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Music Transportation

2024 Ford Mustang Drops AM Radio From Infotainment (thedrive.com) 218

The new 2024 Ford Mustang is losing its AM radio receiver, reports The Drive. A Ford spokesperson confirmed the feature's deletion, citing that "countries and automakers globally are modernizing radio by offering internet streaming through mobile apps, FM, or digital." From the report: The availability of AM radio in new cars has declined over the last decade with shifts in media consumption habits, with AM radio's audience evaporating in Europe and accounting for only a small minority of the U.S. population. [...] It's a trend of concern to current and former U.S. emergency officials, who recently wrote the Secretary of Transportation a letter advising action on AM radio's disappearance. AM radio is a crucial component of the U.S.'s national alert network, with just 75 stations reaching more than 90 percent of the country's population. Officials are concerned that AM receivers' decreasing availability in new cars could compromise their ability to reach citizens during emergencies.
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2024 Ford Mustang Drops AM Radio From Infotainment

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  • by Powercntrl ( 458442 ) on Thursday March 09, 2023 @08:42PM (#63357415) Homepage

    AM is mostly conservative talk radio and content geared towards the Hispanic demographic. Make of that what you will.

    Personally, I haven't listened to terrestrial radio since this thing [fandom.com] came out. These days, it's Bluetooth killed the radio star, baby.

    • by Viol8 ( 599362 )

      " it's Bluetooth killed the radio star, baby."

      Thats a bit like saying the headphone cable killed the radio star.

    • Huh, central central Florida I'm guessing? 'Cause on the gulf coast of N Florida (Crystal River to Cedar Key to Steinhatchee and on...) the signs for hurricane evac info along the "designated routes" are all for AM radio stations....

    • by DesScorp ( 410532 ) on Friday March 10, 2023 @11:13AM (#63358809) Journal

      AM is mostly conservative talk radio and content geared towards the Hispanic demographic. Make of that what you will.

      It doesn't really matter what is on there. What matters is, AM still has a significant audience, and Ford just went "Fuck You" to customers. Considering how cheap it is to include AM reception in a car stereo, this decision really makes no sense on Ford's part. Of all the things driving up costs on new automobiles... new mandated safety equipment, for instance... the AM receiver's cost is a pittance in comparison.

  • AM Subscription ? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by sonamchauhan ( 587356 ) <sonamc@NOsPam.gmail.com> on Thursday March 09, 2023 @08:49PM (#63357433) Journal

    Wonder how long until Ford or a partner monetizes the missing AM stations by streaming them instead to a subscription app on the entertainment unit?

    • Who would pay for that? That sounds like an incredibly stupid business decision in a world of streaming services providing podcasts and music of interest directly geared to the listener.

      Cable TV isn't dying because the same station is available over IPTV, it's dying because the idea of curated serial content that can't be skipped or selected by the end user without completely changing station, all split up by a string of ads or uninteresting bullshit is not something users enjoy.

      There's no target market for

  • The real reason (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward

    All the self driving hardware and related shit causes tons of interference on the AM band. I’m in the industry and it’s a known problem. Lidar, radar, can bus, ethernet, lvds cameras, and lots of high current switching power supplies.

    • by crow ( 16139 )

      I've heard it's the electric motors, but AM is fine in my 2015 Model S. Or it was years ago when we last listened to AM. I expect with some efforts at shielding from the in-car interference, or possibly multiple antennas and some clever processing to cancel out the local interference, they could make AM work well in EVs, but the car companies just don't think it's worth it. We'll lose AM if we upgrade the media computer in the aforementioned car, as all the newer ones don't have it.

    • ... to an old school distributer and contact breaker for AM interference.

    • Please their users NOT!. SDR radio chip/glue blobs cost cents, and those expensive loud speaker amps on the back end - now mosfets or class D shaved off >10 dollars. SDR radio does poorly below 27MHz or the old CB Band, Probably the over expensive to upgrade GPS, anti theft, and buss systems to lights etc may pick up interference on AM. Plus they do not need to fit an antenna. If I was a car maker, I would demand my car radio become a full range SDR radio with scanning modes with input frequency etc. F
  • All those "tune to 1610 for highway information" stations are going to get changed to FM. I wonder what frequency they will use?

