The end of AM radio?
May 14, 2023 4:11 PM Subscribe
In the Washington Post, End of a love affair: AM radio is being removed from many cars.
(archive link.) This is new cars; they aren't actually coming to take your old one.)
Conservative outrage with BMW, VW, & Ford's announcement; people bemoan the loss of access to local radio but nobody's recalling how Clear Channel stole that, years ago.
More, in the Farm Journal: Dead Noise AM radio could soon be phased out; and at theDrive, Here's Why Automakers Are Starting to Drop AM Radio in New Cars.
Some background: AM (amplitude modulation) radio has always been the home of Sports and Christian broadcasting in the US. The simplest radios and the first to appear in cars, the sound of AM suffers from solid obstacles and nearby electrical interference, like from fluorescent lights and electric motors; OTOH reception improves significantly at night. Through the 1950s and 60s it was also the home of Top40 music but tastes changed in the 1970s and 80s, and it's currently the place to find conservative 'talk radio' programming.
FM (frequency modulation) has far superior fidelity and stereo possibilities via multiplexing. Classical music stations were the first to colonize it, many of which are non-commercial, public radio stations (funded by the public, for the most part; NPR is not analogous to the BBC). These cluster at the lower end of the FM dial, separate from the rest of the spectrum, now mostly occupied by commercial pop music stations.
How about you, will you miss AM? Myself, I haven't tuned into those static-y wavebands for years, decades... yet, the medium was once as important as the internet.
More, in the Farm Journal: Dead Noise AM radio could soon be phased out; and at theDrive, Here's Why Automakers Are Starting to Drop AM Radio in New Cars.
Some background: AM (amplitude modulation) radio has always been the home of Sports and Christian broadcasting in the US. The simplest radios and the first to appear in cars, the sound of AM suffers from solid obstacles and nearby electrical interference, like from fluorescent lights and electric motors; OTOH reception improves significantly at night. Through the 1950s and 60s it was also the home of Top40 music but tastes changed in the 1970s and 80s, and it's currently the place to find conservative 'talk radio' programming.
FM (frequency modulation) has far superior fidelity and stereo possibilities via multiplexing. Classical music stations were the first to colonize it, many of which are non-commercial, public radio stations (funded by the public, for the most part; NPR is not analogous to the BBC). These cluster at the lower end of the FM dial, separate from the rest of the spectrum, now mostly occupied by commercial pop music stations.
How about you, will you miss AM? Myself, I haven't tuned into those static-y wavebands for years, decades... yet, the medium was once as important as the internet.
AM radio is only good for baseball games, preferably listened to from the bench seat of an old pickup truck. I know it's used for other things, but that's its only good use.
posted by maxwelton at 4:21 PM on May 14, 2023 [54 favorites]
posted by maxwelton at 4:21 PM on May 14, 2023 [54 favorites]
When I was in my mid-late teens, we had a local AM program here, Saturday Morning Rock Show or something similarly named. 3-4 hours of just local music. After a couple of years they expanded to include more regional music (so, wider definition of "local") but always stuff you could reasonably expect to go see for cheap within a few hours' drive at most. As a low-income suburban kid it was this amazing line into urbanity and culture and the arts and I'll be forever grateful for the experiences I had as part of that.
Local public radio still has some pseudo-mirroring on the AM bands, I think, where they turn it over to the weirder, more experimental playlists, ducking most of the commercials and corporate obligations.
Anytime I hear music on an AM station - or with some filtering to make it sound like that, in media - it summons this deep feeling of connection in me. The first tentative steps we took to send our hearts out into the background noise of the universe, picked up on old cars and handhelds.
posted by curious nu at 4:23 PM on May 14, 2023 [17 favorites]
Local public radio still has some pseudo-mirroring on the AM bands, I think, where they turn it over to the weirder, more experimental playlists, ducking most of the commercials and corporate obligations.
Anytime I hear music on an AM station - or with some filtering to make it sound like that, in media - it summons this deep feeling of connection in me. The first tentative steps we took to send our hearts out into the background noise of the universe, picked up on old cars and handhelds.
posted by curious nu at 4:23 PM on May 14, 2023 [17 favorites]
I guess I should share this anecdote. In the 80s I bought a used car that only had an AM radio. My car was broken into and the radio was ripped out, stolen. I imagined the fence seeing it and laughing his ass off.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 4:23 PM on May 14, 2023 [16 favorites]
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 4:23 PM on May 14, 2023 [16 favorites]
I used to listen to Coast to Coast with Art Bell on the way home from my McDonald’s job at 3am when I was 16. Also tuned it between stations and listened for static when camping, which happened when there was lightning in the distance.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 4:28 PM on May 14, 2023 [31 favorites]
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 4:28 PM on May 14, 2023 [31 favorites]
I seldom tune into AM except on the admittedly rare occasions when I want to listen to a baseball or college basketball game when I'm driving - or when I enjoy listening to a summer baseball game while I sit on the porch or deck, or most importantly, the Indy 500 while I'm grilling a Memorial Day feast (yes, I'm a Hoosier by birth and grew up with the 500 as the aural background to Memorial Day).
That said, do they have to kill it when, as the Post piece makes clear, there are still a handful of reasonable arguments for keeping it around for, say, another 5-10 years? Like everything, I'm sure the actuaries are making the persuasive case, but man is it really that big a deal to just give it another half decade or so?
posted by thecincinnatikid at 4:28 PM on May 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
That said, do they have to kill it when, as the Post piece makes clear, there are still a handful of reasonable arguments for keeping it around for, say, another 5-10 years? Like everything, I'm sure the actuaries are making the persuasive case, but man is it really that big a deal to just give it another half decade or so?
posted by thecincinnatikid at 4:28 PM on May 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
My first foray into music was via AM radio in the early 1970s. I'll always be a bit nostalgic for it, but when I see how it was used later on, I can let it go.
posted by sundrop at 4:34 PM on May 14, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by sundrop at 4:34 PM on May 14, 2023 [5 favorites]
If AM radio is that important, there are aftermarket solutions. Like a new head unit isn't that expensive, but if you truly want to honor the past, why not really create that old-time feel by building your own crystal set, and then, like, I dunno, get a 1/4 inch audio to bluetooth adapter so you can listen to conservative talk radio on your new car.
posted by surlyben at 4:40 PM on May 14, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by surlyben at 4:40 PM on May 14, 2023 [5 favorites]
when I see how it was used later on
Lee de Forest, inventor of the Audion vacuum tube, which made possible live radio broadcasting, sent an open letter to the National Association of Broadcasters (in 1940) in which he demanded: "What have you done with my child, the radio broadcast? You have debased this child, dressed him in rags of ragtime, tatters of jive and boogie-woogie."
posted by Rash at 4:52 PM on May 14, 2023 [28 favorites]
Lee de Forest, inventor of the Audion vacuum tube, which made possible live radio broadcasting, sent an open letter to the National Association of Broadcasters (in 1940) in which he demanded: "What have you done with my child, the radio broadcast? You have debased this child, dressed him in rags of ragtime, tatters of jive and boogie-woogie."
posted by Rash at 4:52 PM on May 14, 2023 [28 favorites]
When I learned how to drive in the mid-late '80s, my dad drove a '72 Beetle that had only an AM radio. I learned on my mom's more modern automatic sedan, but the car I was mostly allowed to drive was that Beetle. You really, really learn how to drive with no power steering, no power clutch, roll down windows and only an AM radio.
posted by SoberHighland at 4:53 PM on May 14, 2023 [19 favorites]
posted by SoberHighland at 4:53 PM on May 14, 2023 [19 favorites]
I wasn't on the internet so much in 2001 so turning KGO ("Newstalk 810") on in my car when starting out for my morning commute was how I learned about 9/11 having happened.
The 20th century is slowly being dismantled and discarded as we go . . .
posted by Heywood Mogroot III at 5:03 PM on May 14, 2023 [13 favorites]
The 20th century is slowly being dismantled and discarded as we go . . .
posted by Heywood Mogroot III at 5:03 PM on May 14, 2023 [13 favorites]
We still had an AM Gold station until last year, and even though it had an FM simulcast, I still tuned in for that classic staticky mono sound.
Then it went conservative talk because it’s the 2020s and we can’t have anything nice.
posted by hwyengr at 5:16 PM on May 14, 2023 [8 favorites]
Then it went conservative talk because it’s the 2020s and we can’t have anything nice.
posted by hwyengr at 5:16 PM on May 14, 2023 [8 favorites]
How about you, will you miss AM?In Australia, AM radio is where people go for emergency information in bushfire/flood and other disasters (because the national broadcaster, ABC, stops its usual broadcasts to act as an information channel). If AM is phased out of new cars here, it is going to be a very bad outcome.
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 5:17 PM on May 14, 2023 [9 favorites]
I admit it. I listen to sports talk radio on the AM. Idiots excitedly arguing about nothing of consequence is my jam.
Also, in my area AM radio is the only legal way to enjoy local sports without paying through the nose for a subscription service. Yeah, I listen to baseball too.
I'm a little annoyed but I'll get over it when the automakers use the savings to make the flying cars we were promised.
posted by rouftop at 5:21 PM on May 14, 2023 [6 favorites]
Also, in my area AM radio is the only legal way to enjoy local sports without paying through the nose for a subscription service. Yeah, I listen to baseball too.
I'm a little annoyed but I'll get over it when the automakers use the savings to make the flying cars we were promised.
posted by rouftop at 5:21 PM on May 14, 2023 [6 favorites]
Despite what conservatives may think, not every move is carefully calculated to stick it directly to them, advance the Grand Liberal New World Order Conspiracy and please George Soros and his Communist Martian masters.
But since AM radio is where most of them learn about the GLNWOC and George Soros's Communist Martian masters in the first place, I'm good with this.
posted by delfin at 5:24 PM on May 14, 2023 [21 favorites]
But since AM radio is where most of them learn about the GLNWOC and George Soros's Communist Martian masters in the first place, I'm good with this.
posted by delfin at 5:24 PM on May 14, 2023 [21 favorites]
... that Beetle. You really, really learn how to drive with no power steering, no power clutch, roll down windows and only an AM radio.
But it probably had a gas gauge. Mine didn't.
Oh yeah, no heat either. But good traction in snow.
posted by MtDewd at 5:24 PM on May 14, 2023 [9 favorites]
But it probably had a gas gauge. Mine didn't.
