How often do you listen to AM radio?
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- How often do you listen to AM radio? Posted on December 12th, 2024 | 57 comments
Poll is probably beside the point (Score:2)
I suspect the point is that we all have the ability to listen to emergency alerts when necessary and cars are a good focal point for the large portion of the US population who own one. Not that anyone really listens to AM radio regularly. Down here in TX AM is infested with shitty evangelical noise 100% of the time. I haven't turned on my car radio function *at all* in 10 years, the local stations were always playing the same shitty playlist of whatever the music industry is pushing today and that gets old
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The point is to receive emergency alerts from distant transmitters, particularly at night.
Not to listen to old men complain about their gout, as one would hear on the HF ham bands.
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Re: Poll is probably beside the point (Score:2)
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You think 2m is bad, check out 40m or, particularly, 80m, some night. :)
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I'm too cheap to buy a HF Transmitter, but I do have a shortwave radio and an SDR just to listen to the other bands, I think the thing I hear the most of are preachers. But many of them duplicated on multiple bands.
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Yeah, I remember when I got my first HF transceiver, I was excited that I would be able to listen to shortwave. All I ever managed to hear were preachers, conspiracy theorists, and Radio Havana Cuba.
The last one freaked me out, because they'd do English language broadcasts, and I can remember two announcers, one male, one female, with perfect midwest American accents. That was years ago now, but I imagine their English language broadcasts are still like that.
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All of mine are. They come in handy. No code in the car though. ;)
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Years ago, a fellow coworker of mine was a certified ham instructor, and he did an in-company class for anyone who was interested. I think ham is VERY interesting, but all the rules and regulations and sidebands... they were all too much for my short attention span. Maybe if it hadn't been a free class, I'd have been more invested.
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I used to keep a 2m/70cm transceiver in my car, with dreams of eventually installing a HF rig. I've been away from the hobby now for several years though, although I still have and maintain my license.
As for learning, it's really not that complicated, especially is someone has a basic electrical engineering background. I'm very bad in a classroom environment, so simple book learning was good enough for me to get my General-class. The ARRL manuals are pretty good, but for my money, the books by Gordon West a
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I think ham is VERY interesting, but all the rules and regulations and sidebands... they were all too much for my short attention span.
I had a prepper friend give me a chinesium GMRS/HAM handset for when "the shit hits the fan". I looked into getting a license, but even GMRS where you just pay a fee was too much trouble. If I need to communicate with someone, I've got a phone in my pocket with unlimited range. And if the shit does hit the fan, I don't think anyone will care who has a license and who doesn't.
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Re: Poll is probably beside the point (Score:2)
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The last time was in the truck driving through an unexpected snowstorm in the mountains. The highway sign said tune to a given AM station for weather updates and I thought it was a good idea.
I also tried out the windup radio at night to see if it could pickup one of the clear channel stations. That worked too.
The Cowboy Neal option may be there in jest but it's also the most accurate.
Electric cars (Score:2)
The problem is, the electric motor in all-electric cars generates radio interference which tends to drown out the AM radio stations. Engineering around that costs much much more than the five-cent AM receiver.
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This is claimed, but considering there are working AM radios in electric cars right now, I'm doubting it. I suspect the problem is the cost of the antenna.
Even NPR is on FM (Score:3)
I tuned into NPR on the AM band well into the 2010's. When HD radio became a thing, the local station started simulcasting on a local FM radio stations band. Finally in 2023 the bought a dormant FM station, and now they are fully broadcasting on the FM spectrum
At this point I'm not sure what is even broadcasting on the AM spectrum anymore, I never tune into it on the radio.
Re: Even NPR is on FM (Score:2)
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AM radio is just about *only* right-wing talk shows these days. If you listen to AM, that's almost certainly why.
Baseball (Score:1)
A handful of games while driving a year make it priceless to me.
Never intentionally (Score:1)
AM? (Score:2)
Why would you listen to AM, when you could listen to FM or DAB?
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Because it propagates further. Next question.
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But that just means fewer stations and less local ones, and don't think I have ever been outside of FM range.. I don't drive a boat.
Re: AM? (Score:2)
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Why would you listen to AM, when you could listen to FM or DAB?
The local FM stations are not very good. DAB offers more choice and there are some decent stations, but I quickly got tired of having to recharge the radio after listening for a few hours and I'd rather have FM hiss and AM distortions then the constant drop outs when DAB reception is weak.
spy on your home. (Score:2)
just to be safe... (Score:2)
we should all carry a homing pidgeon, too.
