Entry Details

About the Entry

Category: 
Online > Web Feature Article > Industry > Heartland

Title of entry: 
Legislators to automakers: Don’t touch that dial! Inside the fight over AM radio

Issue or Publication date:
06/05/2023

Publication name: 
Automotive News

Publishing/parent company: 
Crain Communications

View Website home page:
autonews.com

Description of the enterprising work that went into this entry and its significance or impact on readers:

Long before podcasts, Spotify and iTunes, AM radio was a type of audio glue that connected much of America. A standard feature in cars, its strong signal allowed nighttime drivers far from cities to still get music, news and talk via radio waves that travelled long distances. It provided information in rural counties, and every major city had its own pop hits countdown. But AM radio waves cause efficiency-sapping interference in electric cars, where drivers need every electron for driving range. Automakers see it as archaic technology that few people use anymore, and they want it gone. Automotive News reporter Molly Boigon looked into the tension as AM radio, a U.S. cultural icon and an emergency communication tool, also becomes an annoying cost to automakers trying to save during the EV transition. In her report, “Legislators to automakers: Don’t touch that dial! Inside the fight over AM radio,” she explains both the technical and cultural issues that sparked the battle and followed with a creative LinkedIn live that included AM talk radio-style comments from the public.

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