Oh yeah, no heat either. But good traction in snow.
posted by MtDewd at 5:24 PM on May 14, 2023 [9 favorites]
Oh... radio...
I love the hiss and the lo-fi. But I grew up with ghosting on TV.
posted by MtDewd at 5:26 PM on May 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
I love the hiss and the lo-fi. But I grew up with ghosting on TV.
posted by MtDewd at 5:26 PM on May 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
Also, a big +1 to the notion that baseball is only properly experienced on AM radio.
But since they're not playing baseball this year -- they've replaced it with some weird thing with pitch clocks -- I guess it doesn't matter as much for the moment.
posted by delfin at 5:28 PM on May 14, 2023 [8 favorites]
But since they're not playing baseball this year -- they've replaced it with some weird thing with pitch clocks -- I guess it doesn't matter as much for the moment.
posted by delfin at 5:28 PM on May 14, 2023 [8 favorites]
Good broadcasting can hook me: Monday Night Football 1985, Washington quarterback Joe Theismann was hit by legendary New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor and suffered one of the most gruesome injuries ever described on *any* radio. I was traveling, not sure where or why but I remember the shock in their voices, I'm sure I could find it on a vid but I'd rather hold to that Monday night sense of awe. I don't think Theisman ever played again.
Also. WGN (Worlds Greatest Newspaper) could easy be heard all over Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Wisconsin, et cet and et cet, Peoria was where you'd begin to see people who are not only mentally ill, and spiritually sick, they would even wear clothing so that other insane people would perhaps want to talk in some perverted dialect. One of my cousins even married one of these people, and, worse, one of their sons is as sick as they are. I tried to help him, I reached out, told him that many people can come back to sanity. I may even have offered to pray with him, or for him. He was quizzical until I said "it's that Cardinals hat you wear, and, as usual, turned down my offer to get him his own Cubs hat, he just seemed to get more and more fussy. I just wanted to help, is all.
posted by dancestoblue at 5:44 PM on May 14, 2023 [9 favorites]
Also. WGN (Worlds Greatest Newspaper) could easy be heard all over Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Wisconsin, et cet and et cet, Peoria was where you'd begin to see people who are not only mentally ill, and spiritually sick, they would even wear clothing so that other insane people would perhaps want to talk in some perverted dialect. One of my cousins even married one of these people, and, worse, one of their sons is as sick as they are. I tried to help him, I reached out, told him that many people can come back to sanity. I may even have offered to pray with him, or for him. He was quizzical until I said "it's that Cardinals hat you wear, and, as usual, turned down my offer to get him his own Cubs hat, he just seemed to get more and more fussy. I just wanted to help, is all.
posted by dancestoblue at 5:44 PM on May 14, 2023 [9 favorites]
Northwest Public Radio, the WSU-based NPR station, has an AM repeater that basically blankets most of the state east of the Cascades. It's lesser audio quality than their FM repeaters (and there are many of those!), but it reaches places the FM signal doesn't. I'm glad my vehicles have AM just for that.
posted by hippybear at 5:46 PM on May 14, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 5:46 PM on May 14, 2023 [3 favorites]
I'm a fellow baseball purist (as far as reasons for listening to a radio go - I'm more upset DH in the NL than the pitch clock), and the times are a-changin' there too. Last couple places I've lived, the local sports talk station that aired baseball was on the FM band. The other sports station that aired the college basketball tournament was still AM, but I'd bet it and conservative talk will eventually make their way over to FM.
Personally, I only listen to the radio in my car - if I'm listening to baseball inside the house it's via streaming audio of the radio station.
posted by LionIndex at 5:56 PM on May 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
Personally, I only listen to the radio in my car - if I'm listening to baseball inside the house it's via streaming audio of the radio station.
posted by LionIndex at 5:56 PM on May 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
CBC radio 1 is broadcast on the AM dial, great for news. If CBC keeps publishing the worthwhile radio news segments as podcasts, I’d be ok saying goodbye to AM.
posted by shock muppet at 6:10 PM on May 14, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by shock muppet at 6:10 PM on May 14, 2023 [3 favorites]
It's been a long time since I deliberately tuned into AM radio. But I'll tell you what. It was the 1960's and there was no air conditioning, and there was an AM transistor radio in my pocket. It was playing Stevie Wonder. We don't have anything like that now.
posted by The Half Language Plant at 6:13 PM on May 14, 2023 [11 favorites]
posted by The Half Language Plant at 6:13 PM on May 14, 2023 [11 favorites]
For those who travel/have traveled across vast areas of the USA, there are HUGE areas where the ONLY signal you can pick up is AM. Equally, there are people who still communicate using CB radio and let us not forget Shortwave radio either. Hands up anyone in the US who has even heard of DAB, let alone actually has a device that works with it. I have two which are a relic of time in Europe and they are useless here in the US. The DAB devices (with slot for an iPod even - remember those?) include FM and AM and the local AM stations are exactly that... LOCAL. Like local newspapers or local TV, you are not interested in the quality you are interested in the content.
As usual, there are maps for this to explain the real importance of NOT abandoning AM... here. New tech should not try to shoulder their way in by saying 'Excuse me we are more important than you'. They NEED to work out a solution to the problem they have created. Clearly they have the technology... or perhaps they do not...
posted by IndelibleUnderpants at 6:14 PM on May 14, 2023 [8 favorites]
As usual, there are maps for this to explain the real importance of NOT abandoning AM... here. New tech should not try to shoulder their way in by saying 'Excuse me we are more important than you'. They NEED to work out a solution to the problem they have created. Clearly they have the technology... or perhaps they do not...
posted by IndelibleUnderpants at 6:14 PM on May 14, 2023 [8 favorites]
Wait—AM reception improves at night?
It’s been so long since I listened to AM radio (like, third grade maybe?) that I think the local country station went off the air at like 6 pm, so I must have assumed the reception deteriorated at night.
40-some years without AM radio. I feel cheated.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 6:34 PM on May 14, 2023 [4 favorites]
It’s been so long since I listened to AM radio (like, third grade maybe?) that I think the local country station went off the air at like 6 pm, so I must have assumed the reception deteriorated at night.
40-some years without AM radio. I feel cheated.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 6:34 PM on May 14, 2023 [4 favorites]
For reasons local AM stations went off the air at sundown. Into the night, then, you could tune in to stations from far away. It was kind of magical, when it was all there was.
posted by Rash at 6:40 PM on May 14, 2023 [18 favorites]
posted by Rash at 6:40 PM on May 14, 2023 [18 favorites]
When I was in about third or fourth grade, I was given an AM radio. There was a long-distance station that late at night (starting at 10pm, I think, and running for a few hours), would play heavy metal. I got used to songs like Bang Your Head sounding thin and scratchy, so later hearing them in stereo was an eye-opener.
Then a few years later we moved to a town that had a college radio station, so my life switched to FM and I never looked back.
For those who travel/have traveled across vast areas of the USA, there are HUGE areas where the ONLY signal you can pick up is AM.
About six months ago I was on a multi-state drive and bored at night gave AM a try for the first time in years. I don't know if I was in a dead zone or if my car's AM doesn't actually work right, but I couldn't pick up anything. Long ago, that's all there was for long drives, especially at night, and usually I could find a station playing old country music, with that thin scratchy sound.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:41 PM on May 14, 2023 [3 favorites]
Then a few years later we moved to a town that had a college radio station, so my life switched to FM and I never looked back.
For those who travel/have traveled across vast areas of the USA, there are HUGE areas where the ONLY signal you can pick up is AM.
About six months ago I was on a multi-state drive and bored at night gave AM a try for the first time in years. I don't know if I was in a dead zone or if my car's AM doesn't actually work right, but I couldn't pick up anything. Long ago, that's all there was for long drives, especially at night, and usually I could find a station playing old country music, with that thin scratchy sound.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:41 PM on May 14, 2023 [3 favorites]
I used to listen to radio dramas from a radio station out of Albuquerque at night that I couldn't get during the day. Sunday nights especially.. Old time radio with Fibber McGee and The Shadow, and also CBS Mystery Theater which was still in production at that time.
posted by hippybear at 6:43 PM on May 14, 2023 [7 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 6:43 PM on May 14, 2023 [7 favorites]
This is the worst news for automotive audio since the discontinuation of the Highway Hi-Fi.
posted by phooky at 6:44 PM on May 14, 2023
posted by phooky at 6:44 PM on May 14, 2023
tune to an empty spot on the am dial, monitor lightning strikes in an oncoming storm.
posted by j_curiouser at 6:45 PM on May 14, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by j_curiouser at 6:45 PM on May 14, 2023 [4 favorites]
Explore! It is still there. It is important. Remember CD's? Remember DVD's? Remember cassettes? Remember 8-track? Remember LP's (vinyl)? Remember 33.3's? Remember 78's? Remember reel-to-reel? etc... Nostalgia is not what is used to be....... etc
posted by IndelibleUnderpants at 6:45 PM on May 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by IndelibleUnderpants at 6:45 PM on May 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
I remember Radio Luxomberg!
posted by IndelibleUnderpants at 6:47 PM on May 14, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by IndelibleUnderpants at 6:47 PM on May 14, 2023 [4 favorites]
I was driving across the US towing a camper, and a storm pretty much followed me. I started seeing a bunch of lights and realized it was Spring in Kansas and maybe I should check the weather. FM radio is so programmed that I couldn't find any local weather, but AM radio confirmed that it was a big storm system with the potential for tornadoes, so I parked near a sturdy-ish building and waited it out. The web? Not a bit of data available on the mobile.
I'm old, grew up with a VW bug and AM radio. Local news was a generally good thing, esp. local weather. It must save a dollar or 2 to eliminate AM radio, which seems a bad idea, unless they include the weather band. Many radio stations use (are required to use?) lower power at night, as a kid it was fun to see what stations we could get.
posted by theora55 at 7:12 PM on May 14, 2023 [6 favorites]
I'm old, grew up with a VW bug and AM radio. Local news was a generally good thing, esp. local weather. It must save a dollar or 2 to eliminate AM radio, which seems a bad idea, unless they include the weather band. Many radio stations use (are required to use?) lower power at night, as a kid it was fun to see what stations we could get.
posted by theora55 at 7:12 PM on May 14, 2023 [6 favorites]
Apart from the noise from EV transmissions, there's so much other EM noise out there that can make AM radio unlistenable
posted by scruss at 7:27 PM on May 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by scruss at 7:27 PM on May 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
Yeah, but all that noise is transitory and you can listen well enough when you really want to or need to that it isn't a perfect experience but it isn't a negative experience.
