Ford reverses course, will keep AM radio on future models

[viennaxmas]

While I’m right there with many of you ridiculing the idea of AM radio being a valuable entertainment source, I still support keeping AM radio in vehicles for _emergency purposes_. Think this is unneeded in this age of cell phones? Take a look at what happened in Paradise, CA during the fire that destroyed most of the town and killed nearly 100 people. The cell network was destroyed by the raging fire and was unable to send out emergency alerts, let alone support the idea of people looking up info on the internet. AM radio is more resilient in emergency situations than any other technological source of information due to its simplicity and ubiquity. A single AM radio broadcast tower (or maybe 2 or 3 for redundancy and backup) is much easier to provide power to, keep running, and protect than hundreds of smaller cell towers and the necessary backhaul they require. Do people need to be informed to tune to AM radio in the event of an emergency? Probably. But that’s a solvable issue when everyone already has an AM radio in the vehicle they are using to flee in.

It still requires the radio to be turned on and tuned to a station. It does help with it's longer range and when people have receivers or are prepared for an emergency. Most people are not. Radio consumption primarily happens while driving.

Who still has a radio at home, let alone one that can receive AM?

In Europe, certain alerts can override any other media source playing (aka: It would pause cassette or Apple CarPlay and play the emergency message, primarily used for emergency traffic alerts).

One of the reasons why cell phone broadcast messages have become so popular, they are everywhere and always on, even though they have range issue.

Would an EAS alert have helped in the Paradise situation? Maybe. Without power, the core source for receiving EAS alerts would have not worked: The TV's. And not many people would have listened to radio at that moment.

I do not want to downplay the issues in the Paradise Sheriff's office, based on the information in the article it looks like a combination of system failures and an overcomplicated system. EAS via AM/FM/TV also has to be initiated, go through the chain of command and then transferred to a master station that sends out the alert.

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[ErichKeane]

It still requires the radio to be turned on and tuned to a station. It does help with it's longer range and when people have receivers or are prepared for an emergency. Most people are not. Radio consumption primarily happens while driving.

Who still has a radio at home, let alone one that can receive AM?

In Europe, certain alerts can override any other media source playing (aka: It would pause cassette or Apple CarPlay and play the emergency message, primarily used for emergency traffic alerts).

One of the reasons why cell phone broadcast messages have become so popular, they are everywhere and always on, even though they have range issue.

Would an EAS alert have helped in the Paradise situation? Maybe. Without power, the core source for receiving EAS alerts would have not worked: The TV's. And not many people would have listened to radio at that moment.

I do not want to downplay the issues in the Paradise Sheriff's office, based on the information in the article it looks like a combination of system failures and an overcomplicated system. EAS via AM/FM/TV also has to be initiated, go through the chain of command and then transferred to a master station that sends out the alert.

There are significant portions of the US where any other type of signal is a hundred miles away, and AM radio is your only option. On entry to those places, there are often signs on the side of the highway encouraging you to tune into emergency broadcast channels/etc, and electronic signs broadcast the channel as well (when necessary of course). Those who live in those areas, ALSO know of the channel.

I've at times been 100+ miles from cell coverage, but still had AM radio. Literally no other signal (other than perhaps satellite? But those have trouble in wooded areas, that AM doesn't have problems with). SO I am saying I GET it. there are a few tens of thousands of Americans where AM radio might be their only option at the time (and folks that live there have short-wave and AM radios for exactly that reason).

AND, since it costs basically nothing to add to vehicles, making sure it is there for those cases until we can come up with a better system is a good idea.

 

[astricklin]

So this raises the question, if the AM feature was a simple software on/off, can the SiriusXM be enabled on the pro in the same way, or does the XLT have a separate receiver that isn't included in the pro. *Headed to forscan threads on the ice forum*

 

[John Becker]

Well, it appears that I’m one of the few AM radio fans on this thread.

I was very disappointed when Ford excluded it for the 2024 model year for the following reasons:

• Local sports.
• Local news.
• Local weather.
• Local talk radio.
• And yes, the occasional public safety alert during tornado season.

Sure, I can get all of that to some extent or another on FM or the Internet. However, none of my favorite AM stations simulcast on FM and the Internet is not ubiquitously reliable for various reasons.

There are a few things I’m trying to understand about Ford’s decision to bring it back:

• What prompted Ford to piss off the five percent of customers who listen to AM?
• If they didn’t remove hardware and it’s just software programming, how did they benefit from the removal?
• Why didn’t they just include a disclaimer something like: “AM radio may not work well, if at all, while the vehicle is in motion.”?
• What shielding, if any, will the new builds have to mitigate the interference problem?

Any thoughts?

 

[3rdgenfan]

Where was the legislation to keep 3G alive.

 

[p52Ranch]

There are a few things I’m trying to understand about Ford’s decision to bring it back:

• What prompted Ford to piss off the five percent of customers who listen to AM?
• If they didn’t remove hardware and it’s just software programming, how did they benefit from the removal?
• Why didn’t they just include a disclaimer something like: “AM radio may not work well, if at all, while the vehicle is in motion.”?
• What shielding, if any, will the new builds have to mitigate the interference problem?

Any thoughts?

Just some guesses here.
- I think that Ford was just following the lead of other automakers like BMW and Tesla. They probably thought that just like removing other one time ubiquitous music sources over the years (8-track, Cassette, and Compact Disc) that it was time to remove AM. Also, those decision makers are likely not living in rural areas where the use of AM radio is much more prevalent.
- I too am a bit surprised that it was simply a software change (at least for 2023 and 2024). Maybe we were the test market to see how much negative feed back they got.
- I have a 2022 Lightning with AM and it works just fine. Maybe it has an extra ten cents of shielding? I don't see any need to improve on what they were building in 2022.

 

[Jim Lewis]

If Ford will backtrack on AM radio, maybe there's hope they'll backtrack on the $800/year future Blue Cruise subscription pricing. There are probably a lot more people at the gate with torches and pitchforks for Blue Cruise pricing than there are for AM radio!

 

[ErichKeane]

If Ford will backtrack on AM radio, maybe there's hope they'll backtrack on the $800/year future Blue Cruise subscription pricing. There are probably a lot more people at the gate with torches and pitchforks for Blue Cruise pricing than there are for AM radio!

Except the AM radio folks are 'congress'. If we can get THEM to care about BlueCruise cost, perhaps Ford will change tack.

 

[Jim Lewis]

Except the AM radio folks are 'congress'.

Perhaps then Congress should consider requiring cell phone manufacturers to put AM back into the phone SOCs for emergency broadcasts. It used to be Samsung had a radio built into its phones. You had to use a wired headset as the antenna, so that might be the problem with having it in phones now. But perhaps with everything going in and out of computing devices now via USB-C, perhaps a (unplugged?) charging cable could serve as an antenna. I have a vague, perhaps erroneous recollection of listening to the City of San Antonio emergency broadcasts during the 2.5 days we were without power in the big Texas Deep Freeze following 2/14/21 using my old Samsung Galaxy Note 8 and a wired headset.

 

[kWfart]

When it comes time for GenXers to retire, the AM stations will be thought of the time of day broadcasts

 

[RST]

Well, it appears that I’m one of the few AM radio fans on this thread.

Yes....but not the only one. The lack of AM radio is the one thing that bugs me about my Lightning. Haven't had the radio on in a month and a half of ownership. Won't until the update arrives.
Don't quite understand all the AM hate expressed here....but then, there is a lot going on these days that I will never understand.

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