House committee approves bill requiring new cars to have AM radio

This doesn't convince me.

For starters, FM broadcasting is hardly more complex than AM broadcasting and any vehicle built in the last 50 years with an AM radio also has an FM radio.

I can't imagine a scenario where FM broadcasting is somehow unavailable, but AM is. But further, if AM is the last line of communication, we are in a VERY bad situation indeed, like apocalyptic. One in which I doubt any survivors are listening to the radio in their cars.

But even further, in an emergency, it's highly likely that car drivers aren't even listening to the radio. Like, unless it's something that everyone is made aware of with communications other than through AM radio. But if those lines are open, then why wouldn't communication be broadcast through those lines?

You may as well argue that we should make sure all homes have land lines or telegraph lines. After all, that's also a line of communication that could be used in an emergency.

Especially since the tech is already there, and everywhere. It's madness to lose a capability so easily kept.

I've never found the idea of an emergency radio itself as unconvincing but I've remained relatively unconvinced requiring them to be built into cars was a particularly reliable, useful, or efficient way to go about ensuring access to such radios in disaster scenarios. It seems a lot more like a "well that's the only place I know of that still has an AM radio today so it should stay that way!" regulation than a "AM radio access" regulation.

It’s also cheap as hell to keep in cars. Sometimes you just have to push back against the bean counters.

Conservative talk shows could be part of it. I think electric vehicle cheerleading is another factor, especially since Tesla is one of the more visible manufacturers to not support AM. There are always folks willing to defend to the death anything that company does. There can also be a fair amount of indifference towards non-techies on HN and other tech communities, even if we're talking about something regularly used by millions of people.

If the real motivation for people wanting AM radio gone is due to conservative talk, people are likely overestimating the ratings these stations bring in. It’s the exception, rather than the rule, for one of these stations to perform well. Most conservative talk stations barely attract local advertising, except in a few limited categories like “guns.” I know of more conservative talk stations that are struggling to stay afloat than those that are not.

Not sure I see a problem with that, really. Emergency response contributions are about as compelling a reason for social obligations as is possible, not everyone will benefit from them but anyone could need them. And since property exists and is maintained as a social construction, it makes sense it might come with some social obligations. About the only thing to quibble with is whether burning logs specifically fit a good set of requirements for relay comms, which might be the point of your comment beyond amusement, and I suppose it accomplishes both, though it starts to wear thin at the point where if you make a list of desirable features, AM radio starts to look pretty good.

Well, it's good to have that alternative when your modern emergency broadcast app refuses to work because your year-old phone is no longer supported by the vendor, and fails the remote device attestation check needed by the ad platform that's used to monetize the app. Not that having a newer phone would do you any good, as the app login servers on the other side of the planet are no longer reachable.

Seriously though, AM radio is a very good compromise: it has the best set of features for emergency use, and none of the commercial lock-in and ad cancer bullshit that's consuming modern technology.

I think it’s definitely more of a republican “issue” because their constituency of older Americans which lean pretty heavily republican are in up in arms over it. Democrats are more ho-hum about it, but probably see it as a net positive rather than a “you shall not pass!”moment

I’m not buying your argument. I doubt you can devise and pass legislation that’ll cause more people to have emergency kits with hand cranked AM radios than cars, even if you distributed them for free, and there are scenarios that require emergency communication that don’t involve all cars being destroyed.

That said I’m not saying that the public safety argument is genuine, but you can’t just propose something else you prefer to discredit it.

Yes. It should be the FCC enforcing their regulatory duties against specific car models not the house legislating in general. The amount of interference on the low frequency bands that some electrical cars produce prevents reception of AM. And that was already very illegal. You can't do that but car manufacturers were/are too big to care. The public safety aspect of it is entirely secondary.

If they actually cared about public safety, they would pursue legislation to require analog controls & eliminate touchscreens in vehicles.

Congress is really just addressing a market failure, if you want to put it like that. It's not just that the car does not come with an AM radio, the car's electronics are jamming AM reception inside the car, even if you try to buy your own.

It's "okay" for the government to do this because they're already making entry into the mass-produced car market very hard.

In an actual emergency, cell towers may not function. AM has significantly further range too and is pretty easy to standup as a backup for an area.

It’s also incredibly common for road conditions to still be shared over AM - you see this a lot while driving with all the “advisory - tune to …. AM” signs everywhere.

Shortwave doesn’t work well as a mobile, moving medium. It is weak-signal reception (by design) and is likely to be compromised every time your car turns in a different direction.

Why not we just have a system like the beacons of Gondor?