The world of analog is one where you have to accept interference and artifacts, but it isn't a bad one. It's just not one of perfect reception/reproduction.
posted by hippybear at 7:30 PM on May 14, 2023 [7 favorites]
The world of analog is one where you have to accept interference and artifacts, but it isn't a bad one. It's just not one of perfect reception/reproduction.
posted by hippybear at 7:30 PM on May 14, 2023 [7 favorites]
Wait—AM reception improves at night?
It's not that AM reception improves at night but that the propagation of AM radio waves increases after sundown as those radio waves get reflected off the ionosphere at night. Because of the increased propagation the FCC requires a lot of AM stations to either reduce their power or sign off at night so they don't interfere with the signals of other stations.
The increased propagation at night is also why the Northern California teenagers in American Graffiti could listen to Wolfman Jack broadcasting from Mexico. Until the early 1970s some AM stations in Mexico would turn up their wattage at night so that their signal could reach much of the US. It's also the inspiration for Wall of Voodoo's song Mexican Radio.
posted by plastic_animals at 7:33 PM on May 14, 2023 [72 favorites]
It's not that AM reception improves at night but that the propagation of AM radio waves increases after sundown as those radio waves get reflected off the ionosphere at night. Because of the increased propagation the FCC requires a lot of AM stations to either reduce their power or sign off at night so they don't interfere with the signals of other stations.
The increased propagation at night is also why the Northern California teenagers in American Graffiti could listen to Wolfman Jack broadcasting from Mexico. Until the early 1970s some AM stations in Mexico would turn up their wattage at night so that their signal could reach much of the US. It's also the inspiration for Wall of Voodoo's song Mexican Radio.
posted by plastic_animals at 7:33 PM on May 14, 2023 [72 favorites]
Until the early 1970s some AM stations in Mexico would turn up their wattage at night so that their signal could reach much of the US.
Oh, X Rock 80 out of Juarez.
I used to have them on my radio alarm clock when I was in elementary school. I have distinct memories of being awakened by Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft by The Carpenters and in my waking befuddlement being VERY confused.
posted by hippybear at 7:39 PM on May 14, 2023 [7 favorites]
Oh, X Rock 80 out of Juarez.
I used to have them on my radio alarm clock when I was in elementary school. I have distinct memories of being awakened by Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft by The Carpenters and in my waking befuddlement being VERY confused.
posted by hippybear at 7:39 PM on May 14, 2023 [7 favorites]
It's not that AM reception improves at night but that the propagation of AM radio waves increases after sundown as those radio waves get reflected off the ionosphere at night.
This is basically the same thing. You can get more stations at night. The reception improves. Because the waves bounce around.
Shortwave also does this.
posted by hippybear at 7:40 PM on May 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
This is basically the same thing. You can get more stations at night. The reception improves. Because the waves bounce around.
Shortwave also does this.
posted by hippybear at 7:40 PM on May 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
I have a nostalgia for an AM radio world that went extinct decades ago. It's an increasingly rare occasion I have use for the AM band these days. As rare a need for AM as I have, there are still large swaths of the US that still depend on AM for commercial radio broadcasting.
I am curious how much effort it takes to continue including it in new radios. Cars have long had to contend with ignition noise that would otherwise plague their AM tuners. My guess is that radios are DSP based and needs fewer of the things unique to AM radios of the past, like the coils and capacitors specific to the medium wave spectrum. I have a teeny new DSP based $10 pocket faux-analog "transistor radio" on my desk right now that seems to work fine on the AM setting with the miniscule ferrite rod antenna inside it, even with all the modern electronics buzzing around my house right now. As much as I like analog electronics for some things, I find these cheap DSP radios are better suited for casual AM/FM listening.
posted by 2N2222 at 7:47 PM on May 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
I am curious how much effort it takes to continue including it in new radios. Cars have long had to contend with ignition noise that would otherwise plague their AM tuners. My guess is that radios are DSP based and needs fewer of the things unique to AM radios of the past, like the coils and capacitors specific to the medium wave spectrum. I have a teeny new DSP based $10 pocket faux-analog "transistor radio" on my desk right now that seems to work fine on the AM setting with the miniscule ferrite rod antenna inside it, even with all the modern electronics buzzing around my house right now. As much as I like analog electronics for some things, I find these cheap DSP radios are better suited for casual AM/FM listening.
posted by 2N2222 at 7:47 PM on May 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
I used to listen to Coast to Coast with Art Bell
Ditto. (We were especially fond of his "Ghost to Ghost" segments.) Tho we dropped it after Art left (RIP) and was replaced by George Noory, who started giving more airtime to the likes of Alex Jones and, eventually, anti-vax conspiracists. Not that I'm saying it's not worth keeping, but I'd be lying if we've tuned in to anything on AM since then (of course I'm not a sports fan, and the local oldies stations have disappeared or gone online, so take that as you will)
posted by gtrwolf at 7:49 PM on May 14, 2023 [4 favorites]
Ditto. (We were especially fond of his "Ghost to Ghost" segments.) Tho we dropped it after Art left (RIP) and was replaced by George Noory, who started giving more airtime to the likes of Alex Jones and, eventually, anti-vax conspiracists. Not that I'm saying it's not worth keeping, but I'd be lying if we've tuned in to anything on AM since then (of course I'm not a sports fan, and the local oldies stations have disappeared or gone online, so take that as you will)
posted by gtrwolf at 7:49 PM on May 14, 2023 [4 favorites]
WPGC in DC used to have a daytime AM broadcast of more local-focused music in the 70s and 80s. I'm pretty sure I learned about go-go there, and even at an early age I definitely got exposed to (and fell in love with) more urban-focused music than my parents would have liked. So, thanks AM radio!
When I was more of a ski-bum than I am now, I used to regularly drive long distances, at night, in often questionable, sometimes terrible weather. The background-noise soundtrack that I want for those drives is AM talk or news radio. I'm not sure what it is about the sound that keeps me awake and focused on the road, yet relaxed enough to drive consciously in the slippery stuff... but basically nothing else worked as well. Outside of that, or the occasional football game, I haven't intentionally turned on AM radio in years. I'm not sure that I'm likely to miss it, though I sure am curious if the FCC is going to reallocate the frequencies.
Wavelengths on the AM broadcast band are hundreds of meters long. Effective antennas are inherently huge (and many are built on or near water, frequently to get a sufficiently large ground plane to be the other side of the antenna). Curiously, I will miss those. There's a certain beauty to an array of AM broadcast towers.
posted by toxic at 7:56 PM on May 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
When I was more of a ski-bum than I am now, I used to regularly drive long distances, at night, in often questionable, sometimes terrible weather. The background-noise soundtrack that I want for those drives is AM talk or news radio. I'm not sure what it is about the sound that keeps me awake and focused on the road, yet relaxed enough to drive consciously in the slippery stuff... but basically nothing else worked as well. Outside of that, or the occasional football game, I haven't intentionally turned on AM radio in years. I'm not sure that I'm likely to miss it, though I sure am curious if the FCC is going to reallocate the frequencies.
Wavelengths on the AM broadcast band are hundreds of meters long. Effective antennas are inherently huge (and many are built on or near water, frequently to get a sufficiently large ground plane to be the other side of the antenna). Curiously, I will miss those. There's a certain beauty to an array of AM broadcast towers.
posted by toxic at 7:56 PM on May 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
WINS 1010 and WCBS 880. Listen to them regularly in the car for news and traffic.
When I had a job delivering flowers in HS, the only radio in the van was AM. WABC played top 40 I recall (Maybe incorrectly).
Listening to Casey Casum American Top 40 was always better than anything else in that van.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 7:59 PM on May 14, 2023 [5 favorites]
When I had a job delivering flowers in HS, the only radio in the van was AM. WABC played top 40 I recall (Maybe incorrectly).
Listening to Casey Casum American Top 40 was always better than anything else in that van.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 7:59 PM on May 14, 2023 [5 favorites]
I wonder how much of an impact this will actually have? I'm going to go on the old bias that older people are slower to adopt new technology (I still listen to music I own, rather than stream, for example), but that all the various satellite radio that have become the norm have been the norm for so long that, well, most older people still driving probably have come to terms with it, and have since moved on.
What a world this could have been, though, if AM had been done away with years and years ago? I only ever willingly listened to it for sports shows, and even those are mostly just a cesspool of loud assholes trying to be the loudest, biggest asshole to bring in the ratings. My childhood was filled with afternoon drives around town in our AM radio only mini-van, with my ostensibly liberal mother not bothering to change the channel and letting Rush Limbaugh play until I started just turning off the radio rather than listen to his poison. What if, in this other timeline, where everything is fine, and there was a perfectly good reason to do away with AM, there was just never a place to put conservative talk shows? What if Limbaugh had just stayed in Sacramento, being miserable and awful, but never reaching any kind of national audience? I'm just going to ponder what kind of butterfly effect that world got, where maybe people are just in general nicer to each other, and the standard national attitude towards people different than oneself isn't defaulted at rage and hatred.
posted by Ghidorah at 8:08 PM on May 14, 2023 [13 favorites]
What a world this could have been, though, if AM had been done away with years and years ago? I only ever willingly listened to it for sports shows, and even those are mostly just a cesspool of loud assholes trying to be the loudest, biggest asshole to bring in the ratings. My childhood was filled with afternoon drives around town in our AM radio only mini-van, with my ostensibly liberal mother not bothering to change the channel and letting Rush Limbaugh play until I started just turning off the radio rather than listen to his poison. What if, in this other timeline, where everything is fine, and there was a perfectly good reason to do away with AM, there was just never a place to put conservative talk shows? What if Limbaugh had just stayed in Sacramento, being miserable and awful, but never reaching any kind of national audience? I'm just going to ponder what kind of butterfly effect that world got, where maybe people are just in general nicer to each other, and the standard national attitude towards people different than oneself isn't defaulted at rage and hatred.
posted by Ghidorah at 8:08 PM on May 14, 2023 [13 favorites]
I am nostalgic for what AM was: Twins baseball and the ag report and Gopher football games.
I am disgusted about what it has become: a sink of blather and hate.
