AM radio in cars may soon be a thing of the past

Another staple of Americana could soon go away, joining the trash compactor, mustard-yellow appliances, Mary Tyler Moore, cars with stick shifts and a TV universe with just three networks.

Many car manufacturers will no longer offer AM radio, limiting their audio options to FM, satellite radio and streaming apps.

The first blow was struck by electric car manufacturers, partially because electric motors interfere with AM radio signals. Tesla, Mazda, Volkswagen, BMW and other electric car manufacturers removed AM from some models over the past few years and it kind of makes sense: There is a constant buzz while listening to AM radio when driving an electric car. At least that's my experience: When we bought our first Prius about 15 years ago, I couldn't listen to Giants games (available then only on AM radio) or most talk radio. It was FM or CDs or (later) streaming via Bluetooth.

So AM radio doesn't work well with electric cars (although that seems like it's fixable, right? They figured out how to make a car run on electricity, but can't they get it to stop interfering with the AM signal? Come on, man). But the snuffing out of AM radios in cars won't stop there.

A May article in the Detroit Free Press revealed that Ford would eliminate AM radios from its fleet. Next year.

My first thought was it was Ford's payback for the old AM radio jingle of, "Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet." Revenge is a dish best-served cold.

AM radio is a part of our history. Radio and cars emerged around the same time and by the 1940s, about 40% of cars had radios. Within a few decades, virtually every car had an AM radio. Some had FM, some had cassette (or 8-track) players, but all had AM.

Car AM radios were how we heard traffic reports and news and music. "Morning drive time" and "evening drive time" were a crucial part of the radio universe – formats built around the fact that people were driving to or from work while listening to the radio. AM radio stations dominated ratings until at least the turn of the 21st century (KGO radio, an AM powerhouse, was the Bay Area's top-rated radio station from 1978-2008. Thirty years!).

With the emergence of FM radio (with much better sound), music moved away and AM stations became the world of talk radio, sports, religious and non-English-speaking radio. The format has increasingly struggled to keep listeners.

But . . . auto manufacturers who elect to drop it are finding resistance. There are still 4,000 AM radio stations in the U.S. and they emphasize that AM radio remains the front line of the Emergency Alert system, which seems an old-timey reason, but maybe it's good enough.  Anyway, there were protests. And they worked: In the days following that report that Ford would discontinue AM radios in many models, elected officials protested the move. Ultimately, Ford relented and said AM radios will be part of its entire fleet in 2024.

But the first shot was fired. AM radio's decline continues. We're seeing the beginning of the end.

Someday soon, we'll look back on AM radio like we do celebrity-hosted TV variety shows and "The Lone Ranger" on radio and pre-Starbucks coffee shops. It already is something that we have warm memories of, but don't use anymore.

AM radios will still be in many cars for a while, but is anyone listening?

I hope so, if only for our memories.

Reach Brad Stanhope at bradstanhope@outlook.com.