QOTD: Should AM Radio Go Extinct?
Automakers want to get rid of AM radio, apparently.
Mostly because it can interfere with some new technologies.
Should they?
As Matt Posky points out, Congress wants to keep it around. Conservatives like it because of religious and political talk, liberals like it because of its usefulness in an emergency.
I like AM radio, too, but not for politics -- I listen to it for news and sports talk (which, yes, could move to FM easily enough). I've also not noticed too much in the way of interference when testing an EV that also has AM radio.
That's just me. What's your take?
Sound off below
[Image: JoshBryan/Shutterstock.com]
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Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.
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I use Pandora because Mazda's integration is decent and I have really grown to dislike Android Auto. I wouldn't miss AM, but I don't really see a reason to get rid of it, especially given the small percentages we are talking with EV's. The narrative has been that eventually EV's will take over, but that narrative seems to have stalled
In Germany you would not only be required to have this radio, but also, required to pay for it, just like Germans pay separate fees for having public TV