Like a relationship that turns toxic, I say it's OK to let go of AM. Can satellite radio fill that niche for folks who aren't served by other terrestrial radio?
posted by wenestvedt at 8:09 PM on May 14, 2023 [6 favorites]
I am disgusted about what it has become: a sink of blather and hate.
Like a relationship that turns toxic, I say it's OK to let go of AM. Can satellite radio fill that niche for folks who aren't served by other terrestrial radio?
posted by wenestvedt at 8:09 PM on May 14, 2023 [6 favorites]
If satellite radio didn't have a monthly recurring charge, I'd be all over that like cheese on a tuna melt.
posted by hippybear at 8:11 PM on May 14, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 8:11 PM on May 14, 2023 [5 favorites]
I wonder how much of an impact this will actually have? I'm going to go on the old bias that older people are slower to adopt new technology (I still listen to music I own, rather than stream, for example), but that all the various satellite radio that have become the norm have been the norm for so long that, well, most older people still driving probably have come to terms with it, and have since moved on.
I'm guessing that it's the older folks who can't afford/can't be bothered with/whose decades-old cars aren't compatible with satellite radio who are still the main consumers of AM radio (especially of the right-wing stations). Once said demographic has died off (and with the younger folks able to get their hate quota via streaming and social media sources), not even the conservatives will mourn AM radio's passing.
posted by gtrwolf at 8:20 PM on May 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
I'm guessing that it's the older folks who can't afford/can't be bothered with/whose decades-old cars aren't compatible with satellite radio who are still the main consumers of AM radio (especially of the right-wing stations). Once said demographic has died off (and with the younger folks able to get their hate quota via streaming and social media sources), not even the conservatives will mourn AM radio's passing.
posted by gtrwolf at 8:20 PM on May 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
I listen to AM radio, WBSM 1420 out of New Bedford MA, on my brief 7-12 minute commute twice a day 5 days a week. Sure it is mostly local crackpot right wing stuff, but I catch ABC news at the top of the hour, then local news, weather, goofy local ads...I've even called in a couple times. At home we keep the radio on almost all the time, tuned to our local FM non profit station.
Also the baseball thing, I listened to so many Yankee games on a tiny am radio when I was a dogwalker in NYC, and I can tune 1010 WNS late at night even now.
AM will survive in some form, I hope. Yes most of what is on those stations sucks now but without this tech there would have never been so many things we take for granted.
posted by vrakatar at 8:31 PM on May 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
Also the baseball thing, I listened to so many Yankee games on a tiny am radio when I was a dogwalker in NYC, and I can tune 1010 WNS late at night even now.
AM will survive in some form, I hope. Yes most of what is on those stations sucks now but without this tech there would have never been so many things we take for granted.
posted by vrakatar at 8:31 PM on May 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
Wait—AM reception improves at night?
you bet - that's how the grand ole opry managed to broadcast through a significant part of the south and midwest - lower michigan included
also in battle creek, i was able, with a good antenna and radio, to pick up wabc in new york city - on a good night all sorts of radio stations could appear as one turned the dial
even during the daytime, one could get pretty good reception if you had a real good radio - mine was my grandparents' philco ford radio from the 30s which was a magnificent machine - unlike most kids i could actually hear those motown bass lines on my radio
i mean i still miss the top 40
still, i don't know what the conservatives are complaining about - i've noticed that some of them have been slithering into the fm dial - and also there's this economic philosophy that says that if people want something badly enough, they'll pay for it, instead of relying on the government to pass a law for them so they'll get it - i'm sure they've heard of it - they may have even talked about it from time to time
i mean all this talk about how the government should make car manufacturers put am radios in cars is fucking socialism, right?
posted by pyramid termite at 8:31 PM on May 14, 2023 [14 favorites]
you bet - that's how the grand ole opry managed to broadcast through a significant part of the south and midwest - lower michigan included
also in battle creek, i was able, with a good antenna and radio, to pick up wabc in new york city - on a good night all sorts of radio stations could appear as one turned the dial
even during the daytime, one could get pretty good reception if you had a real good radio - mine was my grandparents' philco ford radio from the 30s which was a magnificent machine - unlike most kids i could actually hear those motown bass lines on my radio
i mean i still miss the top 40
still, i don't know what the conservatives are complaining about - i've noticed that some of them have been slithering into the fm dial - and also there's this economic philosophy that says that if people want something badly enough, they'll pay for it, instead of relying on the government to pass a law for them so they'll get it - i'm sure they've heard of it - they may have even talked about it from time to time
i mean all this talk about how the government should make car manufacturers put am radios in cars is fucking socialism, right?
posted by pyramid termite at 8:31 PM on May 14, 2023 [14 favorites]
Until the early 1970s some AM stations in Mexico would turn up their wattage at night so that their signal could reach much of the US. It's also the inspiration for Wall of Voodoo's song Mexican Radio.
Well, that, and there are stations broadcasting US content from transmitters in Mexico, even on the FM dial, that are really only intending to hit the local market. San Diego has a few stations with studios in the US but their transmitter is in Mexico so they have call letters starting with X, and they regularly air Mexican government PSAs that have been translated into English. San Diego's original Fox affiliate was also technically a Mexican TV station. Border Blasters
posted by LionIndex at 9:01 PM on May 14, 2023 [3 favorites]
Well, that, and there are stations broadcasting US content from transmitters in Mexico, even on the FM dial, that are really only intending to hit the local market. San Diego has a few stations with studios in the US but their transmitter is in Mexico so they have call letters starting with X, and they regularly air Mexican government PSAs that have been translated into English. San Diego's original Fox affiliate was also technically a Mexican TV station. Border Blasters
posted by LionIndex at 9:01 PM on May 14, 2023 [3 favorites]
I'm guessing that it's the older folks who can't afford/can't be bothered with/whose decades-old cars aren't compatible with satellite radio who are still the main consumers of AM radio
I crumpled into dust reading this.
posted by rouftop at 9:04 PM on May 14, 2023 [6 favorites]
I crumpled into dust reading this.
posted by rouftop at 9:04 PM on May 14, 2023 [6 favorites]
WPGC in DC used to have a daytime AM broadcast of more local-focused music in the 70s and 80s
That station, to which I was glued in the late 60s like a modern young person to TikTok, has an extensive tribute site.
posted by Rash at 9:16 PM on May 14, 2023 [3 favorites]
That station, to which I was glued in the late 60s like a modern young person to TikTok, has an extensive tribute site.
posted by Rash at 9:16 PM on May 14, 2023 [3 favorites]
NOOOO
posted by amtho at 9:42 PM on May 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by amtho at 9:42 PM on May 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
All those times in the late 80s. Driving back and forth from the midwest to the west coast and vice versa. Late nights listening to Sally Jesse Raphael on TalkNet. Tuning in stations from Cincinnati and other points east. Weird stuff like driving through Tennessee, somehow getting that "liberal talk radio" station that went out of business, and the bumper music is Grateful Dead, and you go over a hill and down into a hollow, and it fades out for a second, and then comes back with a fire and brimstone preacher...
AM is magic.
posted by Windopaene at 9:43 PM on May 14, 2023 [7 favorites]
AM is magic.
posted by Windopaene at 9:43 PM on May 14, 2023 [7 favorites]
The increased propagation at night is also why the Northern California teenagers in American Graffiti could listen to Wolfman Jack broadcasting from Mexico. Until the early 1970s some AM stations in Mexico would turn up their wattage at night so that their signal could reach much of the US. It's also the inspiration for Wall of Voodoo's song Mexican Radio.--plastic_animals
I used to do that! When I was supposed to be in bed sleeping, I had my transistor radio under my pillow with an earplug and I'd listen to Wolfman Jack playing rock music from Mexico, reaching to San Francisco. Yes, the person in American Graffiti was the actual guy--he ended doing a lot of things after his start as a Mexican Pirate Radio DJ.
posted by eye of newt at 12:11 AM on May 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
I used to do that! When I was supposed to be in bed sleeping, I had my transistor radio under my pillow with an earplug and I'd listen to Wolfman Jack playing rock music from Mexico, reaching to San Francisco. Yes, the person in American Graffiti was the actual guy--he ended doing a lot of things after his start as a Mexican Pirate Radio DJ.
posted by eye of newt at 12:11 AM on May 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
I guess despite my assertion about baseball, I must profess listening to AM in high school: KJET 1590. The only place you'd ever be likely to hear anything by the bands mentioned in Instant Club Hit (or said song itself, for that matter). The single bright spot on the AM dial, appropriately right at the end of it. Easily the best station on the air in this area in the 1980s.
posted by maxwelton at 2:14 AM on May 15, 2023
posted by maxwelton at 2:14 AM on May 15, 2023
So many comments. So many memories.
1st car only had AM and so I know a swath of 50s-60s pop "oldies" by heart.
Driving across empty parts of the US West at night, listening to whatever AM station would come in miles away from any town.
Those voices out of darkness, keeping me company in the lonely stillness.
What would they play? Who knows. What might they be talking about? No way of guessing and possibly no context to explain. But still, other people out there somewhere. Crackle and warmth, going in and out of range.
Park radio. Community radio. Oldies. Talk. Farm news. Sports.
I miss the unexpected. Having every song I can think of to listen to still never brings the serendipity of someone else's choices.
With time, all these surrendered, slowly to conglomerates buying them and conservative jabber radio. I guess they're mostly dead now.
posted by allium cepa at 2:16 AM on May 15, 2023 [12 favorites]
1st car only had AM and so I know a swath of 50s-60s pop "oldies" by heart.
Driving across empty parts of the US West at night, listening to whatever AM station would come in miles away from any town.
Those voices out of darkness, keeping me company in the lonely stillness.
What would they play? Who knows. What might they be talking about? No way of guessing and possibly no context to explain. But still, other people out there somewhere. Crackle and warmth, going in and out of range.
Park radio. Community radio. Oldies. Talk. Farm news. Sports.
I miss the unexpected. Having every song I can think of to listen to still never brings the serendipity of someone else's choices.
With time, all these surrendered, slowly to conglomerates buying them and conservative jabber radio. I guess they're mostly dead now.
posted by allium cepa at 2:16 AM on May 15, 2023 [12 favorites]
People moving away from AM to FM are so much behind the curve - with my current car I've moved from FM to DAB+ - but then again, I'm living in a modern western country.
posted by DreamerFi at 2:41 AM on May 15, 2023
posted by DreamerFi at 2:41 AM on May 15, 2023
Yes, the person in American Graffiti was the actual guy--he ended doing a lot of things after his start as a Mexican Pirate Radio DJ.
