I'm honestly surprised you can buy a car still with AM.
Lack of AM Radio ...
- Thread starter odie
- Start date
Not really.Technology moves on
Some AM died on the day the music died
We seem to have a lot of AM fans here, you should know that trivia?
Song/station/date
Many would argue it died in February 2021 though.
AM sound quality is super bad, I am not sure what is the use of it unless you are in rural area. If you are you likely would either stream or use satellite radio anyways.
4WD
$50 site donor 2025
Anyone who liked him would like Michael Berry on AM radio …
4WD
$50 site donor 2025
Mine works great unless you get near the lines from South Texas Project … then it will make your skin crawl
When I still lived in Louisville, I loved the local AM talk station, and in particular the local show that was immediately before a particularly famous/infamous nationally syndicated show. When the host of the local show moved to Denver, it sort of killed that station for me other than picking up UK Ball Games.
With that said, I enjoy listening to AM in the evenings/at night with a good antenna. With a bit of effort and depending on the weather, I can generally get 840AM out of Louisville, again for UK basketball, and 650AM out of Nashville for the Grand Ole Opry. That to me has always been one of the most fun and really fascinating aspects of AM, but you really need to be stationary to get a distant Clear Channel dialed in.
Also, a lot of cars today have less than great AM antennas. Not too long ago, I put a 30" telescopic whip on my MG, replacing a much shorter fixed whip that was unuseable because the plug had been cut off it. It's plugged into a 1970s AM/FM Motorola, and it amazes me at how well it can pick up AM stations(and even some more distant FM stations) vs. a lot of newer cars. I can sometimes really dial in an AM station by tweaking how much the antenna is extended-I seem to recall that an antenna 1/4 the wavelength is good for AM but that's really impractical for a car(840AM, for example, would be ~89 meters) but also that 1/8, 1/16, and so on are good. A car whip antenna for AM would be around 1/512 of the wavelength for AM, but you can play with it and get it close to that value for a particular station.
With that said, I enjoy listening to AM in the evenings/at night with a good antenna. With a bit of effort and depending on the weather, I can generally get 840AM out of Louisville, again for UK basketball, and 650AM out of Nashville for the Grand Ole Opry. That to me has always been one of the most fun and really fascinating aspects of AM, but you really need to be stationary to get a distant Clear Channel dialed in.
Also, a lot of cars today have less than great AM antennas. Not too long ago, I put a 30" telescopic whip on my MG, replacing a much shorter fixed whip that was unuseable because the plug had been cut off it. It's plugged into a 1970s AM/FM Motorola, and it amazes me at how well it can pick up AM stations(and even some more distant FM stations) vs. a lot of newer cars. I can sometimes really dial in an AM station by tweaking how much the antenna is extended-I seem to recall that an antenna 1/4 the wavelength is good for AM but that's really impractical for a car(840AM, for example, would be ~89 meters) but also that 1/8, 1/16, and so on are good. A car whip antenna for AM would be around 1/512 of the wavelength for AM, but you can play with it and get it close to that value for a particular station.
Ahh yes. Radio Moscow.
Listened to “Moscow Molly” and
“Richard the Rabid Red Russian”.
Good for laughs. They spoke Perfect American English. No accent.
February made me shiver, with every paper i'd deliver, bad news on the doorstep, i couldn't take one more step, Buddy, Ritchie, and The Big BopperTechnology moves on
Some AM died on the day the music died
We seem to have a lot of AM fans here, you should know that trivia?
Song/station/date
Used to listen to him while working third shift in the lates 90's.
I would think that peasant AM radio is simply too downmarket for the average Tesla/EV driver much like say shopping at Walmart. If you think deleting AM radio is bad Norway as a nation got rid of FM radio in favour of DAB in 2017. Perhaps not coincidentally Norway has also decided incentivized that if you want to buy a new car it better be an EV.
Yeah, you can go from 0 to 60 in 2 seconds but can't listen to AM? Sheesh.
Actually, you stream it with TuneIn, if your station is there. More apps are sure to be added over time.
Ahhh, the skip. When I was first driving on the east coast, at night I could get a great station from somewhere in LA....and it was much better when it rained.
My issue with digital is that when traveling it will just quit, or be in and out as the strength fluctuates above and below the threshold, instead of fading slowly like AM or FM does.
Guess they need to fix those drive motors on EVs to not create interference - not causing interference is a requirement for many appliances....should be the same for cars.
The Day the Music Died was February 3, 1959. Here's a photo of me taken at the site where their plane crashed in an Iowa cornfield during a snowstorm.
If you ever have an opportunity to visit the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, I suggest you do it. That's the venue where Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper played their final gig. I swear the place is haunted by them to this day.
This thread is bringing me back to my youth…….Born in the 60’s, Child of the 70’s and AM radio was King on Long Island, NY……..I remember going to the Village Pool, towel and AM Transistor radio in hand. Laying out the towel, taking my sneakers off, and propping up the radio against my well placed sneakers………Listened to Cousin Bruce and others on WABC belting out all the hits of the day…….”Hello Love……!”
I can still smell the scent that radio emitted………..Great Times!
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I can still smell the scent that radio emitted………..Great Times!
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Imagine. (Lennon)Technology moves on
Some AM died on the day the music died
We seem to have a lot of AM fans here, you should know that trivia?
Song/station/date
Music Radio WABC……( Dan Ingram/Ron Lundy)
May 10th, 1982 @1155am
I am not going to do all that to tune 740 traffic on the 8’s. In fact I can’t even figure out how to tune 740 unless I take the owners manual out to the car and figure it out. That’s the only thing I have listened to since I got the car, and 99% of the time I drive in silence. I prefer it.
The DID have a very distinctive smell, didn't they?This thread is bringing me back to my youth…….Born in the 60’s, Child of the 70’s and AM radio was King on Long Island, NY……..I remember going to the Village Pool, towel and AM Transistor radio in hand. Laying out the towel, taking my sneakers off, and propping up the radio against my well placed sneakers………Listened to Cousin Bruce and others on WABC belting out all the hits of the day…….”Hello Love……!”
I can still smell the scent that radio emitted………..Great Times!
Yes it is sad they get rid of something we are entitled to, but come on, you can buy an AM receive that goes into bluetooth or audio jack from Amazon for like what? $20?
