Ford eliminating AM radio

Ford is eliminating AM radio from all new vehicles. Do you agree with this choice?


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Tigger

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Ford has announced they are eliminating AM radio in new vehicles. They are doing it in gas and electric vehicles, whereas others are only doing it with electric vehicles.
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jofer

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As much as I'm a fan of AM radio for sports, especially, I can see why they're doing it. It's niche these days, and has a ton of interference problems. Weirdly, I betcha we'll see some AM radio Bluetooth receivers coming out for this reason, though, which is just a funny direction to go.
 

MJE

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The last time I had fun with AM radio was pre Sirius days driving at night when Iā€™d just turn the dial to see what I could pick up & from how far away. Iā€™m not even sure Iā€™m aware of an AM station now here, though they always had talk. Itā€™s one of those ā€˜wonā€™t affect meā€™ things that Iā€™ll still be sad to see go. I mean how many microchips can it possibly take to have AM along with FM (Another thing I donā€™t use in this day & age)?
 

PugDad

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Why even bother with the radio.We all can just listen to the music in our heads!
Of course I am being facetious.

Is there really such a cost savings in this? Just give me a radio let me decide what and how I want to listen to it.
 
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PaulOinMA

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I still listen to AM running errands around town. WBZ News radio 1030 AM Boston.

Ford dropping AM is o.k. since I am using Android Auto now.
 

Escape2Bronco

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So no more WGN 720? Too bad streaming stations donā€™t include static!
 

davidg4781

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I havenā€™t used AM/FM in years. I used to listen to AM radio back in the early 2000s on my way to college. When streaming started coming around, I just streamed an AM station out of Georgia that had a few shows I liked (I live in Texas).

Now, itā€™s Podcasts or Apple Music through CarPlay.
 

coopny

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As someone who spends 99.9999% of the time in Carplay listening to internet radio of some form, I disagree with AM being discontinued because it transits very long distances and has backup requirements at an absolute minimum of 8 hours without power loss. Accordingly, it serves an important purpose in true emergencies. I remember listening to AM radio during the 9/11 attacks, during the 2003 Northeast blackout (where the Northeast up into Canada lost power, people thought it was another terrorist attack), after Hurricane Sandy in 2012 (didn't have electrical service or cable/internet for a week).

One might say 2012 was over a decade ago, but in tried and true emergencies, it is an extremely useful tool accessible from a variety of devices, including handheld battery powered ones and vehicles. I don't think that removing it is meaningfully beneficial to vehicle owners.
 

MJE

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davidg4781

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As someone who spends 99.9999% of the time in Carplay listening to internet radio of some form, I disagree with AM being discontinued because it transits very long distances and has backup requirements at an absolute minimum of 8 hours without power loss. Accordingly, it serves an important purpose in true emergencies. I remember listening to AM radio during the 9/11 attacks, during the 2003 Northeast blackout (where the Northeast up into Canada lost power, people thought it was another terrorist attack), after Hurricane Sandy in 2012 (didn't have electrical service or cable/internet for a week).

One might say 2012 was over a decade ago, but in tried and true emergencies, it is an extremely useful tool accessible from a variety of devices, including handheld battery powered ones and vehicles. I don't think that removing it is meaningfully beneficial to vehicle owners.
This is a very good point. When cell phone service is interrupted, terrestrial radio can always serve as a backup.

While I havenā€™t listened to AM in maybe 15 years, I have tried listening to FM lately. The reception is a lot worse where I live (maybe 45 miles from the tower
 

Slingy

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I still listen to AM running errands around town. WBZ News radio 1030 AM Boston.

Ford dropping AM is o.k. since I am using Android Auto now.
WBZ 1030 just saved me from 2 hours of traffic on a 45 minute drive due to a truck rollover that I would've been stuck in immediately after emergency oral surgery in Natick last Monday. It's the only am radio I listen to but I think it's a critical source of news and it would be a shame to lose that.
Also, many highways have information on am stations to keep us up to date during dangerous weather conditions.
 

dbsb3233

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I hope they haven't made the change yet. We have a BSOB on order due to be build in June.

While we don't use AM a ton, we still use it some for local sports, news, and talk. Although I think the local stations we do use it for may have an FM simulcast now.

Most of the time we use SiriusXM. We also use Android Auto for nav, but usually not for radio. Still too may dead zones for cell signal, especially on road trips. Plus it's just easier to flip between preset stations than it is flipping between AA feeds.
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