Almost certainly the only guy ever to play himself in both American Graffiti and Galactica 1980.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 2:57 AM on May 15, 2023 [11 favorites]
Almost certainly the only guy ever to play himself in both American Graffiti and Galactica 1980.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 2:57 AM on May 15, 2023 [11 favorites]
If AM radio is that important, there are aftermarket solutions. Like a new head unit isn't that expensive...
LOL. The last car I personally owned that had an accessible (not even easily accessible. Just accessible) standard DIN head unit was my 2001 Golf. And that was an outlier even back then. Aftermarket head units are affordable now because they fit into very few cars anymore (at least not without dismantling the dashboard and/or center console of the car.)
As pointed out by others, eliminating AM radio is a big issue when it comes to things like emergency alerts, weather alerts, etc. A lot of states have dedicated highway info stations, too. It’s just such a weird thing to eliminate. I can’t imagine it would mean any tangible cost savings.
We’re currently looking at getting a second car (used) and we find we are going to have to be highly selective when it comes the radio section. We’re olds and have a large collection of CDs that we like to take with us on longer drives. Many/most cars stopped coming with CD players at some point in the past 20 years and finding a decent vehicle with one is going to be quite the task. We don’t subscribe to any streaming service (like Apple Music) so that option isn’t realistic.
posted by Thorzdad at 3:34 AM on May 15, 2023 [4 favorites]
LOL. The last car I personally owned that had an accessible (not even easily accessible. Just accessible) standard DIN head unit was my 2001 Golf. And that was an outlier even back then. Aftermarket head units are affordable now because they fit into very few cars anymore (at least not without dismantling the dashboard and/or center console of the car.)
As pointed out by others, eliminating AM radio is a big issue when it comes to things like emergency alerts, weather alerts, etc. A lot of states have dedicated highway info stations, too. It’s just such a weird thing to eliminate. I can’t imagine it would mean any tangible cost savings.
We’re currently looking at getting a second car (used) and we find we are going to have to be highly selective when it comes the radio section. We’re olds and have a large collection of CDs that we like to take with us on longer drives. Many/most cars stopped coming with CD players at some point in the past 20 years and finding a decent vehicle with one is going to be quite the task. We don’t subscribe to any streaming service (like Apple Music) so that option isn’t realistic.
posted by Thorzdad at 3:34 AM on May 15, 2023 [4 favorites]
2007, driving the length of Maryland at night (which is much longer than it has any right to be), I was scanning the dial and WBZ 1030 comes up, clear as if I sad sitting in a traffic jam on the express way in Boston. Growing up, we'd switch from public radio to WBZ to catch the traffic report ("Traffic on the 3s"), which they had every ten minutes throughout rush hour. They're the one news station on AM that I know of that has avoided being a cesspool of unhinged wingnuts. The news analysis team a bit conservative at times, but overall it was a good source of local news, especially for the times the local NPR stations were not doing news.
I will mourn for WBZ. The rest can be resigned to the dustbin of history.
And honestly, what's keeping iHeartMedia or Sinclair or whoever else from buying an FM station to blast their drek all over the airwaves? You'll need more repeaters, but so what? The market has spoken and I'm sure there are profitable markets out there for the heirs of Limbaugh's hypocrisy and hate.
posted by Hactar at 3:57 AM on May 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
I will mourn for WBZ. The rest can be resigned to the dustbin of history.
And honestly, what's keeping iHeartMedia or Sinclair or whoever else from buying an FM station to blast their drek all over the airwaves? You'll need more repeaters, but so what? The market has spoken and I'm sure there are profitable markets out there for the heirs of Limbaugh's hypocrisy and hate.
posted by Hactar at 3:57 AM on May 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
I haven't really listened to AM since the seventies, really the early seventies. I used to listen to WABC and WNBC top-40 stations in NYC growing up and then WOR in the evening to hear Jean Shepard but once I started to listen to music on FM, I never went back to AM.
posted by octothorpe at 3:58 AM on May 15, 2023
posted by octothorpe at 3:58 AM on May 15, 2023
I was just thinking about Jean Shepard
posted by MtDewd at 4:50 AM on May 15, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by MtDewd at 4:50 AM on May 15, 2023 [4 favorites]
It's been a long time since I deliberately tuned into AM radio. But I'll tell you what. It was the 1960's and there was no air conditioning, and there was an AM transistor radio in my pocket. It was playing Stevie Wonder. We don't have anything like that now.
Sue we do; we have our mobile phones playing Spotify or whatever. If it isn't connected to Bluetooth it even has a bit of that AM tinniness.
posted by Gelatin at 4:51 AM on May 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
Sue we do; we have our mobile phones playing Spotify or whatever. If it isn't connected to Bluetooth it even has a bit of that AM tinniness.
posted by Gelatin at 4:51 AM on May 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
The decline in AM/MW in Europe seems like the obvious factor driving this decision for the European car makers, but I wonder if another part of the issue is bogus customer complaints about poor AM reception causing warranty claims and lowering car maker's JD Power scores. As someone who repairs consumer electronics, I've seen occasional complaints about AM reception and have to reset customers expectations "You have a house full of devices with switching power supply wall warts and lamp dimmers, yes, you're going to get nothing but hash and static on AM, it's not broken." So it wouldn't be surprising that customers griped about static and noise on their AM equipped car radios.
My old '98 Outback had a cool feature- weather band radio. So, it was AM/FM/WB. I'd take weather band any day over AM.
posted by Larry David Syndrome at 5:11 AM on May 15, 2023 [3 favorites]
My old '98 Outback had a cool feature- weather band radio. So, it was AM/FM/WB. I'd take weather band any day over AM.
posted by Larry David Syndrome at 5:11 AM on May 15, 2023 [3 favorites]
AM radio still has the traffic, though I guess satellite map programs make that obsolete.
posted by subdee at 5:21 AM on May 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by subdee at 5:21 AM on May 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
I’m a bit confused at this. They aren’t pulling FM out, so there is still a radio in there. How much could having an AM tuner in there really cost? Hell I’d almost guess that it costs just as much to buy an FM-only radio from the manufacturer as one that has both tuners.
Is this some kind of weird “it saves us one dollar per car, so that’s a billion dollars in the next century” kind of things?
posted by Room 101 at 5:23 AM on May 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
Is this some kind of weird “it saves us one dollar per car, so that’s a billion dollars in the next century” kind of things?
posted by Room 101 at 5:23 AM on May 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
once I started to listen to music on FM, I never went back to AM.
I have vague memories of a sketch-comedy-news bit where it is announced that some car radios are exploding when switched from FM to AM, but no-one cares. My search-term-fu is weak, though, and I cannot find a reference to it.
Re: AM radio ionosphere propagation/nightime broadcasts
Before the bastards corrupted the name, Clear channel used to mean something.
posted by mikelieman at 5:25 AM on May 15, 2023 [5 favorites]
I have vague memories of a sketch-comedy-news bit where it is announced that some car radios are exploding when switched from FM to AM, but no-one cares. My search-term-fu is weak, though, and I cannot find a reference to it.
Re: AM radio ionosphere propagation/nightime broadcasts
Before the bastards corrupted the name, Clear channel used to mean something.
posted by mikelieman at 5:25 AM on May 15, 2023 [5 favorites]
I want to be sad about this, but checking AM radio around here it's 95% repeaters for FM stations, a use case that doesn't really matter much to me. We've passed the point where it allowed for a greater diversity of voices and sounds.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 5:48 AM on May 15, 2023
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 5:48 AM on May 15, 2023
On the Media did a great 5-part series recently called The Divided Dial about how AM came to be dominated by right-wing hate and disinformation. I’m very pro-government regulation of stuff like this, so my answer would have been to limit the number of stations owned by a corporate entity to 1 or maybe 2, and require the owning company to be headquartered in the same county where that station is. Too bad I wasn’t in charge.
posted by caviar2d2 at 6:30 AM on May 15, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by caviar2d2 at 6:30 AM on May 15, 2023 [5 favorites]
I'm old enough to remember when NYC stations 77 WABC and the WMCA Good Guys were playing Top 40 radio. No one cared about sound quality when the music was coming out of a two-inch speaker on a transistor radio, the important part was that it was the music our parents hated and wouldn't play at home. Low-key rebellion, for sure, but rebellion nonetheless.
posted by tommasz at 6:33 AM on May 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by tommasz at 6:33 AM on May 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
Wait—AM reception improves at night?
In the mid seventies, as a kid, I had a tiny AM transistor radio (SONY!) that I would listen to under my pillow as I went to sleep. Usually it was tuned to WLW in Cincinnati, which back then played rock music all night. The DJ (LIVE!) was a lady with the most sultry voice I had ever heard. Even as a ten year old I was enchanted. Cincinnati is a twelve hour drive away from my home town, so the signal really traveled far at nighttime.
posted by jabah at 6:53 AM on May 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
In the mid seventies, as a kid, I had a tiny AM transistor radio (SONY!) that I would listen to under my pillow as I went to sleep. Usually it was tuned to WLW in Cincinnati, which back then played rock music all night. The DJ (LIVE!) was a lady with the most sultry voice I had ever heard. Even as a ten year old I was enchanted. Cincinnati is a twelve hour drive away from my home town, so the signal really traveled far at nighttime.
posted by jabah at 6:53 AM on May 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
"If satellite radio didn't have a monthly recurring charge, I'd be all over that like cheese on a tuna melt."
People are used to paying monthly for all of their streaming now. If I invest in SIRI based on the possibility that they will successfully onboard these talk radio listeners over podcasting, would I be profiting from fascism?
posted by Selena777 at 6:58 AM on May 15, 2023
People are used to paying monthly for all of their streaming now. If I invest in SIRI based on the possibility that they will successfully onboard these talk radio listeners over podcasting, would I be profiting from fascism?
posted by Selena777 at 6:58 AM on May 15, 2023
Yes, the person in American Graffiti was the actual guy--he ended doing a lot of things after his start as a Mexican Pirate Radio DJ.
