When I was a kid, my dad used to drive me to work with him during the summers. He had this 1990s-era Mercedes-Benz, and every morning we’d listen to New York AM radio on the way in. Imus in the morning on 660 WFAN, and news on WCBS 880 on the way home. It felt like everyone was tuned in. But a lot has changed, and now Congress is stepping in to keep AM radio alive.
Learn more in my latest video.
There’s a bill moving through Congress that will require all vehicles sold in the U.S.—electric, gas, whatever—to include an AM radio. It has bipartisan support, with 60 co-sponsors in the Senate and 241 in the House. All of this support across the political divide means that this actually might happen. Plus, many members of Congress appear on morning AM radio programs so they have a personal connection to their local stations.
Tesla and BMW haven’t included AM radios in their electric vehicles for over a decade. More recently, other manufacturers have removed AM radios from their EVs and hybrids. The motors in electric vehicles interfere with AM reception because they resonate on similar frequencies to AM radio broadcasts. Automakers have instead opted to offer FM or digital streaming options. In some cases, you can even get AM radio through an HD FM subchannel. That workaround seems to have satisfied most customers so far as there hasn’t been a huge consumer outcry.
Still, the bill would give the Department of Transportation a year to write rules requiring all new vehicles to receive AM broadcasts. There’s a small out for EVs: they can meet the requirement with a digital-only AM receiver, which may be easier to implement. The bill also orders a GAO study on emergency alerts and whether AM is still the best option. There’s a 10-year sunset clause too, so the mandate isn’t forever unless Congress renews it.
The National Association of Broadcasters is backing the bill. That’s not surprising—they see it as essential to preserving AM radio’s role in emergency communications. Senator Ed Markey has been a vocal supporter, citing the unreliability of the internet during emergencies. But it’s worth noting the irony here: while he defends AM as a critical emergency resource, broadcasters are encrypting over-the-air TV signals, which in many cases require an Internet connection to tune into. If emergency access is the priority, maybe it’s time to talk about over-the-air TV encryption too.
On the other side, the Consumer Technology Association is spending heavily to oppose the bill. They argue that nearly everyone now gets emergency alerts through their phones. They cite a survey showing 95% of people remembered getting an alert on their smartphones during a nationwide test, compared to just 1% who heard it on AM radio.
Industry estimates suggest it could cost $3.8 billion to reintroduce AM radios into EVs. Shielding, filters, multiple antennas—it’s not a simple fix. But the law only says a car has to have an AM radio, not that it works particularly well. So automakers may just aim for “good enough.”
AM radio’s advantage is its reach. Because it operates at lower frequencies than FM, its signals travel much farther—especially at night. A powerful AM station can broadcast 100 to 200 miles during the day and sometimes thousands of miles further after dark, thanks to atmospheric bounce. That makes it valuable in emergencies, especially if power is out and people are fleeing in their cars. FM doesn’t cover the same ground, even at similar power levels.
Still, listenership trends are hard to ignore. Back in 2009, the FCC found that just 4% of 12–24-year-olds listened to AM radio. Even among 25–34-year-olds, it was only 9%. The median AM listener back then was 57 years old. In my own YouTube poll, 72% of respondents said they don’t listen to AM radio at all. Just 5% use a streaming app to tune in. It’s anecdotal, sure, but it lines up with national trends.
Despite all that, traditional radio—AM and FM—is still surprisingly strong. A 2022 Pew/Nielsen study found that 82% of Americans tune into radio weekly, and nearly half get some news from it. But podcasting is clearly catching up. According to Edison Research, daily podcast listening has skyrocketed across every age group since 2017. That growth is particularly pronounced among older adults—radio’s core audience.
What’s striking from the Edison Research report is that people mostly listen to podcasts at home. In the car, it’s still over the air AM/FM radio. And most people still commute alone by car according to Census data. Some of the comments on my YouTube poll echoed this. Respondents who retired or no longer have a commute stopped listening to the radio.
So if the radio disappears from the dashboard and a podcast button shows up instead, that’s a major threat to broadcasters. This bill feels like an effort to hold off that transition for just a little while longer.
This mandate, if it passes, won’t turn back the clock and will likely result in interference-ridden radio buttons that EV drivers won’t tune into.