AM radios in cars:
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRG!
Ahem. Thank you.
You know what costs less than fifty bucks?
And you don’t even have to drain your car battery to use it!
The AM radio that’s being mandated. The law prohibits automakers from charging buyers extra for the AM radio.
Because they want to subject you to propaganda while you drive.
Meanwhile, per my cite, this rule will cost automakers billions of dollars to redesign models to tolerate AM receivers. You think that’s NOT getting passed on to the consumer?
FUCK. OFF.
And not before but after. 9 years ago here in PR. Hurricane Maria. Arrived at dawn 20/9/2017. Took out entire power grid and great big chunks of comms network including microwave relays and FM/TV repeaters. Got big swaths of the island w/o cellular coverage. By 8 pm the only broadcast service left were two AM stations. So for a night, if the whole chain from your nearest cel tower to the fiber cable backbone was not still both physically up and powered, your only info feed WAS AM radio which covered the whole island. It is not inherently a useless or redundant medium.
Whether it is wise even so to take what are really industry-protectionist (not safety) legal mandate measures to keep the stations in business is a debatable issue of its own. (And like was said just above, the technology is not to blame for the content, deregulation is.)
Calling AM radio obsolete is ignorant. We know who the stupid MFer is. And when pointed out how stupid they are they throw a Trumpian tantrum.
BTW prior thread on the whole AM radio issue:
If there’s no power and I don’t know when I’m going to be able to gas up again, I’m not gonna sitting in the car burning fuel so I can listen to the radio, now am I? I’m gonna be indoors with my $5 portable that runs on D cells.
As motor vehicle safety equipment, it is.
My previous three cellphones here in China came with AM radio already installed. That seems to no longer be a thing. My current one definitely doesn’t have it.
I’m all for a new technology that can provide the same connectivity an AM radio has. Maybe a button that you push that immediately connects to emergency info and plays over car speakers. Of course, it needs to have the widespread connectivity and availabilty that AM radio does. Cell signals and satellite are more limited than AM.
Until we have such a thing, AM radio is the most viable source we have and making it mandatory is responsible.