As a 1970s kid, I remember Wolfman Jack being all over TV and radio in that era, long before I knew about his history as a Mexican DJ. The Guess Who even had a Top Ten hit with Clap For The Wolfman, with Wolfman doing his DJ act on the record.
posted by jonp72 at 6:58 AM on May 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
As a 1970s kid, I remember Wolfman Jack being all over TV and radio in that era, long before I knew about his history as a Mexican DJ. The Guess Who even had a Top Ten hit with Clap For The Wolfman, with Wolfman doing his DJ act on the record.
posted by jonp72 at 6:58 AM on May 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
They aren’t pulling FM out, so there is still a radio in there. How much could having an AM tuner in there really cost?
The FPP links strongly suggest that electric cars generate far more electrical noise than ICE cars, and AM has always needed noise suppression. The article in The Drive also says AM is mostly gone from Europe, so that might explain BMW and VW , but not the Ford Mustang.
posted by MtDewd at 7:06 AM on May 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
The FPP links strongly suggest that electric cars generate far more electrical noise than ICE cars, and AM has always needed noise suppression. The article in The Drive also says AM is mostly gone from Europe, so that might explain BMW and VW , but not the Ford Mustang.
posted by MtDewd at 7:06 AM on May 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
I'm one of those people who still has AM stationed plugged into my presets and still uses them in the car. I'm not saying the local traffic reports are perfect, but they're better than nothing, when long-distance commuting, the all news station will be on for at least a portion of the drive.
posted by sardonyx at 7:34 AM on May 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by sardonyx at 7:34 AM on May 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
Additionally, the news portion of the news format is also very much appreciated and needed, as I'm in the type of profession where I need to know what's going on in the world, and downloading some "news" podcast that's already outdated when it's posted doesn't cut it for me.
posted by sardonyx at 7:37 AM on May 15, 2023
posted by sardonyx at 7:37 AM on May 15, 2023
My Prius has AM, but they don't do anything about engine interference, so I can't tune into any stations.
posted by Happy Monkey at 7:41 AM on May 15, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by Happy Monkey at 7:41 AM on May 15, 2023 [3 favorites]
This thread is reminding me of the time in 2007 where I drove solo from San Diego to just south of Tahoe for a bike ride. About an hour out of LA, I realized that I’d left my CD case at home. There’s a long stretch through the high desert where there’s no FM coverage and the choices on AM are one English station and one Spanish.
The English station was fairly strong but it was also non-stop failed-Christian preaching — it was almost a game seeing if it could go through the duration of my car radio’s scan mode without saying something hateful about gay people, non-subservient women, etc.
The Spanish one was more than my high school Spanish could fully comprehend but sounded similar in content but with better music and a preacher who didn’t sound like a spittle-flecked zealot.
When I got to Bishop a few hours later I bought a cassette deck adapter for my iPod.
posted by adamsc at 7:45 AM on May 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
The English station was fairly strong but it was also non-stop failed-Christian preaching — it was almost a game seeing if it could go through the duration of my car radio’s scan mode without saying something hateful about gay people, non-subservient women, etc.
The Spanish one was more than my high school Spanish could fully comprehend but sounded similar in content but with better music and a preacher who didn’t sound like a spittle-flecked zealot.
When I got to Bishop a few hours later I bought a cassette deck adapter for my iPod.
posted by adamsc at 7:45 AM on May 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
If you really need a low noise floor, you'd get an old diesel vehicle, like the ones they have at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (including a reskinned Checker cab.)
posted by credulous at 7:49 AM on May 15, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by credulous at 7:49 AM on May 15, 2023 [3 favorites]
Mod note: "I'm ridin' in your car/you turn on WPGC" MP3
posted by kirkaracha (staff) at 7:50 AM on May 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by kirkaracha (staff) at 7:50 AM on May 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
Until the early 1970s some AM stations in Mexico would turn up their wattage at night so that their signal could reach much of the US. It's also the inspiration for Wall of Voodoo's song Mexican Radio.
ZZ Top, "Heard It on The X"
posted by kirkaracha at 7:54 AM on May 15, 2023 [4 favorites]
ZZ Top, "Heard It on The X"
posted by kirkaracha at 7:54 AM on May 15, 2023 [4 favorites]
For those who travel/have traveled across vast areas of the USA, there are HUGE areas where the ONLY signal you can pick up is AM.
I've never experienced that, though I mostly drive west of the Mississippi. I find that the one or two local FM stations are far better than most major cities, with far more variety.
I am old enough to remember the only heavy metal/alternative station in my area was on AM radio prior to Nirvana, but after Nirvana got big FM radio in my area got metal and alternative songs too. The sound quality and buzz was terrible, it made metal sound even metalier.
posted by The_Vegetables at 8:12 AM on May 15, 2023
I've never experienced that, though I mostly drive west of the Mississippi. I find that the one or two local FM stations are far better than most major cities, with far more variety.
I am old enough to remember the only heavy metal/alternative station in my area was on AM radio prior to Nirvana, but after Nirvana got big FM radio in my area got metal and alternative songs too. The sound quality and buzz was terrible, it made metal sound even metalier.
posted by The_Vegetables at 8:12 AM on May 15, 2023
One night in the early 90s I was driving back to Madison from Chicago on a Sunday night and the guys on the AM radio were talking a lot about the day’s Eagles game. Turns out that Philadelphia’s KYW Newsradio 1060 can be heard loud and clear in the heart of the Midwest at night.
posted by whuppy at 8:20 AM on May 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by whuppy at 8:20 AM on May 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
I used to love listening to baseball and American football games on AM when I was a kid, but what I loved most was listening late at night and being able to get stations far from my location as the AM waves traveled further than the FM.
That said I don’t listen to any radio other than local public radio stations — and the lower power FM station I helped found — because it’s all country music and generic crap.
posted by terrapin at 8:40 AM on May 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
That said I don’t listen to any radio other than local public radio stations — and the lower power FM station I helped found — because it’s all country music and generic crap.
posted by terrapin at 8:40 AM on May 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
The places that I have driven where I couldn't pick up FM (or could only get one channel) are in the mountain west.
posted by eckeric at 8:43 AM on May 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by eckeric at 8:43 AM on May 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
I grew up listening to Twins games and top 40 on AM radio. Because we were close to the border, we could pick up CKCK Regina and CKY Winnipeg, along with our own KFYR Bismarck. They all did the standard top 40 fodder but at least it wasn't rotgut country interspersed with Paul Harvey rants. The Canadian stations would actually break some English acts before American AM would pick them up. At night our world expanded. KSTP from Minneapolis would just shift over to whatever their FM counterpart was playing and that was a paradigm shift. We'd also get WLS Chicago and once in a great while some hard rockin' station from Oklahoma.
Once, while driving the tractor as a teen, I was tuned into CKY and it was a steady playlist of pop fluff. And then the DJ calmly announced "the program director has left the building". The heavy bass intro to Led Zep's Dazed and Confused filled the tractor cab. Six and a half minutes of fury and finesse, taking a chainsaw to the light 70s pop they had been playing. You don't get moments like that anymore.
Now we listen to satellite radio or just Prairie Public Radio. If I want weather or road conditions, I can get that in a blink on my cell phone. I don't even dare try the local AM, it's nothing but frothing idiots now. I don't even know how to find Twins baseball in my area. An era has passed.
posted by Ber at 8:44 AM on May 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
Once, while driving the tractor as a teen, I was tuned into CKY and it was a steady playlist of pop fluff. And then the DJ calmly announced "the program director has left the building". The heavy bass intro to Led Zep's Dazed and Confused filled the tractor cab. Six and a half minutes of fury and finesse, taking a chainsaw to the light 70s pop they had been playing. You don't get moments like that anymore.
Now we listen to satellite radio or just Prairie Public Radio. If I want weather or road conditions, I can get that in a blink on my cell phone. I don't even dare try the local AM, it's nothing but frothing idiots now. I don't even know how to find Twins baseball in my area. An era has passed.
posted by Ber at 8:44 AM on May 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
There was a time when I traveled for work, and drove rental cars, and didn't know the local stations.
I got in the habit of flipping over to AM and finding the most bonkers, disgusting right wing show I could. I filed it under "know thy enemy" but I was really just an outrage junkie.
posted by gurple at 8:44 AM on May 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
I got in the habit of flipping over to AM and finding the most bonkers, disgusting right wing show I could. I filed it under "know thy enemy" but I was really just an outrage junkie.
posted by gurple at 8:44 AM on May 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
Yes AM reception is better at night. I never knew the reason why we could tune in to Murray the K 1010 WINS and Cousin Bruce WABC in NYC from RI. I learned much later that it was due to the ionosphere and skywave propagation.
posted by DJZouke at 8:51 AM on May 15, 2023
posted by DJZouke at 8:51 AM on May 15, 2023
I love AM radio for traffic reports. Here in Vancouver we have a few stations dedicated to “news and traffic”, for example one that reads news/traffic continuously with a few ad interruptions, while another offers “news and traffic on the 1s” (ie at 1 minute past the hour, 11 minutes past the hour, … , 51 minutes past the hour). And yes, CBC Radio 1 is there as well. These news stations compete fiercely against one another.
Vancouver traffic is annoying, it seems that gridlock happens pretty much anywhere and everywhere in the city during waking hours, therefore the traffic stations are doing well.
I don’t listen to the other stations in my car radio (AM/FM/Cassette - stock product that came with my 1995 3-series!!), if I want music there’s always Bluetooth/my phone.
posted by seawallrunner at 8:58 AM on May 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
Vancouver traffic is annoying, it seems that gridlock happens pretty much anywhere and everywhere in the city during waking hours, therefore the traffic stations are doing well.
I don’t listen to the other stations in my car radio (AM/FM/Cassette - stock product that came with my 1995 3-series!!), if I want music there’s always Bluetooth/my phone.
posted by seawallrunner at 8:58 AM on May 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
I like radio. My PBS station does almost all talk, with music on web-based stations, not useful for driving. I hate the phony chatter on most FM and AM(Extreme Right lies and hate) these days so I seldom listen to new music contributing to my geezerly out-of-touch status. *shakes fist at .. everything*
posted by theora55 at 9:16 AM on May 15, 2023
posted by theora55 at 9:16 AM on May 15, 2023
Ha! When I was 12, we moved from the suburbs of Chicago to western CT. This was in 1978. While in Chicago, me and my girlfriends listened to WLS AM (home of John Landecker, who we all had fierce crushes on). When we moved to CT, it was the era of WABC 770 with it's echo-ey sound and WNBC with Imus and his dumb Billy Saul Hargus schtick or something like that. But they played top 40, which was THE jam for the junior high set in my town.