    That said, AM is mostly Spanish here.

    • Most of those are in areas with not enough news radio service, so there's likely to be at least one FM frequency to put this on.

      Oh, and if your AM is mostly "MEGA" it's a station reserved for the relaunch of CNET Radio.

    • by Cyberax ( 705495 )
      I think most of them were replaced with 511 anyway?
    • All those "tune to 1610 for highway information" stations are going to get changed to FM.

      I haven't encountered those in years. Seems like there's no need for them anymore now that variable-message signs [wikipedia.org] have become more ubiquitous.

      • Saw my first last year and for kicks tuned in. All it did was tell me there was a lot of traffic up ahead which I already knew because I was crawling in it....

    • All those "tune to 1610 for highway information" stations are going to get changed to FM.

      Many of them already have been, or they have both AM and FM. Since all the radios have had FM since the 1970s, it seems reasonably safe to make the switch completely now.

  • What's Ford's economic reason for dropping AM support? Saving a literal nickle on the cost of the radio? That doesn't even make sense or, at least, not supporting AM make less sense than continuing support.

    ... offering internet streaming through mobile apps, FM, or digital.

    While I *do* listen to FM (and/or CDs) in the car, I'm not interested in (a) wasting mobile data on streaming music or (b) paying extra for digital radio subscriptions. Also, my area broadcasts local highway traffic conditions on AM.

    • It's not really about dropping listening patterns in regards to AM (although their happy to blame it there) It's more that with the ever increasing amount of stuff on a car that can produce interference that trying to design the radio receptor so that the noise isn't constantly droning it out is a problem. Try listening to AM radio when next to a Tesla.
  • by Miamicanes ( 730264 ) on Thursday March 09, 2023 @09:44PM (#63357517)

    Seriously, I'd be completely SHOCKED if the chip in the system that does FM doesn't also do AM, so it's not like they're saving any meaningful amount of money by leaving it out. It's a virtual button on a touchscreen. Even if they did nothing to optimize the antenna & its reception completely sucked, it seems like fewer people would notice or care, compared to the few dozen people who'll bitch about its total omission.

    I mean, HELL, the last time I looked at the datasheet for a radio receiver chip, it couldn't just do AM and FM, it could do them... and SSB... and pretty much any known variant of FM on any frequency below something like 4GHz. It's literally all commands over an i2c bus.

    Then again, pretty much every Android phone made in the past 10 years has similar capabilities in their SoC that get disabled for the US versions, so I guess it shouldn't surprise me that the Powers that Be would go disable a capability that's 'there' and 'free' anyway... just, because.

    • The chips often only do FM, I believe that it's now cheaper but I'm not finding a reference.

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      It's not just the chip, it's the antenna too. A modern car has a lot of radios - AM, FM, digital radio, cellular, GPS, and I hear that in the US there is also satellite radio. To get the best from all of them they need different antennas, tuned for their frequency ranges.

      Usually the AM and FM ones are combined into a single antenna, but that doesn't do the FM and digital radio reception any favours. There are additional electronic design requirements for the head unit too, because AM is susceptible to diffe

    • Seriously, I'd be completely SHOCKED if the chip in the system that does FM doesn't also do AM

      I wouldn't be. Radio chips are available with a variety of support that you select optionally. You can get AM only, FM only, AM/FM, FM/DAB, AM/FM/DAB, (I've never seen AM/DAB), add in HD Radio and double the previous list as well a HD Radio only or DAB only. etc. etc. etc

      The only one you can't get on the market is a SiriusXM chip that incorporates the above, that one appears to be available separately only. And this is before you consider that some automotive manufactures design / request custom designed ch

    • Are they REALLY saving anything?

      No they aren't, and it's very likely the ROC (Radio On Chip) they are using is SDR based (Software Defined Radio) and can decode about any frequency and modulation they would want, purely as a software function. And no, Frequency Modulation and Amplitude Modulation are not patent encumbered, so there are zero licensing fees for decoding those kinds of RF modulation (unlike some of the newer digital modes, which have audio codecs that are patented).