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personally I prefer smoke signals, but the one I last did in California didn't go so well.
Re: just to be safe... (Score:2)
1010 WINS News radio (Score:1)
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I still listen to WINS on AM when I'm in my kitchen, on a busted-up old cheap radio whose tuner I don't want to mess with.
A more entertaining question... (Score:2)
What do you listen to when going somewhere:
Personally, I listen to local music or broadcast music (FM Radio) if I forget my phone.
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When riding the bike, nothing. My own thoughts :)
I try to listen to the music on my iPhone but Apple hates that I own CDs so half of my tunes are blocked and the other half are deep dive songs. Nothing like Boston and Little River Band being blocked by Apple.
I have an Android as well so I'm uploading my tunes there but the F150 doesn't support USB-C connections.
[John]
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"Apple hates that I own CDs so half of my tunes are blocked"
You'll have to explain that one. I haven't noticed Apple being able to block any of my CDs. Or is that an Apple Music thing, or an iPhone thing? I don't have an iPhone, and the iPod works fine.
AM? (Score:2)
My car stereo doesn't even do AM
Real time Sports Commentary (Score:1)
Unused in France (Score:3)
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As I am in France, the AM band (called Medium Wave in Europe) is unused. Spain and England use it, though, so I tune in from time to time to hear English and Spanish...
AM does not refer to band, it refers to modulation (Amplitude modulation, as opposed to Frequency modulation).
In Europe, AM is used with SW, MW and LW bands. FM is used mainly on VHF (Very High Frequence, or as in some countries, Very Short Wave (Ultrakurzwellen in Germany, ULA in Finland)).
Sometimes on the road (Score:2)
I suppose I'm in the 'never' category (Score:2)
I donâ(TM)t think therefore I AM (Score:2)
AM band (Score:2)
We probably would be better off using it as a really slow data channel for emergencies.
I'm not sure if (Score:2)
I only use the radio for listening to non-music, non-commercial radio. I've no interest in music, or adverts, so why would I listen to anything in those categories?
Plus, I have audiobooks and text-to-speech for several thousand books I downloaded a decade or more ago. So, my reason for listening to adverts is ... what?
aM rAd10 (Score:1)
Better question (Score:2)
How do you get emergency information (Extreme weather, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, wildfires, nuclear war )
AM radio
X (formerly known as twitter)
I watch the skies
I am psychic
No AM radio here (Score:2)
How would I? (Score:1)
The only radio I own is in my car. Itâ(TM)s controlled by an incomprehensible touch screen UI. So I couldnâ(TM)t listen to AM radio even if I wanted to.
FM coverage is spotty (Score:2)
Around here, the mountains make FM coverage spotty. AM never fails.
AM receivers are cheap and reliable. I think they should continue to me mandated in cars as a last-ditch mass communications method. If there were some licenses available around here I'd grab one and build a station. Alas....
Rarely (Score:1)
Never in my entire life? (Score:2)
I'm almost 40 years old and have never listened to AM radio once in my entire life. Only sort-of exception was when my dad showed me as a kid how it could be used as to detect lightning activity nearby.
As far as I can tell, it's only used for sports, nutjob talk radio, and religious broadcasts.
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I'm almost 40 years old and have never listened to AM radio once in my entire life. Only sort-of exception was when my dad showed me as a kid how it could be used as to detect lightning activity nearby.
As far as I can tell, it's only used for sports, nutjob
I learned about radio interference with AM - revving the engine in our old car would generate a similar sound (going higher pitch with higher revs in the engine) on an AM frequency listened on the car radio.
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"As far as I can tell, it's only used for sports, nutjob talk radio, and religious broadcasts."
And Mexican music by the crews in the orchards.
Missing option (Score:2)
A few times a year
Coast to Coast AM is pretty interesting. Try it (Score:1)
The fact is AM radio keeps people company when there is literally nothing else. FM radio simply is not going to reach rural farms or people not within range of a cell tower. Not to mention the countless over the road drivers.
Personally I have spent countless nights doing rental repair listening to the radio. At night I'd flip it to AM radio just to listen to the talk that helped me keep going.
I get that some stations are not going to be everyone's cup of tea. It doesn't have to be. The fact remains there ar