Anyhoo, I went through a bout of homesickness for my friends back in IL, because moving to a new town when you are on the cusp of puberty and junior high is always fun. I was fooling around with my clock radio one night, wishing I could tune in WLS but figuring it was impossible since it was so far away. Imagine my delight when I was able to hear it. I never knew about the AM waves reaching far away places. Didn't know one could be so nostalgic at age 12, but I still remember the feeling all these hundreds of years later.
posted by sundrop at 9:20 AM on May 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
Anyhoo, I went through a bout of homesickness for my friends back in IL, because moving to a new town when you are on the cusp of puberty and junior high is always fun. I was fooling around with my clock radio one night, wishing I could tune in WLS but figuring it was impossible since it was so far away. Imagine my delight when I was able to hear it. I never knew about the AM waves reaching far away places. Didn't know one could be so nostalgic at age 12, but I still remember the feeling all these hundreds of years later.
posted by sundrop at 9:20 AM on May 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
At an old job where I worked night shift, I was pleased that I'd be able to sit and listen to Phillies and Flyers games while I worked.
But the local AM station carrying those games would not come in clearly in the building. Something about the frequency was incompatible with the layout of our building; in the parking lot, I could hear it clear as a bell, but inside was nothing but interference and static.
So that station, twenty minutes away, was out. But 900 AM with Toronto Maple Leafs games, hundreds of miles away? That came in just fine.
posted by delfin at 10:16 AM on May 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
But the local AM station carrying those games would not come in clearly in the building. Something about the frequency was incompatible with the layout of our building; in the parking lot, I could hear it clear as a bell, but inside was nothing but interference and static.
So that station, twenty minutes away, was out. But 900 AM with Toronto Maple Leafs games, hundreds of miles away? That came in just fine.
posted by delfin at 10:16 AM on May 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
I used to listen to WBZ all the time. It was the go-to station anytime we were driving on the highway (Traffic on the 3s!) and I spent many snowy nor'easters listening to school closings and weather reports juxtaposed against free ticket giveaways to the New England Flower Show at the Bayside Exposition Center. I listened to Kid Company and I'd sometimes stay up late and tuck my clock radio under my pillow to listen to Norm Nathan's show which was a secret little bit of goofy, old-timey radio hidden way past my bedtime.
I stopped listening to WBZ as an adult because of fucking Dan Rea. I didn't agree with David Brudnoy's libertarian politics, but at least he was thoughtful, polite, and intelligent. Dan Rea is a pathetic asshole who has done nothing but debase WBZ's reputation since he took over Brudnoy's old timeslot. His arrival was huge shift for WBZ, and the station's constant promotions of Rae's wannabe-AM-conservative-powerhouse-overnight program have rendered the entirety of WBZ's output to be completely unlistenable. You can't go five minutes without there being a spot for whatever hurtful garbage he's spewing this week.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 10:46 AM on May 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
I stopped listening to WBZ as an adult because of fucking Dan Rea. I didn't agree with David Brudnoy's libertarian politics, but at least he was thoughtful, polite, and intelligent. Dan Rea is a pathetic asshole who has done nothing but debase WBZ's reputation since he took over Brudnoy's old timeslot. His arrival was huge shift for WBZ, and the station's constant promotions of Rae's wannabe-AM-conservative-powerhouse-overnight program have rendered the entirety of WBZ's output to be completely unlistenable. You can't go five minutes without there being a spot for whatever hurtful garbage he's spewing this week.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 10:46 AM on May 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
I wonder what will become of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travelers'_information_station
On a related note. When I was kid we used to tune to an AM station for a local Dialing for Dollars, where people would be selling whatever they had for sell.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 10:49 AM on May 15, 2023
On a related note. When I was kid we used to tune to an AM station for a local Dialing for Dollars, where people would be selling whatever they had for sell.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 10:49 AM on May 15, 2023
Oh wow, the Dialing For Dollars thing we had on radio around here was where they would cold call people out of the phone book and ask what radio station they were listening to, and if it was the one that was calling you'd get sent a check or something. Or maybe it was "what song were we just playing before we called you" or something. Anyway, it was a ratings grab.
I spent one summer trying to be caller #10 to get tickets to a local water park, which I finally won, but my mom said it was too far away so I didn't get to go. Sigh.
posted by hippybear at 11:07 AM on May 15, 2023
I spent one summer trying to be caller #10 to get tickets to a local water park, which I finally won, but my mom said it was too far away so I didn't get to go. Sigh.
posted by hippybear at 11:07 AM on May 15, 2023
Feeling oddly mixed about this. I mean, my first portable music device (back when I understood "digital" to refer to my fingers) was an AM transistor radio, but I switched over to FM back in 1977 when I got a clock radio and never really looked back.
posted by Halloween Jack at 11:14 AM on May 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Halloween Jack at 11:14 AM on May 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
WJIB was always on in the barbershop my dad went to. The AM station was (and apparently still is) owned by some guy who really likes radio and has spent a career working in the industry. The station was commercial free and I remember the identification spots would always be something like "You're listening to my radio station, WJIB 740Khz. I hope you enjoy it."
Probably the most sincere thing I've ever heard on the radio.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 11:21 AM on May 15, 2023 [5 favorites]
Probably the most sincere thing I've ever heard on the radio.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 11:21 AM on May 15, 2023 [5 favorites]
Hockey games were meant for AM radio.
When I first moved to Alberta (10 years old), I played around with a crystal set that I would hook-up to the fences at school. A few years later, someone gifted me a "credit-card" sized radio - and late at night, in Northern Alberta I could pickup a station or two from Japan.
There are still vast portions of Canada that don't even have AM reception - even along our primary coast-to-coast highway.
posted by rozcakj at 11:32 AM on May 15, 2023 [4 favorites]
When I first moved to Alberta (10 years old), I played around with a crystal set that I would hook-up to the fences at school. A few years later, someone gifted me a "credit-card" sized radio - and late at night, in Northern Alberta I could pickup a station or two from Japan.
There are still vast portions of Canada that don't even have AM reception - even along our primary coast-to-coast highway.
posted by rozcakj at 11:32 AM on May 15, 2023 [4 favorites]
...taking a chainsaw to the light 70s pop they had been playing. You don't get moments like that anymore...
Vintage top 40 radio was dominated by bubblegum and pop-rock, but also mortared together with a wide variety of genres + flukes and pure weirdness. It was an interesting musical ecosystem. Then bad people came along and wrecked it all.
posted by ovvl at 12:47 PM on May 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
Vintage top 40 radio was dominated by bubblegum and pop-rock, but also mortared together with a wide variety of genres + flukes and pure weirdness. It was an interesting musical ecosystem. Then bad people came along and wrecked it all.
posted by ovvl at 12:47 PM on May 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
"AM radio no longer to be included in some cars" does not mean "content that was listened to on AM will become unavailable."
I used to listen to the Cubs games on The Score 670 AM. But these days, I listen to the same broadcast (literally exactly the same, Len & Ron, brought to you by Grainger) on an HD Radio feed that the station owners added behind one of their stations on FM. (It's 104.3-2, if you need to know). The White Sox games are also broadcast this way. So are most of the more popular news and talk radio stations.
Outside of whatever nostalgic value a person's aging brain might attach to static, these broadcasts sound fantastic.
Remember when people thought the small audience content that used to live on UHF was going to disappear, but then it just moved to HDTV stations? And now there's more of it? Korean stations, First Nations Channels, etc.?
Yeah, I think this is going to be like that. AM stations are almost exclusively owned by groups that also own FM stations. Duping an AM broadcast to HD Radio in one of the "[FM frequency]-2" is a negligible cost. It'll preserve them. People will find them. As time goes on, it will become normal, just like how your grandpa knows how to find Andy Griffith re-runs on Rewind, tucked into [TV Station].4 or whatever.
It'll all still be there.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:54 PM on May 15, 2023
I used to listen to the Cubs games on The Score 670 AM. But these days, I listen to the same broadcast (literally exactly the same, Len & Ron, brought to you by Grainger) on an HD Radio feed that the station owners added behind one of their stations on FM. (It's 104.3-2, if you need to know). The White Sox games are also broadcast this way. So are most of the more popular news and talk radio stations.
Outside of whatever nostalgic value a person's aging brain might attach to static, these broadcasts sound fantastic.
Remember when people thought the small audience content that used to live on UHF was going to disappear, but then it just moved to HDTV stations? And now there's more of it? Korean stations, First Nations Channels, etc.?
Yeah, I think this is going to be like that. AM stations are almost exclusively owned by groups that also own FM stations. Duping an AM broadcast to HD Radio in one of the "[FM frequency]-2" is a negligible cost. It'll preserve them. People will find them. As time goes on, it will become normal, just like how your grandpa knows how to find Andy Griffith re-runs on Rewind, tucked into [TV Station].4 or whatever.
It'll all still be there.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:54 PM on May 15, 2023
I can remember a late night drive from Denver to Steamboat Springs, CO where gradually both FM and AM stations all petered out as we approached Rabbit Ears Pass. Cell reception also dropped to zero bars and of course it was icy and snowy. It was a terrifying drive and one indication that we were through the worst of it was when the radio leaped back to life on the other side of the pass.
I also recall traveling from the west side to the south side of the big island of Hawaii and there was virtually nothing on the radio.
posted by mmascolino at 1:22 PM on May 15, 2023 [3 favorites]
I also recall traveling from the west side to the south side of the big island of Hawaii and there was virtually nothing on the radio.
posted by mmascolino at 1:22 PM on May 15, 2023 [3 favorites]
For those of you who used to listen to Top 40 Radio, you can find some of the old top 40 lists for a bunch of stations online, such as WBZ, WABC, WINS, and CKCK. Some of the pages have scans that are kind of fun to look at.
posted by eckeric at 2:36 PM on May 15, 2023
posted by eckeric at 2:36 PM on May 15, 2023
Sporadic E propagation once let me DX KWMU-FM from St. Louis out around Canyonlands National Park in Utah.
posted by Chef Flamboyardee at 2:57 PM on May 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Chef Flamboyardee at 2:57 PM on May 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
It's time to switch to FM
There's no static at all
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 4:04 PM on May 15, 2023 [5 favorites]
There's no static at all
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 4:04 PM on May 15, 2023 [5 favorites]
Sally Jesse Raphael on TalkNet
I listened to her on TalkNet in the late 70s and was trying to remember if that was AM.
posted by bendy at 5:32 PM on May 15, 2023
I listened to her on TalkNet in the late 70s and was trying to remember if that was AM.
posted by bendy at 5:32 PM on May 15, 2023
Weary voice that's laughin', on the radio once
We sounded drunk, never made it on
Passin' through and it's late, the station started to fade
Picked another one up in the very next state
The Replacements, Left of the Dial. (Technically is about the low end of the FM band, which had similar fade-in/fade-out cycles.)
posted by bendy at 5:39 PM on May 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
We sounded drunk, never made it on
Passin' through and it's late, the station started to fade
Picked another one up in the very next state
The Replacements, Left of the Dial. (Technically is about the low end of the FM band, which had similar fade-in/fade-out cycles.)
posted by bendy at 5:39 PM on May 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
I drove from San Jose to El Segundo on August 6, 2015, and had only the radio. FM stations would come and go as I drove through the ranges of their transmitters and their repeaters.