      The one factor in this is the antenna, but for AM the anten

  • I listen to AM more than I Iisten to Sirius XM

    • by registrations_suck ( 1075251 ) on Friday March 10, 2023 @12:00AM (#63357723)

      I listen to the same six MP3 DVDs I burned and put into my car some 14 years ago.

      There's a lot of music on those DVDs....

      • Does it tell you about the 1 hr and 40 minute backup on interstate 30 in Dallas? Heard that one on radio 820 last night. Would find a movie to go to until that died down if I was actually headed for Dallas.

        • I get that info from Google Maps.

        • Does it tell you about the 1 hr and 40 minute backup on interstate 30 in Dallas? Heard that one on radio 820 last night. Would find a movie to go to until that died down if I was actually headed for Dallas.

          Los Angeles resident here, traffic is a bear here too. Since GPS reroutes me, and gives me an ETA, this problem you bring up is solved. I suppose AM radio might update me sooner than my GPS gets wind of the slowdown, though......

        • Try Waze.

        • by Osgeld ( 1900440 )

          fuck the radio doesnt tell you that until you have been stuck in it for 20 min after listening to endless commercials

    • That makes you the weird one, not Ford.

  • If it's a weather or earthquake emergency FM will work.

    AM is a last resort communications method. If we are in a SHTF moment people will be walking or biking.

  • Long Live AM Radio.
  • 1) Am enjoying the hell out of our Dallas 50Kw station, WBAP, that broadcasts well over the horizon at night, something that FM can not do, with a really awesome signal a long way out.

    2) The reason for dropping AM is usually that the car company finds it way cheaper than actually quieting all the electrical noise from their big motors, thus guaranteeing my hobby radios (ham radios) won't be able to hear the Voice of America if driving across the street from it.

    No sale. On to the next candidate.

  • The real reason that AM is beng dropped has been reported for years. There is a problem with all the electrical systems on an EV vehcile that interferres with AM reception. This is not new news at all. The fact that they have given up on trying to figure out a solution is disappointing though.
  • 1970's was last time tried listening to AM. Still have in truck, but never tried it. As far as AM being the primary source for emergency information, how many people even have a standard radio in their houses any more ? Used to have a stereo, boom box and clock radio alarm, but didn't use them or got newer alarm clock w/o AM/FM. All emergency alarms should be sent to phones, as missing child alarm is already sent to phones.
    • In theory my Denton receivers (I have an older one and a newer one I got to handle stuff old one couldn't) can play AM stations. They even came with an AM antenna which no 'I did not plug in but I do have in a drawer nearby.

      I am totally ready to tune in to AM at home to hear quality government advice about staying in place when the zombies come.

      • Oh and the first damned thing I did at 3am for a stupid amber alert was turn that shit off. I do not need to get an alert at 3am about a kid 250 miles away taken by his dad after a bad divorce.

      • I am in a similar situation as you are. I bet in an emergency, though, I won't be able to find the antenna or get it working. Also if the power is out, an AVR is a pretty inefficient way to get AM radio. I have a generator so I guess it doesn't matter much. But a battery-powered AM radio is probably a good thing to have. I don't know why Ford doesn't just put one in with the spare tire.
    • "how many people even have a standard radio in their houses any more ?"

      I do. It also has a crank to charge the battery as well as accepting AA batteries. It's intended for emergency use.

      The camper has an AM capable radio as well, FM doesn't do well in the mountains. Cell phones don't work either. But then Teslas and Mustangs are not the kind of cars you take camping.

  • Well, let's see.... A company wants bandwidth, they pay car companies to remove support. Company proclaims no one is using it. Government blows company, as they always do, gives them bandwidth, as they always do.
  • Seems like we recently had an article that indicated the electrical noise from the EV motors and drive electronics generated significant interference in the AM receivers making them useless. Disabling the AM receiver is probably easier than listening to complaints from customers.

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