The GOP Primary debate was broadcast live and complete and was easily found on AM radio stations, and when the station I was listening to faded out, I could punch seek and I could hear the debate with scarcely a dropped word on the next AM station down the dial, along with what seemed like an unusually common colon cleanse commercial.
I had not listened to AM radio with such rapt attention since I was a child, when late, late at night, you could hear KOMA and equis-e-erre o-ka, Juarez, Mexico.
I was very glad to make Bakersfield, after the end of the debate, into the repeaters of KCRW FM.
posted by the Real Dan at 6:33 PM on May 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
The GOP Primary debate was broadcast live and complete and was easily found on AM radio stations, and when the station I was listening to faded out, I could punch seek and I could hear the debate with scarcely a dropped word on the next AM station down the dial, along with what seemed like an unusually common colon cleanse commercial.
I had not listened to AM radio with such rapt attention since I was a child, when late, late at night, you could hear KOMA and equis-e-erre o-ka, Juarez, Mexico.
I was very glad to make Bakersfield, after the end of the debate, into the repeaters of KCRW FM.
posted by the Real Dan at 6:33 PM on May 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
CBC on AM? I think the last time I lived somewhere where Radio 1 was only broadcast on AM was in Toronto 4 decades ago, Radio 740 if I remember right. The cooks used to play Metro Morning over the sound system in the Innis College dining hall -- I don't remember specifics, but it was great radio.
As for those traffic channels, they're helpful when you're planning a cross-border trip, especially since the BC govt stopped reported estimated wait times. And it's weird hearing that low-fidelity sound, getting the estimate, deciding to deal with the wait time anyway, and switch back to FM / ipod / phone or even a CD.
I know an actor who started his performing career doing suburban traffic radio, and found it soul-destroying. Once, putting up with an account of every single bridge in the GVRD before they'd finally talk about the border line-ups, I did hear some bizarre commentary by one of the hosts. Yes, there were actually two people at the mics. Must be a profitable business, even if they figure no one is actually listening.
posted by morspin at 10:44 PM on May 15, 2023
As for those traffic channels, they're helpful when you're planning a cross-border trip, especially since the BC govt stopped reported estimated wait times. And it's weird hearing that low-fidelity sound, getting the estimate, deciding to deal with the wait time anyway, and switch back to FM / ipod / phone or even a CD.
I know an actor who started his performing career doing suburban traffic radio, and found it soul-destroying. Once, putting up with an account of every single bridge in the GVRD before they'd finally talk about the border line-ups, I did hear some bizarre commentary by one of the hosts. Yes, there were actually two people at the mics. Must be a profitable business, even if they figure no one is actually listening.
posted by morspin at 10:44 PM on May 15, 2023
AM is worthless without Art Bell.
posted by brundlefly at 4:52 AM on May 16, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by brundlefly at 4:52 AM on May 16, 2023 [3 favorites]
Is this some kind of weird “it saves us one dollar per car, so that’s a billion dollars in the next century” kind of things?
A few people upthread have noted the increased interference between AM and on-board electrical systems in modern cars. So you either need to design, install, and provide warranty service for an increasingly complicated signal isolation path or deal with cranky people repeatedly coming into the service department complaining that a factory-installed feature doesn't work.
posted by hwyengr at 7:17 AM on May 16, 2023 [1 favorite]
A few people upthread have noted the increased interference between AM and on-board electrical systems in modern cars. So you either need to design, install, and provide warranty service for an increasingly complicated signal isolation path or deal with cranky people repeatedly coming into the service department complaining that a factory-installed feature doesn't work.
posted by hwyengr at 7:17 AM on May 16, 2023 [1 favorite]
Windfall by SonVolt:
Switching it over to AM
Searching for a truer sound
Can't recall the call letters
Steel guitar and settle down
Catching an all-night station somewhere in Louisiana
It sounds like 1963, but for now it sounds like heaven
May the wind take your troubles away
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:50 AM on May 16, 2023 [1 favorite]
Switching it over to AM
Searching for a truer sound
Can't recall the call letters
Steel guitar and settle down
Catching an all-night station somewhere in Louisiana
It sounds like 1963, but for now it sounds like heaven
May the wind take your troubles away
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:50 AM on May 16, 2023 [1 favorite]
eliminating AM radio is a big issue when it comes to things like emergency alerts, weather alerts, etc.
Not effective if nobody's got an AM radio on. They do these weather alerts on FM (starting and ending with a familiar screeching tone) which are also kind of ineffective, since they're for multiple counties, never (seemingly) targeted to the one I'm actually in. City authorities want my cell number so they can broadcast alerts, but I (like many) refuse to divulge. (They used to call everybody's land line, but you know what happened there.) So my jurisdiction's decided the way to go is to make these announcements from low-flying helicopters. They're mostly unintelligible (and remind me of Wagner and 'Apocalypse Now') but when I can understand they're about on-the-run criminals or elderly gentlemen who've wandered away, an absurd waste of city resources IMO.
BTW thanks for that, jonp72 -- I was trying to recall that song just the other day. It was popular same time as Clapton's "I Shot the Sheriff" and I would conflate the two into my own song, "I Shot the Wolfman." But I'd forgotten about the Guess Who.
posted by Rash at 12:39 PM on May 16, 2023 [2 favorites]
Not effective if nobody's got an AM radio on. They do these weather alerts on FM (starting and ending with a familiar screeching tone) which are also kind of ineffective, since they're for multiple counties, never (seemingly) targeted to the one I'm actually in. City authorities want my cell number so they can broadcast alerts, but I (like many) refuse to divulge. (They used to call everybody's land line, but you know what happened there.) So my jurisdiction's decided the way to go is to make these announcements from low-flying helicopters. They're mostly unintelligible (and remind me of Wagner and 'Apocalypse Now') but when I can understand they're about on-the-run criminals or elderly gentlemen who've wandered away, an absurd waste of city resources IMO.
BTW thanks for that, jonp72 -- I was trying to recall that song just the other day. It was popular same time as Clapton's "I Shot the Sheriff" and I would conflate the two into my own song, "I Shot the Wolfman." But I'd forgotten about the Guess Who.
posted by Rash at 12:39 PM on May 16, 2023 [2 favorites]
The thing about the Guess Who is the difficulty in remembering their name is contained in their name.
posted by hippybear at 1:01 PM on May 16, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by hippybear at 1:01 PM on May 16, 2023 [1 favorite]
In the mid-70s, my mom dragged me from Chicago to a hateful hick town in Arkansas. At night the local hateful hick radio station powered down, allowing me to listen to WLS on the transistor radio under my pillow, and cry.
Good times.
posted by cyndigo at 3:11 PM on May 16, 2023 [2 favorites]
Good times.
posted by cyndigo at 3:11 PM on May 16, 2023 [2 favorites]
I built a little AM transmitter kit from Pirate Pete Electronics that uses two vacuum tubes. I use it to send music and whatnot to my antique AM tube radios. It was a fun kit to build.
posted by fimbulvetr at 12:55 PM on May 17, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by fimbulvetr at 12:55 PM on May 17, 2023 [1 favorite]
Speaking of alerts, it's a little strange to me that cars in the US market never provided the weather radio bands. Could have the option to have the radio automatically switch to the weather station when an alert happens. The weather radio system already covers the entire country. Would be useful in storm prone areas like mine.
posted by Teegeeack AV Club Secretary
It wasn't a common feature, but as I mentioned upthread the factory cassette radio on my 1998 Subaru Outback had AM/FM/Weatherband. Makes sense as they marketed them towards outdoorsy, skier types. You had to manually select weatherband if the weather looked hinky, it didn't respond to those alert tones.
Here's a link to what it looked like, you can see the words "Weather Band Receiver" under the cassette slot.
posted by Larry David Syndrome at 3:24 PM on May 20, 2023
posted by Teegeeack AV Club Secretary
It wasn't a common feature, but as I mentioned upthread the factory cassette radio on my 1998 Subaru Outback had AM/FM/Weatherband. Makes sense as they marketed them towards outdoorsy, skier types. You had to manually select weatherband if the weather looked hinky, it didn't respond to those alert tones.
Here's a link to what it looked like, you can see the words "Weather Band Receiver" under the cassette slot.
posted by Larry David Syndrome at 3:24 PM on May 20, 2023
I learned about baseball by listening to NY Yankees on the radio with my uncle. Mel Allen and Red Barber from the 7th inning on. Their commentary beats anybody on TV today or yesterday. They knew the game and made it come alive through the radio. Commentators now rely on the visual and do not elevate the game.
posted by DJZouke at 9:00 AM on May 22, 2023
posted by DJZouke at 9:00 AM on May 22, 2023
Legislation was introduced in the US House of Representatives to mandate AM radios in all new cars. Ford has now reversed it plans to ditch AM receivers.
posted by mbrubeck at 10:19 AM on May 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by mbrubeck at 10:19 AM on May 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
> For any owners of Ford EVs without AM broadcast capability, we’ll offer a software update.
Interesting that they just disabled the AM radio in software on the vehicles that didn't have it.
posted by vibratory manner of working at 12:10 PM on May 29, 2023 [3 favorites]
Interesting that they just disabled the AM radio in software on the vehicles that didn't have it.
posted by vibratory manner of working at 12:10 PM on May 29, 2023 [3 favorites]
Perfect for implementing subscriptions. Congress just needed to slack off a bit more.
posted by rhizome at 6:07 PM on May 29, 2023
posted by rhizome at 6:07 PM on May 29, 2023
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